End-of-Life & Death Care Workshop
We are delighted to share that we've invited two amazing women from California to lead an End-of-Life and Death Care Workshop at Full Bloom this summer. We met Judy Lay a few years back at a Vigil training on Orcas Island and was blown away by her presence and transmission of the work. Judy is a Certified Death Doula and volunteers for her local Hospice and FCLD. Her experience shines through her trainings. Together with her dear friend and colleague, Akhila Murphy, they bring their passion and commitment for a more supported and empowered dying process to their trainings. Akhila is a trained end-of-life doula, death educator, and founding director of Full Circle of Living and Dying (FCLD) a nonprofit in Northern California. For over 10 years she has guided the organization in providing advance end-of-life (EOL) care planning, offering in-home support, and guidance with after death care and home-based death ceremonies.
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​This is a rare opportunity to train in-person with two women who embody this level of experience and skill in addition to heart, wisdom and purpose.
What we’ll explore:
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The Role and Services of an End of Life Doula
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Co-Creating a Plan of Care for those Facing a Terminal Diagnosis
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Exploring Legacy Projects, Goodbye Letters and Rituals
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Stages and Needs of the Dying and How Doulas Help at each Stage
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Learning Non-medical Techniques for Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Support
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Hands-on Learning to Care for a Body in the Home after Death
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40- hour End-0f-Life Doula Certificate of Completion
EVENT DETAILS:
Thursday 1-5
Friday 9-5
Saturday 9-5
Sunday 9-5
REGISTRATION DETAILS:
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Dates: June 5-8th, 2025
Cost: $450 - $600 (sliding scale)
Location: Full Bloom Sanctuary (off of Everson Goshen Rd, Bellingham, WA 98226 - exact address will be sent out after registration is complete)
Registration closes: Thursday, May 22nd
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How to Register (2 step process):
1) Email info@deepercurrentspnw.com with name, contact info and amount you plan to pay
2) Make payment through Venmo: Micaela Musterer @micaflower (phone number confirmation 3333) OR PayPal: micaela_landry@yahoo.com
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*Space is Limited
*Registration ends 2 weeks before event on 5/22/25
*If you don't have Venmo or PayPal and need to make the payment in another way, please contact us at info@deepercurrentspnw.com.
Meet the Facilitators
Rev Judy Lay
After living in NM for 43 years, Judy retired her family psychotherapy practice and moved in 2011 to the wildness of off-grid living with her son and his family. She helped build a 26’ straw bale RoundHouse and Life Spiral to hold workshops, classes, and ceremonies. Living now in Grass Valley for ease of community connections and friends, the Life Spiral and RoundHouse continue to be a community ceremonial place for learning and expanding.
Ordained in 2011 as a Minister of Walking Prayer with the Center for Sacred Studies, Judy brings reverence for all of Creation into her personal interactions and ceremonies. She was among the original 5 women from CSS who created and continue to provide Elder Initiation Ceremonies. She loves providing workshops and holding Initiation ceremonies for all those exploring and seeking to be in service as a conscious Elder.
Judy has also been a Hospice volunteer since 2012. She facilitates Bereavement Circles for family members who’ve lost a loved one in the past year. She provides spiritual care for hospice patients and is the coordinator for the Dying Vigil team at Hospice of the Foothills in Nevada County. These volunteer opportunities have provided varied experiences of death and dying and the deep and ongoing relationship we have with grief. She is humbly learning from these experiences how to be with her own dying, as the last rite of passage, when it arrives.
Having recently been certified as a Death Doula, her sacred work continues to expand towards the Greater Mystery of Death. She is committed to changing the prevailing stories of medicalized death and leaving family participation out of the journey. Judy volunteers for Full Circle Living and Dying, co-creating with people their plans for end of life.
Judy is Grandmother to 6 grandchildren, ages 13-29, and mother of three. She is a fiber artist—wet felting, paper making and treasure journals are her favorite creative things to do with her hands. She has taught many and continues to teach wet felting in the old traditional way—a deep love of making beauty is part of her soul’s journey.
Akhila Murphy
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Akhila is one of the original co-founders of Full Circle of Living and Dying (FCLD). She is a trained End-of-Life Doula and serves on the board of directors as Founding Director/President.
As an End-of-life doula, Akhila consults with families and loved ones to co-create an end-of-life plan of care as a path to bring about the best possible transition through end-of-life. She also offers home-based after-death care guidance, educating people on the option of death-care ceremonies performed by loved ones as a sort of in-home wake. As an educator, she offers guidance at the bedside, group training sessions, community events, and in-home consultations.
Akhila began death work in 2009 as a patient care volunteer for Hospice of the Foothills in Nevada County, CA . Volunteer work included being a vigil coordinator, and a bereavement support group facilitator.
Akhila’s training includes: Graduate of Final Passages Institute of Conscious Dying (2014), Deathwalker Ceremony training (2016), INELDA End-of-Life Doula Training (2017), International End-of-Life Doula Conference in Maui (2018), and in 2019 Akhila earned EOL Doula certification after completing extensive coursework with Inspired Endings End-of-Life Doula training.
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Akhila continues her death-care study and, in 2022, received training from the American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying as End-of-life Doula Bedside attendant for aid-in-dying care. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from CSU Sacramento.
Akhila is also founder of Dragonfly Wellness in Living and Dying which originated as a Dragonfly Yoga Studio in Penn Valley, CA (2005-2017). It was during this time she studied Reiki and received Reiki Master teachings. She finds Reiki can assist the spiritual process at end-of-life. "I think my passion for the beauty and profound benefits of a sincere yoga practice helped direct me into the compassion of end-of-life care. I feel fortunate to be able to serve in healthy living skills and proper conscious dying. The process is unique for every individual."