Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN
Reclaim reverence for death as a sacred rite of passage — and bring comfort, presence, and awareness to the process of dying through the life-honoring wisdom, rituals, and practices of the death doula.
Discover miraculous end-of-life phenomena around death and its stages to reshape your relationship with your mortality and better navigate the transition.
Most of us have been conditioned to view death as a medical event — yet for thousands of years it was revered as a sacred passage and return to spirit.
Having witnessed thousands of deaths across cultures firsthand through her work as an oncology and hospice nurse and death doula, Suzanne O’Brien says that while humans may have been conditioned to fear death,it’s not a medical failure or something to fix and dread.
It’s something to honor.
Time and again, the dying share profoundly transformative experiences — physical, emotional, or spiritual — that reveal death’s divine presence. ..
... and with it, a path toward greater connection, peace, awareness, and understanding of how we can live fully with greater meaning, joy, and purpose.
What do the dying most want us to know? This wisdom can catalyze a new way of engaging with life before, during, and after physical death.
When we restore sacredness to death, it not only reduces fear — it brings greater meaning to life, allows for a deeper sense of closure, and helps ease the grieving process for those left behind.
During this empowering course with Suzanne, founder of Doulagivers Institute, you’ll be gently guided back to the wisdom of death as a natural, spiritual process as you learn to identify and navigate its stages with skillful awareness, compassion, and love.
You’ll dissolve layers of cultural fear by understanding the emotional, physical, and spiritual phases of death — from the initial shock of a terminal diagnosis to the final breath and beyond.
Along the way, you’ll hear stories of redemption from Suzanne’s work at the bedside — and learn many of the practical tools used by death doulas to address issues, such as:
- Responding to the emotional shock of a terminal diagnosis
- Recognizing the cues and stages of the active dying process to better support someone through the process with grace, clarity, and confidence
- Creating sacred space for a comforting and peaceful transition
- Facilitating meaningful life reviews and legacy letter processes
- Using ceremony to honor grief, foster healing, and celebrate connection
- Exploring end-of-life options, including eco-conscious burial practices and memorial planning to ease the burden on loved ones
These tools will help you — and those you care for — remain present, grounded, and heart-centered throughout this tender and transformative passage.
Whether you’re a caregiver, a spiritual seeker, or someone ready to explore your own relationship with mortality, this course will empower you with the tools, presence, and perspective to walk with courage through the mystery of death — and allow it to teach you how to truly live.
Death is not simply a medical experience — it’s a human one.
All living beings travel through the stages of death and dying as part of our ongoing evolution... and much of it is quite miraculous and beautiful once you know what to look for.
During this empowering course, you’ll:
- Explore the historical and spiritual origins of death as a sacred rite of passage — and how the fear of death took over this natural process
- Navigate the phases of death with greater awareness, peace, strength, clarity, and skills that bring comfort and connection
- Understand the meaning of a true “good death” — and learn rituals, practices, and reflections that reshape your relationship with death and support peaceful transitioning
- Learn to spot the signs of someone who is heading into the transition phase — the natural stages that the body is shutting down, as well as interventions that enable you to respond with confidence
- Explore the Doulagivers 3-question technique for creating calm and clarity
- Contemplate common phenomena at the end of life — and the incredible connections between NDEs, psychedelics studies, what Suzanne has witnessed, and what dying patients say
- Hear real-life stories of those who found forgiveness, understanding, awakenings, closure, and more at the end of their lives
- Be guided on how to design your own ceremony — choosing music, poems, or symbols that reflect how you’d like to be remembered — and share it with someone close
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
In this 7-week transformational course, Suzanne will guide you through the skills and competencies you’ll need to identify and navigate the stages of death and dying with greater skill, awareness, and compassion.
Join the Livestream — or Stream Later to Watch at Your Convenience
You’ll connect with Suzanne and experience her teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Suzanne’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Course Sessions 2025-08-05 9:00:00 am
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Suzanne. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to reclaim reverence for death and dying through life-honoring rituals and practices of the death doula.
