Death Doula • End-of-Life Support • Grief Tender

Jenni Herchenbach is a death doula, end-of-life coach, and grief specialist. As an occupational therapist, Jenni learned to sit with patients and families in the tender spaces built by grief — grief that accompanies illness, disease, injury, and death. At the beginning of the pandemic, Jenni took a deeper dive into all things death, dying, and grief and received certifications as an end-of-life coach and sacred passage doula. Jenni founded Flourish Collaborative to normalize conversations about death. Jenni is here to encourage and accompany you in the pursuit of your unique, good death.

Meet Jenni Herchenbach

  • What is a death doula?

    A death doula is a trained professional who serves you and your family in preparation for, during, and after death.

    As a death doula, my primary goal is to help you pursue your unique wants and needs surrounding your good death. What does that mean exactly? It means that together we will explore, discern, document, and communicate all of the things that will allow your death to be what you want and need it to be.

    Death is a certainty — by diving into all that surrounds death we plan for that certainty. A death doula’s services can be thought of in the same way a financial planner helps you plan for how your money will be invested for retirement, and the same way your estate attorney helps you plan for the division and distribution of your estate upon your death.

    As your death doula, I will advocate for your specific wants and needs. I will accompany you and support you and your family in preparation for, during, and after your unique good death.

  • What is a good death?

    A good death is a death that comes as close as possible to the unique wants and needs we will explore, discern, document, and communicate together. By diving into five domains of life, we will work to uncover (and pursue) what a good death means to you.

    Death is the only guaranteed future event all living humans will share — and yet, it is talked about so very little. Together, we will normalize conversations about death. First, you and I will have those conversations. We will dive into and work to find answers to questions you may have never pondered. Then, we will carefully document and communicate everything we uncover. When our end-of-life planning is complete - you will have a living, breathing document that details all of your unique wants and needs - everything that comes together to help ensure your good death. (And, that document can change as often as your desires change.)

    Yes, you deserve to have a good death. With your end-of-life plan in hand, I will advocate for you as death approaches, while death happens, and after death occurs.

Grief comes in so many different shapes and sizes. Yes, we grieve death - but we also grieve so much more. We grieve any significant change in our lives — events like illness, divorce, job changes, disappointments, and even pandemics. Sometimes we can’t exactly pinpoint the specific source of our grief — and oftentimes, our grief can be linked to several things simultaneously.

I describe myself as a grief “tender” - and I take that role very seriously. I will carefully and diligently tend to your grief - without judgment and without expectations. As your grief changes and evolves, I will be there - in it with you. I will never tell you to “get over” your grief. I will never give you a timeline for the progression of your grief. I will never use stages to define what you are experiencing. Instead, I will meet you where you are.

Together, we will step into the place grief built and learn how to live - really live - there.

Grief Support

If you learned today that you had 90 days left to live, what would your priorities be? Do you have relationships to mend? Or letters to write? Maybe pets to find new homes for? Or a vigil or funeral to plan? It’s possible your “to-do” list would grow to be enormous — well beyond what you could actually accomplish in 90 days. Why wait until you have an expiration date to plan for your unique good death? We are all going to die - that is certain. The planning for that one guaranteed event can start now. Ideally, we get started before death is imminent. Let’s talk about death.

Let’s Talk About Death

Leaving a Legacy

How do you want to be remembered? What do you want to leave behind? Together, we can explore these questions and more. Do you want to fund a scholarship for high school graduates in your community? Do you want to record storybooks for all of your grandchildren - even those you may never meet? Do you want to create videos or write letters to your dearest beloveds? Do you want to have a big party so you have a chance to say goodbyes to your friends and family? There is no dream too big or detail too small - I can help you imagine and create the legacy you want to leave to live on after your death.