Matteo & Me, age 8
I’m Paola, and I’ve been grieving for as long as I can remember.
I support people through the liminal spaces - between life and death, past and present, the seen and unseen, solitude and community. Whether you are facing the end of life, navigating loss, or seeking rituals that bring meaning to transition, I walk beside you with care, reverence, experience, and deep listening.
For over a decade, I have worked intimately with grief, witnessing its many layers and the worlds within it. I have sat beside the dying, captured stories before they faded, and shaped rituals that bring beauty and ceremony to our endings. I have helped families remember how to grieve together, supported individuals in their final days, and guided those learning to live with loss. My work is both practical and poetic - rooted in remembrance, ritual, and modern deathcare practices, and I always honor both the tangible and the unseen.
Grief was woven into my bones early. When I was eight, I lost my twin brother, Matteo, to leukemia. It’s strange how our deepest losses can, in time, reveal our greatest gifts. From a young age, I walked alongside death - learning her language and ways. That path led me deep into the underworld, and when I emerged, I carried gifts to offer: death doula support, custom legacy projects, grief companionship, and educational guidance for individuals, families, and organizations. In all of my work, I feel Matteo walking beside me, guiding me.
I believe that the more we grieve, the more permission we give others to do the same - and in turn, the more reverence we hold for life. Grief, at its core, is love remembering itself. And it is meant to be held in community. Each month, I host a grief-tending circle on Zoom, a space where anyone who needs to speak their sorrow aloud or simply be witnessed is welcome.
Grieving is the work of remembering. And in facing death, we come fully alive. These truths are not always easy to hold - but you don’t have to hold them alone. If you are navigating loss, seeking ritual, or in need of compassionate end-of-life support, I am here.
A SPACE OF BELONGING
Grief, at its core, is love remembering itself. And it is meant to be held IN COMMUNITY.⤵
Our deepest losses can, in time, reveal our greatest gifts.
Learning & Lineage
My path into this work has been shaped by deep study, mentorship, and direct experience - guided by the unseen and witnessed by those who have walked with me. I honor my teachers, my ancestors, and the many ways wisdom has revealed itself along the way.
In addition to my lived experience, my work is informed by ancestral death doula practices, somatic and energetic healing, ritual arts, storytelling as a transformational practice, and regenerative leadership. I hold a degree in Creative Writing & Design and have spent over a decade weaving my background in communications, intuitive studies, and deathwork into a body of work that serves individuals, families, and communities. Below are some of the most meaningful trainings, studies, and initiations that have shaped and continue to shape my practice:
Selected Studies & Certifications
The Embodied Death Doula – Certificate in embodied death studies, La Mort (2024)
School of Sacred Death – Certified Sacred Death Practitioner, La Mort (2025)
The Etheric Garden Apprenticeship – Advanced training in vibrational medicine & plant spirit communication (Level I, 2022; Level II, 2024)
The Poison Path & Ancestral Plant Medicine Immersion – Folk healing, visionary plants & ritual practice (2023)
The Rites of Passage Guide Training – Nature-based ceremonial facilitation & initiatory deathwork (In Progress, 2024)
Death Doula 201 – Advanced practice & integrative deathcare, Deathwives (2022)
Embodied Leadership & Somatic Healing Certification – Internal Family Systems & trauma-informed care (2022)
The Emergent Facilitation Intensive – Adaptive leadership, community healing & transformative justice (2022)
The Regenerative Practice Business Cohort – Applied principles of renewal-based business & ethical entrepreneurship (2021)
Sacred Storytelling & Circle Work Mentorship – Oral tradition, mythic integration & narrative healing (2017–2018)
Additionally, my practice is shaped by ongoing studies in grief tending, regenerative systems, and the intersection of ritual, story, and embodied presence. I draw wisdom from the work of Joanna Macy (Active Hope), Francis Weller (The Wild Edge of Sorrow), Stephen Jenkinson (Die Wise), Martín Prechtel (The Smell of Rain on Dust), Bayo Akomolafe (These Wilds Beyond Our Fences), Dr. Sunita Puri (That Good Night), Dr. Pauline Boss (Ambiguous Loss), Thomas Moore (Dark Nights of the Soul), Malidoma Patrice Somé (The Healing Wisdom of Africa), and Dr. Alan Wolfelt (Companioning the Bereaved), among others.

Upcoming CLASSES ⤵
KEY DETAILS
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