Module 1: Reclaim Death as a Sacred Rite of Passage to Ease Fear & Experience Greater Peace, Connection & Joy (2025-08-05 9:00:00 am)
Explore how the modern fear of death — and the systems that institutionalized it — have caused a profound disconnection from one of life’s most sacred rites of passage.
Suzanne will share her personal journey of witnessing more than 1,000 deaths across cultures, revealing the universal truths about what matters most at the end of life.
What the dying have shared illuminates the deeper purpose of our time as humans — and how we can live with greater connection, peace, joy, and love.
Begin to reconnect with death — not as a medical failure, but as a natural, spiritual transition that holds the potential to bring healing, peace, and even transformation.
This is an inspiring invitation to reclaim your ancient wisdom and rewrite the story of how you die.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- The historical and spiritual origins of death as a sacred rite of passage
- How the fear of death and institutionalization have disrupted our connection to life’s natural cycle
- Why the time is now for a global end-of-life care revolution
- How witnessing over 1,000 deaths across cultures — in Zimbabwe, Thailand, and Guatemala — reveals the universal truths and lost sacredness around death
- A personal reflection ritual to contemplate your earliest memory of death and how it shaped your beliefs
Module 2: Ground in Presence & Calm to Navigate the Shock Phase After a Terminal Diagnosis (2025-08-12 9:00:00 am)
The moment of a terminal diagnosis is often filled with fear, confusion, and emotional chaos that initiates the shock phase and first response. The shock phase often sparks within us the need to “do” something. That need is rooted in fear.
Suzanne will share how shock shows up in different ways. She’ll offer compassionate tools to ground yourself and others in presence and calm during this phase….
… and how you can offer emotional first aid, validate the experience of fear, and begin restoring a sense of control during a time that often feels anything but.
Hear real-life stories that illuminate how the smallest actions can make the biggest difference in helping families begin their journey with dignity and confidence.
Who we are “being” in this moment can inspire aligned action — actions that are attuned to the true holistic needs of all involved.
In this module, you’ll:
- Recognize the emotional chaos of the shock phase — for both patients and families
- Receive core tools for stabilizing emotions — presence, listening, and validation
- Understand how to build trust around death and transitioning, helping to restore a sense of control
- Listen to the story of Michael and Christine — how one morphine syringe and a terrified son became the catalyst for a sacred journey
- Explore using “The Doulagivers 3 Question Technique” to create calm and clarity, in a patient case study
- Be guided in “The Sacred Pause” breathwork practice to ground, access presence, and center during overwhelm
- Learn a practice for attuning to the needs of others that considers, “What can I do for you right now?”
Module 3: Create Sacred Space for Comfort, Reflection & Peace During the Stabilization Phase (2025-08-19 9:00:00 am)
Once the initial shock has passed, there’s a window of opportunity — infuse the time that remains with deep meaning, connection, and peace.
Suzanne will share how you can help individuals and families use this phase to reflect on life, express love, seek forgiveness, and create a sensory environment that soothes the soul.
Explore how music, nature, storytelling, and touch can bring comfort — and how simple practices like life review and legacy letters can help people feel complete and whole.
This is the heart of what it means “to die well.”
In this module, you’ll:
- Explore how to use this phase to support quality of life and healing conversations
- Discover the importance of life review, legacy sharing, and the power of forgiveness
- Learn how to create a sensory and soul-nourishing environment
- Listen to the story of the father who said “I love you” for the first time in decades — and the peace that followed
- Be guided in a “Life Review & Legacy Letters” exercise to reflect on how you would want to be remembered — and write notes to your family and others, clarifying what’s truly important to you and bringing gratitude and love to the connections you share
Module 4: Confidently Prepare for Transitioning By Understanding the Signs & Stages of the Active Dying Process (2025-08-26 9:00:00 am)
In the final days and hours of life, everything becomes heightened — emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Demystify the signs and stages of the active dying process.
