Excavation, Not Integration

Four Months of Communal Death Care

I’m nearly four months out from Going with Grace’s End of Life Training, so it felt like time for an update on what the process has been like on the other side of the experience.

Typically, when I leave a training, there is a period of integration where the knowledge settles into practice over time, and I eventually feel embodied in the wisdom. While there was definitely information to integrate after death doula training, I was struck by the awareness that the wisdom of death care already resided in my bones.

I couldn’t articulate my experience for about a month. When I finally found the words, I heard myself saying that the process had been one of excavation rather than integration.

Now that four months have passed, both the integration and excavation are well underway, and I’ve completed my first 33 hours of service as a death doula. For those who don’t know, my training was 100% community-funded, and in return I am pouring back into my community by offering death care and grief services free of charge to those in need.

Here’s how those first 33 hours have been spent:

15.5 hours — Direct death & grief care

12.5 hours — Continuing education

3 hours — Event planning

2 hours — Hospice volunteering

The bulk of this time has been spent in direct service, both 1:1 and in community, with people in hospice care, long-term caregivers, grieving loved ones, and brave souls moving toward acceptance of their mortality. A significant portion of these 15.5 hours has been dedicated to facilitating rituals to support movement through death and grief.

Part of my ongoing integration has included revisiting Going with Grace’s End of Life Training curriculum digitally. As an educator, I learn best through teaching, so I will also begin offering death and grief education for those who are interested in 2026.

There are other exciting developments on the horizon in my journey as a death doula, including offering public events, becoming a Notary Public, pursuing more advanced end-of-life planning education, and expanding my reach as a hospice volunteer.

If you or someone you know could benefit from free death care or grief services, I invite you to schedule a complimentary consultation call here. This may include end-of-life planning for those who are currently healthy, death care for those nearing the end of life, or grief support for those who are continuing to love after death.

My specialty lies in education and Celtic Pagan ritual, and I remain open to exploring the full spectrum of possibilities within communal death care.

In service and gratitude,

Sarah