“We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”
Cicely Saunders
Join herbalist Emily Ruff and guest instructors for a five part series to cultivate a deeper awareness and understanding of holistic tools to support you as a caregiver, a family member, or a patient nearing end of life.
Death doulas, hospice volunteers, and caregivers can benefit from the value of using herbs for end of life care for both the patient and their family members, as well as to support themselves as they work in these sacred spaces.
This five part course will explore the history of using herbs for death and dying, establish a foundational knowledge of how to utilize teas, essential oils, simple nourishing foods and tonics, and flower essences at the end of life, experience assessment tools to employ to navigate how, when and where to offer herbal remedies to patients and their family, and empower students to build a personalized holistic tool kit to support their work in these settings.
Our Spring 2025 Cohort will meet weekly online for five weeks, 7:00-8:30pm Eastern Time, starting in April or May. Sessions are recorded for replay. Early Bird Tuition offers a $50 discount when registered by deadline.
With the aging of our elders as a society has come a growing need for family and community to provide support to those nearing the end of life. This course teaches herbal remedies, nourishing recipes, and foundational holistic knowledge for death doulas, hospice workers, and end-of-life caregivers. Led by herbalist Emily Ruff and guest instructors, this course helps students cultivate a deeper awareness and understanding of holistic tools to support caregivers, family members, and patients nearing the end of their life.
Our curriculum explores the history of using herbs for death and dying, establishes a foundational knowledge of how to utilize teas & tonics, essential oils, simple nourishing foods and flower essences. It also provides assessments to navigate how, when and where to offer herbal remedies to patients and their family, and it empowers students to build a personalized holistic tool kit to support their work in these settings.
Who is this course for?
- Death Doulas
- Family Caretakers
- Hospice workers and volunteers
- Nurses
- Herbalists
- Anyone seeking more tools to support caregiving at end-of-life
Gain practical tools and foundations integrating hospice work and death doula practice with food, aromatics, and plant allies.
- Enjoy weekly in person classes providing a comprehensive introduction to herbalism, nutrition, and nature at end of life
- Connect with other students via weekly breakout sessions and a robust interactive digital community
- Download handouts, workbooks, and e-books to support your journey long after your course completes
- Share your creations in our final live session with a show-and-tell and Q&A session
What You’ll Learn
- The benefits of a dozen key herbs and foods for emotional support and nourishment, including nourishing tonics, aromatics, nervines and adaptogens
- How to create an Herbal Care Kit as part of your end-of-life toolkit
- How to create herbal recipes and protocols to offer families of loved ones, including teas, baths, and food preparations
- Where to find accessible healing remedies in homes, grocery stores, hospitals and hospice facilities – to make herbs available no matter the setting and circumstance
- Where to source high-quality herbs and reputable resources for continued studies
- Strategies for holistic self care for the Doula and caregiver
- How to assess patient and family needs for integrating nutritional and herbal support
- Why a holistic approach integrating herbs and food can support body, mind, and spirit
- A history of rituals and remedies used in end-of-life care
- How to find herbal tools within reach, no matter the end-of-life environment
- Simple rituals to bring spiritual care into end-of-life settings
- Recipes and preparation methods including herbal teas, nourishing snacks, soups, aromatic remedies, elixirs
- A plethora of resources for sourcing herbal remedies and further study
- Physiology basics and plant remedies to support areas including nervous system, skin, and digestion
- and more…
Tuition
- Tuition is $297 ($247 if you register by early bird deadline)
- 12 Continuing Education Units are available for an additional $15 processing fee for Nurses, Midwives, Massage Therapists, Respiratory Therapists, and Dietitians in Florida; other licensing boards in other states may also approve credits.
- Scholarships are available.
About Your Instructors
Emily Ruff is a community herbalist who has practiced the art and science of plant healing for fifteen years, and has integrated herbs into hospice settings for over a decade. Her studies have taken her around three continents where she has studied under healers of many traditions, including an apprenticeship under renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. She is a death doula, a Hospice volunteer, and has worked in ceremony and ritual at end-of-life with family, friends, and community.
Her background in gardening and botany came in childhood while wandering the wilderness and digging in the sandy soils of Florida with her grandfather, a tobacco farmer turned urban gardener, and her father, a botany and astronomy professor. Emily’s classes have been described as “heart-filled,” “enriching,” and “empowering,” creating a bridge between the teachings of our ancestors and the technologies of our modern world.
Marie Frohlich is a certified holistic health coach and herbalist. She has been a champion for vitality and balance in the workplace AND at home for over 20 years – specializing in self-care and reducing stress, she uses a holistic and experiential approach to engage and inspire through individual and group coaching, workshops and organizational retreats. She is Vitality Champion with the Coaching Center of Vermont and Principal of TaprootHerbals.com. You can find out more about Marie at www.MarieFrohlich.com
Lora Krall – As a nurse herbalist, Lora incorporates her 35 year career in healthcare with a lifetime study of nature, blending the best of both worlds into her work as an herbalist. She has taught at various conferences in the Midwest and has most recently been published in Rosemary Gladstar’s book, Fire Cider: 101 Zesty Recipes. She is a teaching assistant for The Science and Art of Herbalism course.
Shay DeGrandis – Shay is a community herbalist, kitchen medicine maker, plant walker, ancestor talker, celebrant and animist working in the Orlando area. Her practice focuses on guiding clients through stress, anxiety, and heartbreak to assist in alleviating various physical and emotional manifestations through nutritional and herbal support, mindfulness, creativity, ancestral tending and grief care. From 2016-2019 she studied with Earth Traditions in Wisconsin; Celebrant Foundation and Institute; Orphan Wisdom School with Stephen Jenkinson, and worked as a hospice volunteer with VITAS in Chicago. Her previous training as a story-teller, death doula, home funeral guide and celebrant informs her work as a community herbalist.