Understand how to support someone through this time with grace, clarity, and confidence.
Learn how to read the cues of the body, comfort the spirit, and create a sacred space for transition.
Through heartfelt storytelling and simple practices, be guided to walk beside others through one of life’s most profound thresholds with reverence and peace.
In this module, you’ll:
- Recognize the signs of someone heading into the transition phase, the natural stages that the body is shutting down, and learn interventions so you can respond with confidence
- Explore how to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual comfort
- Contemplate why people wait to die — and how to support them lovingly through it
- Understand the meaning of a true “good death” by listening to Maureen’s story
- Be guided in the “Creating a Sacred Space” practice to design a “graduation/transition plan” using symbolic items, candles, music, scents — whatever brings peace and beauty
Module 5: Transform Sorrow Into Remembrance Through Sacred Ceremony & Ritual (2025-09-02 9:00:00 am)
As we rediscover more natural and conscious ways of dying, we’re also reviving meaningful rituals for honoring life after death.
Explore the power of ceremony to hold grief, celebrate legacy, and support healing.
Learn about the rise of home funerals, green burials, and personalized memorials…
… and how families across cultures have always used ritual to transform sorrow into sacred remembrance.
Through your own design exercise, begin to envision how ritual can be a gift to your loved ones and a reflection of your unique essence.
In this module, you’ll:
- Discover the rise of home funerals, green burials, and personalized ceremonies
- Learn how ritual creates meaning and supports healthy grief
- Explore cultural wisdom as it relates to healing grief — from Jewish shiva to Thai Buddhist traditions
- Listen to Jared’s story — transforming grief into euphoric celebration during a 3-day wake
- Be guided on how to design your own ceremony — choosing music, poems, or symbols that reflect how you’d like to be remembered — and share with someone close
Module 6: Discover the Environmental Impact of Death & the Value of Eco-Conscious Endings (2025-09-09 9:00:00 am)
What if the way we die could be our final act of love for the planet?
Explore the environmental consequences of modern burial and cremation practices — and the inspiring movement toward green, regenerative end-of-life options.
Learn how to align your values with your final arrangements, reduce your ecological footprint, and advocate for earth-honoring practices that bring us back into harmony with nature.
From body composting to conservation burials, discover how the sacred return to the earth is both a personal and planetary act of care.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- The toxic truth about conventional burials and cremation
- Natural burials, body composting, and the return to earth
- Aligning death care with love for the planet
- The story of Shatzi’s serene, preplanned green burial — an act of environmental stewardship and personal empowerment
- A reflective exercise that explores eco-conscious death options and how they reflect one’s life values — pick your top three choices to get clear on the pros, cons, and costs
Module 7: Embrace Death as a Teacher & Learn to Fully Live Through the Universal Wisdom of Dying (2025-09-16 9:00:00 am)
In this final and most personal module, uncover the spiritual teachings and universal truths shared by the dying — truths that offer profound insight into how to live more fully.
Hear reports from those who have had a near-death experience — what they’ve seen and experienced right before they died — and the incredible similarities found in studies of patients who used psychedelics at the end of life.
Suzanne will also share transformative lessons she’s learned at the bedside of those who were actively dying, including stories of mystical experiences, last words, and the unmistakable wisdom that emerges when people are truly awake at the end.
