The Death Class Series
Bridging the Clinical and the Sacred
Over the last 150 years, death has gone from a natural, shared, and sacred part of life to something medicine treats as a failure. Most of us were never taught what the dying body is actually doing, and medical training rarely closes that gap. So death doulas, caregivers, and nurses end up filling it at the bedside, often without the knowledge or the language to do it with confidence.
The Death Class Series is an eight-week live continuing education course that changes that. Death doulas, end-of-life caregivers, and medical clinicians learn the exact same material, side by side. That way everyone supporting a dying person and their family works from shared, accurate knowledge and gives families one consistent, compassionate message.
The course is taught by Sarah J. Sparen, BSN, RN, a hospice and palliative care nurse with over a decade of bedside experience guiding people through the dying process. It brings together two bodies of work. The first is the biology and physiology of dying, so you can trust what the body is doing. The second is the truths, myths, rights, and choices of the medical model, so you can help families move through it.
What You'll Learn
How the dying body works: the three stages of dying, organ systems, and the body's own built-in comfort chemistry
Why aging and decline are nature, not failure, and how to say that with compassion
What a falling oxygen level or a changing breath pattern really means
The real data behind CPR, plus comfort-focused symptom management
Every legal end-of-life pathway (palliative care, hospice, VSED, and MAID), presented accurately and without bias
The senses at the end, terminal lucidity, end-of-life visions, and your role as an advocate
The Eight Weeks
Why We Don't Learn This
The Aging Body: Decline Is Nature, Not Failure
The Three Stages of Dying & Organ Systems
The Body's Own Chemistry, Part One
The Body's Own Chemistry, Part Two
When We Interfere: CPR & Comfort-Focused Symptom Management
Navigating Choice: Palliative, Hospice, VSED & MAID
The Senses, the Mystery, and the Advocate
How It Works
Each one-hour session meets live on Zoom, and every class is recorded. Each week includes a bedside application and discussion questions, so the material goes straight from the screen into the room. Everyone who completes the series receives a Certificate of Completion.
Workshop One
Trusting the Body. The Biology and Physiology of Dying
“Nothing is as terrifying as our imagining of it”
Most of us will sit beside someone we love as they die, yet almost no one is taught what the body is actually doing. Without that knowledge, the natural signs of dying can look like suffering, and fear fills the space where understanding should be.
Trusting the Body walks you through the dying process as it really happens. It's taught by Sarah J. Sparen, BSN, RN, a hospice and palliative care nurse with over a decade at the bedside. You'll learn the three stages of dying and what each organ system is doing underneath them. You'll see why appetite fades and breathing changes, and what a dropping oxygen number really means. You'll also learn about the body's own built-in comfort chemistry (ketosis, endorphins, oxytocin) that helps ease the way at the very end.
This workshop is for anyone: future caregivers, family members, death doulas, and clinicians. You'll leave able to recognize what's happening, explain it with compassion, and trust a process the body was designed to do.
What You'll Learn
The biology of dying — what is genetically encoded and why it matters
Body vs. spirit: the distinction between physical decline and the departing self
Disease-specific symptom trajectories and what to expect
Recognizing & interpreting physical signs as death approaches
Evidence-based symptom management: comfort over intervention
How interfering with the natural dying process can increase discomfort
Learning to trust the body's innate wisdom — for patients, families & clinicians
WORKSHOP TWO
Navigating the Medical Model. Myths, rights and Choices
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”
Over the last 150 years, medicine learned to treat death as a failure to be fought rather than a natural part of life. As a result, patients and families often face end-of-life decisions surrounded by confusing language, hopeful-sounding treatments, and defaults they never knowingly chose.
Navigating the Medical Model gives you the truth behind the system. It's taught by Sarah J. Sparen, BSN, RN, who has spent her career guiding patients and families through goals-of-care conversations. You'll learn why "treatable" doesn't mean "curable," the real survival data behind CPR, and why every patient is "full code" unless they say otherwise. You'll also learn the difference between palliative care and hospice, and every legal end-of-life option, presented clearly and without bias.
This workshop is for anyone who wants to make informed choices for themselves or advocate for someone they love: families, caregivers, death doulas, and clinicians alike.
What You'll Learn
How the medical model came to see death as failure
Advance directives, living wills, and MOLST/POLST
Hospice & palliative care — separating myth from reality, eligibility, timing and what each covers
The truth about CPR: survival statistics and what informed consent really requires
VSED: process, support & legality
Medical Aid in Dying (MAID): eligibility, access & ethical considerations
How to advocate within — and around — the current medical model
Tools for honest, empowered conversations with care teams
