Advanced Training
Death Midwifery
CERTIFICATE TRAINING PROGRAM
The Death Midwife training is for Sacred Crossings Death Doulas wishing to further their studies. This two-level training includes instruction in caring for the body after death, home funerals, final disposition and officiating the funeral service.
Graduates receive a certificate of completion for both Death Midwife and Funeral Celebrant
Pre-requisite Death Doula Levels I & II
Open the boxes below for topics covered in each level.
Scroll down for registration links
Level III - After the Last Breath
The role of the death midwife from the final breath through the 3-day home vigil, funeral and final disposition.
Students learn after-death rituals, legalities and logistics for holding a 3-day vigil at home, how to understand and navigate funeral industry practices and alternatives to cremation and burial.
Topics Explored
- Unexpected death: holding space in the ER
- After-death rites and rituals
- Legalities and logistics of home vigils and funerals
- Preparation of the body (bathing, dressing, anointing)
- Laying the body in honor
- Stillbirth/infant death: bringing the baby home
- Options for final disposition – Green Burial /Alkaline Hydrolysis /Full Body Sea Burial /Recomposition
- Funeral Industry Protocols
- Coroner / Autopsy / Transporting the deceased
- After-death traditions
- Completing the Death Care Directive
- Self-care for caregivers: preventing burnout
Level IV - The Life Celebration - Funeral Celebrant Training
The Celebration of Life is the commemoration of one’s unique contribution to humanity and is an important part of the healing process for loved-ones.
Students learn the steps and skills to create unique, personal and deeply moving funeral and memorial ceremonies.
This is a highly interactive workshop where students are challenged to think outside the box to create powerful mock funerals and memorial ceremonies to honor the dead.
Graduates receive an additional certificate for 25 hours training as Funeral Celebrant.
Topics Explored
- The role of the Funeral Celebrant
- Designing & producing the funeral & Memorial service
- Children and funerals
- Creating sacred space
- Writing the eulogy
- Channeling the grief
- Rituals and tributes
- Opening and closing remarks / prayers & poems
- Virtual memorial services /graveside services / ashes scattering service
- Pet Funerals
- Obituaries /
“This class literally changed my entire mindframe and gifted me with such a beautiful way of softening into the death experience. As a physician who has spent her entire life trying to prevent death, it was life changing.” – Laura Koniver
2026 Advanced Course Schedule
An advanced intensive for Sacred Crossings Death Doulas.
Pre-requisite Level I & II
LEVEL III & IV
Level III
‘AFTER THE LAST BREATH’
Preparation of the Body, Home Funerals & Final Disposition
&
Level IV
‘THE LIFE CELEBRATION’
Rituals & Ceremonies for the Funeral Celebrant
In Person
December 10, 11, 12 & 13
9am – 5pm daily
Space is limited to 30 students. Early registration recommended.
If you have difficulty registering for a class, please write to
Our In-Person class takes place in Pacific Palisades, California. Space is limited to 30 students and early registration is recommended.
We look forward to to seeing you again soon.
“Olivia creates the most sacred of spaces, in which the parts of yourself that are beyond your words, beyond your knowing, and even those parts that perhaps you’ve deemed beyond the reach of love, are able to bubble up to the surface, express themselves, and either be integrated or be released, depending on whether or not they serve your path.”
-Kendell Courtney Klein
Special Offering
FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS!
For Death Doulas and Death Midwives and those who are navigating the end-of-this-life journey.
These lively, informative evenings provide an opportunity to share resources and hear stories and tips from our founder, Olivia Bareham. Please join us!
“What happens at death is so unspeakably glorious that our imagination and our feelings do not suffice to form even an approximation of it”
– C.G. Jung
The Advance Death Care Directive
Would you like a Shroud? Casket? Funeral service? Home funeral? Fire Cremation? Water Cremation? Buried at sea? Turned into Soil?
There are so many decisions!
Write your wishes down in this digital planner.
"Relieve your loved ones from making these difficult decisions, complete your directive today!"