Portland, OR Death Midwife Certification

June 7, 8, & 9, 2024

Hampton Inn & Suites Portland-Pearl District

354 NW 9th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209

FOR INFORMATION CALL 224-501-5443

FOR LODGING CALL 503-222-5200

Friday June 7 - Sunday June 9, 2024

QUESTIONS? CONTACT ANGIE BUCHANAN (224) 501-5443 OR Angie@EarthTraditions.org

For the last 100 years the care of our dead has gradually been turned over to businesses. The recent decade has seen resurgence in families providing end-of-life care to loved ones through home hospice care. As a natural extension of hospice more and more families are choosing to care for their loved ones — before and after death – in their homes.

The work of Death Midwives and home funeral guides does not duplicate the work of professionals such as nurses or funeral directors. We work alongside them and our skills are not medically oriented, they are community, spiritually, traditionally, hands and heart-oriented. We use the ancient and time-proven techniques of an open and compassionate heart, touch, and our voices. This work can be done in any setting, whether in a hospital, nursing facility or a home.

When a loved one’s death is dignified, peaceful and meaningful, it can be a sacred experience for those left behind. Often an event such as this heals family rifts and enables people to reconnect with each other in ways that are life-changing for everyone involved. When families are able to participate in the ending of a loved one’s life it can be very empowering.

Earth Traditions is sponsoring a Death Midwife Certification Training in intensive fashion. This workshop is intended to focus and sharpen our natural skills and to give confidence, credibility and certification to those skills, building community and inspiring us as we embrace the most sacred threshold in the spiral of life, our final passage.

This training encourages participants to work with people before and after death. There is also a strong personal commitment component of this training that encourages community volunteering, especially with Hospice, elder or end-of-life environments such as Children’s Hospitals, AIDS Housing or senior living environments.

In this training you will:
• Learn tools and techniques to midwife the dying.
• Consider family dynamics that occur as someone dies.
• How to determine if a family is a good fit for a home funeral.
• Experience the practice of dying; visioning our own death before we die.
• Learn tools for creating a sacred space for transition, before and after death.
• Legal paperwork required - how to research state laws and build bridges with others presently working in the funeral industry.
• Awareness of the many on-line issues of after death and social networking.
• Will receive certification as a Death Midwife through Earth Traditions.

Who will benefit from this training?
• Patients facing a terminal illness.
• Friends and family caring for someone who is dying.
• Those who want to accompany a loved one through this process.
• Professionals working as birth midwives, or in hospices, hospitals, and nursing homes, who are seeking to expand their skills and effectiveness in assisting with death and dying.
• Healers and therapists who want to learn more.
• Celebrants, Chaplains and Community Activists or Educators.
• Hospice volunteers or those wishing to become volunteers.
• Anyone who wishes to learn more about cultivating presence and personal awareness in death, dying and living well.
• Those who want to prepare gracefully for their own journey through dying into death.
• Those who want to embrace the mystery of death, and educate others as well as participate in what can be the most sacred and deeply moving experience of their life.

The Schedule is:  

• Friday: 9am-8pm

• Saturday: 9am-7pm

• Sunday: 9am-5pm

In order to receive the certification you must be present, on time, and participate in class activities and discussions for the duration of the class each day.

Instructor Angie Buchanan ~ Trained and certified as a Certified Death Midwife by Nora Cedarwind Young, who is one of the founders of the Death Midwife movement, Angie is also a Rite of Passage Officieant, Earth Traditions Minister, Emeritus Board Member of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, Pagan Student Advisor at the University of Chicago, and member of the National Home Funeral Alliance, and the National Chaplains Association. Angie lives and works in the Chicago area of Illinois, and in Wisconsin. She teaches a variety of workshops nationally and internationally. She creates and facilitates ceremonies for all of life’s passages, from birth through the grave. 

Angie says; "I envision individuals and families acknowledging and respecting death by adequately preparing for their own, and by being available for loved ones who find themselves in this threshold." Angie is committed to educating individuals, small groups, families and entire communities or church groups to proudly reclaim family directed choice at end of life.

MEALS AND ACCOMMODATIONS ARE NOT INCLUDED. PLEASE CALL THE VENUE TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS.

503-222-5200

The cost is $750.00. Early rates and payment plans are available on the registration page.

Please make checks payable to:

Earth Traditions PO Box 510562, New Berlin, WI 53151

We also accept Paypal:Info@DeathMidwife.org

REGISTRATIONS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE

(Think of it like a concert ticket)

Meals and accommodations are not included.

Please call the venue to make arrangements. 

503-222-5200

Questions? Contact Angie Buchanan (224) 501-5443 or Angie@DeathMidwife.org