Training and formation
MHbT workshops are experiential by design. Participants listen, practice, discuss, and learn how to bring contemplative presence into real care settings, from a first public introduction through supervised bedside certification.
Quarterly public training
Public introductory workshops are offered quarterly for individual clinicians, chaplains, doulas, volunteers, caregivers, students, clergy, and others drawn to end-of-life accompaniment. Dates and locations, including New York City and Connecticut, are announced as each gathering is confirmed.
Join the public workshop interest list01 / Introductory
A focused first encounter with the practice.
Participants learn the origin and philosophy of MHbT, experience heartbeat-centered contemplative exercises, and explore its place within hospice and palliative care. The session can be adapted for clinical teams, chaplains, doulas, family caregivers, faith communities, or general audiences.
02 / Applied
From understanding the practice to imagining its use.
This expanded workshop explores ways of encountering the heartbeat, adapting MHbT for verbal and nonverbal patients, comfort-care integration, family participation, ethics, cultural humility, trauma awareness, and the final 72 hours of life.
Every workshop is shaped around the host organization. A hospice team may focus on clinical workflow and documentation. A chaplaincy program may spend more time with spiritual assessment and meaning. A doula cohort may center accompaniment at the threshold.
03 / Certification
A 100-hour formation and bedside certification pathway.
The Intensive combines a 25-hour on-site classroom and practical immersion with 75 hours of verified bedside work. The practicum focuses specifically on vigil care during the final 72 hours of life and is completed with guided mentorship, service logs, reflective case review, supervisor verification, and a final competency assessment.
The curriculum includes MHbT facilitation, recognition of the changing rhythms and signs of active dying, nonmedical comfort measures, family support, contemplative formation, ethical boundaries, cultural and spiritual humility, trauma awareness, interdisciplinary hospice collaboration, and sustained reflection on bedside practice.
Participants who successfully complete the full 100-hour pathway earn certification as an MHbT End-of-Life Vigil Doula. This is a specialized program credential focused on the final 72 hours of life, not a state license or a broad certification in every aspect of end-of-life planning and care.
Host a workshop
Host organizations receive a planning conversation, audience-specific learning goals, a tailored session design, and guidance on room setup and participant preparation. Organizations interested in the certification pathway also collaborate on practicum access, bedside supervision, and verification of service hours.
No elaborate production is needed. The strongest MHbT learning spaces are comfortable, quiet, and human.
Begin a host conversation