Reflect on your own legacy, embrace death as a teacher, and live your life with greater purpose, presence, and love.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Common phenomena at the end of life — such as the surge of energy, waiting for someone to arrive or for a date or event to occur, or waiting for someone to leave the bedside
- The incredible connections between NDEs, the studies of psychedelics at the end of life, what Suzanne has witnessed, and what dying patients say
- The four truths dying people often share — and how death shows us how to truly live
- The story of a man who was estranged from his daughter for years but was able to ask for forgiveness at the end of life to heal both of them
- A reflection to write your own brief eulogy — an awakening exercise on your legacy and on the precious gift that time is
SPECIAL BONUS OFFER
In addition to Suzanne ’s transformative 7-module course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
How NDEs Align With What the Dying Tell Us
Video Conversation With Suzanne B. O’Brien RN, and Eben Alexander, III, MD
Join Suzanne and neurosurgeon Eben Alexander for an illuminating conversation on what lies beyond the veil. Together, they explore Eben’s profound near-death experience and the ways it reshaped his understanding of life, death, and consciousness. Suzanne will share deeply moving stories from her work at the bedside, highlighting the striking similarities in what so many patients describe as they near the end of life. This intimate hour offers gentle insight, comfort, and a broader perspective on the sacred journey we all will one day take. Come with an open heart and discover how these extraordinary experiences can transform how we live today.
End-of-Life Symptom Comfort Tracker
PDF by Suzanne B. O’Brien on Symptom Management
This tracker helps create tight symptom management for your dying loved one to provide the highest quality of daily living every single day (the goal of great end of life care). As a hospice nurse, Suzanne identified five categories that family caregivers need to assess every day. When they do, issues are identified and managed to ensure that the dying person experiences the best end-of-life journey possible.
3 Months Free: Universal Life Mastery (ULM) Membership
Community and Classes by Suzanne O’Brien
Join a community focused on mastering the Universal Laws for self-transformation and leading a more joyful, meaningful life. Each week enjoy three live classes and one healing meditation. There are three phases in Suzanne’s Universal Life Mastery program (ULM). “U” is understanding there are Universal Laws that govern everything and cannot be changed. “L” is life, understanding you are a human being, and this life’s experience is for lessons to expand your soul’s consciousness. “M” is mastery, when you dissolve the ego and live in your truth.
What People Are Saying About Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN…
Hospice nurse and New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to Fear
New York Times bestselling author
Bestselling author of The Beauty of What Remains and For You When I Am Gone
NYU School of Medicine
Join the Global Community
The Good Death offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Suzanne B. O’Brien, RN
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from Suzanne B. O’Brien, RN, founder of The International Doulagivers Institute and Trainings — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you on how to reclaim the sacredness of death to live more fully now. Course sessions are on 2025-08-05 9:00:00 am
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Seven 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the Zoom call to interact, share, and do additional practices to help further integrate the weekly lessons. Practice sessions are available for live attendance only and are not recorded for playback. If you’re unable to attend the calls live, the Facebook online community group allows you to connect with each other and find alternative times to interact.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, The Good Death
We feel honored that Suzanne B. O’Brien, RN has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with the founder of The International Doulagivers Institute and Trainings whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about learning the ways of the death doula, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE The Good Death — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before August 19, 2025 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN
New York Times bestselling author
President of the Elizabeth KublerRoss Foundation
Author of 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying
About Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN
EDIT
Suzanne B. O’Brien, RN, is a speaker, bestselling author, elder advocate, and wellness warrior. Suzanne, who spent most of her nursing career in hospice care and oncology care, was struck by this intense area of healthcare and the many gaps in education and support for both the patient and the loved ones. In 2008, Suzanne began offering free community educational seminars at her local library to teach families how to care for their loved ones at the end of life.
The ultimate concept of hospice care is that the nurse manages the care of the dying patient and teaches the family how to do the same. This concept is unfortunately far from successful due to the overwhelming fear of death (the number one fear in the U.S.) and the late period of time that people actually receive hospice services.
Seeing this systemic break and the compounded amount of suffering it causes has fueled Suzanne’s passion to help teach families the life-changing skill of how to care for their loved ones before they actually need it. This training and concept proved so successful that Suzanne now travels to communities, offering free trainings in person and on live webinars so that people around the world can attend.
Suzanne was named a "Worldwide Leader In Healthcare" in 2016 by The International Nurses Association for her humanitarian work.