weaving loss into life
Grief Care & Death Care Collective
Membership Information
We invite aligned practitioners in the Portland, OR and Atlanta, GA areas to submit a proposal below to join our Grief and/or Death Care Collective Directories.
These directories can be accessed by grievers coming to our website for resources and professionals hoping to refer clients for work outside their scope. Our Death Care Stewards turn to these directories first to find care for the individual and families they support. Our hope is to help build a community of care around grief, dying, and loss.
At The Grief House, this work has never been about money. At the same time, keeping our care collectives operational requires real resources: maintaining our spaces, supporting our infrastructure, and ensuring that every death care worker in our community has access to training and insurance coverage
Our membership model is designed to reflect that reality honestly, while making sure financial barriers never prevent people from doing this work with us.
Both the Death and Grief Care Collective Directories offer:*
No-Cost Membership - Some roles and contributions are themselves a form of investment in the collective. Board members, DCC leads, and anyone who offers free or donation-based monthly gatherings through The Grief House, or who provides their services to the public at no charge, receives membership at no cost. This work sustains us — and we want to honor that.
Trade Membership** - We're also open to full or partial trades for skills and support that keep us running: tech and social media support, website maintenance, fundraising, legal consulting, tending our physical spaces, and help responding to griever emails. If you have a gift not listed here that you'd like to offer, we'd love to hear about it.
Paid Membership - For those who are able, paid membership helps fund the work that benefits everyone in the collective — including background checks we cover for all members, free collaborator training, and the infrastructure that makes this community possible.
Grief Care Directory Membership:
$25/month or $250/year
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Listing on the Grief Care directory page
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Direct Referrals & Promotions - via google ads for our grief care work as well as internal referrals
Death Care Collective Membership Tiers:
Level 1 - $25/month or $250/year
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Listing on The Grief House Death Care directory & addition to the Grief Care directory if applicable
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Invitation to submit articles to a seasonal death care newsletter
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Connection to community - DCC member communication portals (such as WhatsApp & website member community boards) and in person meet ups
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Direct Referrals & Promotions - via google ads for the DCC as well as Death Care Steward referrals
Level 2 - $40/month or $400/year
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Listing on The Grief House Death Care directory & addition to the Grief Care directory if applicable
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Invitation to submit articles to a death care newsletter
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Connection to community - DCC member communication portals (such as WhatsApp & website member community boards) and in person meet ups
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Direct Referrals & Promotions - via google ads for the DCC as well as Death Care Steward referrals
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Free use of the house (as available) for meet-ups between members
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Access to recordings of the Compassionate Death Companion virtual training
Level 3 - $55/month or $550/year
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Listing on The Grief House Death Care directory & addition to the Grief Care directory if applicable
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Invitation to submit articles to a death care newsletter
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Connection to community - DCC member communication portals (such as WhatsApp & website member community boards) and in person meet ups
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Direct Referrals & Promotions - via google ads for the DCC as well as Death Care Steward referrals
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Free use of the house (as available) for meet-ups between members
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Enrollment in the Compassionate Death Companion training & access to recordings
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Insurance coverage for Death Care Collective activities***
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An invitation to lead a Life After Loss kinship series
Every tier includes what we think matters most: a listing in our Care directory, the opportunity to contribute to our death care newsletter, and connection to a thoughtful and experienced community with whom to collaborate and share knowledge.
As you move up in tiers these are additional benefits including enrollment in the Compassionate Death Companion Series, an invitation to lead a Life After Loss kinship series and liability insurance coverage under The Grief House policy..
The Compassionate Death Companion Series is a four-month learning experience developed by Grief House board member, Death Care Collective Lead and Death Care Steward, Alex Wilson. It runs fall through winter and is led by Alex alongside a rotating panel of practitioners with expertise across different aspects of death care. Folks with death doula training will also find this course helpful to better familiarize themselves with philosophies and practices we lean towards at The Grief House and to connect with peers and experienced veterans of this work.Whether you're new to this work or already trained as a death doula, it offers both a strong foundation and a deeper connection to the philosophies and practices we align with at The Grief House.
Topics included in the Compassionate Death Companion Series:
The Role of the Community Death Supporter
Honoring Lineage — Exploring Past and Present Practices Around Death and Dying
Capitalism & Dying
Reconnecting to Ritual
Legal Concerns
Death Paperwork
Physician Assisted Death
The Dying Body
How to Touch a Dying Person
Dying Outside the Mainstream Medical System - Logistics & Considerations
The Space Beyond Death
Life After Loss is an adaptable, year-long curriculum for kinship communities. We currently offer this group for spouse loss in Portland and plan to expand to spouse loss and parent loss in both Portland and Atlanta by early 2027.
Cohorts come together in person, monthly, for a facilitated gathering and are encouraged to meet mid month without facilitation. At each in-person gathering the group is offered prompts for reflection, conversation and practice. These prompts orient to seasonal themes:
Spring
Growth, identity, and becoming
Spring holds tenderness, hope, and uncertainty.
Summer
Living, connection, and meaning
Summer brings visibility, energy, and comparison.
Autumn
Integration, memory, and carrying forward
Winter
Habits, rituals, and routines
Winter is about survival, structure, and quiet tending.
Space will be provided by The Grief House and income from the cohort will be directed to the facilitator. The core curriculum will be provided to facilitators who are encouraged to reflect your own personality and practice. Many kinship cohorts could be developed, depending upon the experience of the facilitator. The purpose of this series is to explore what it means to remain living after loss. Cohorts develop tools, connection, and gentleness around the ongoing life that continues alongside grief.
Life After Loss can be a powerful way to support a cohort of grievers and deeply broaden a practitioner's connection to a particular kinship community.
*All submissions are subject to approval where our team will assess alignment with our mission.
**Trade memberships will be limited by needs and availability to conduct the trade. Reach out with questions about trades at info@griefhouse.org.
***Background checks conducted & limiting factors for coverage, which will be communicated as needed.