Photo: Kayla V Photography

Liz’s Bio

Hello!

I’m Liz and I come to this work with a blended background in nursing, community grief support, death literacy and creative practice.

Before stepping into end‑of‑life and creative care I spent almost two decades working at the bedside with patients and families in some of the most vulnerable, complex, and deeply human moments of their lives. I witnessed just how profoundly end of life services, death care and creative approaches to loss and grief were needed within our society and knew I wanted to help.

And as a caregiver, I often found myself carrying so much of my own grief, yet opportunities for debriefing or meaningful support were rare. Those experiences made it clear to me that I wanted to support others navigating the moments that can feel the most isolating and to ensure no one has to move through them alone.

When I transitioned from the bedside to working from home as a telehealth nurse in 2020, it gave me the space to reflect on and process what I had witnessed and to also honor the gaps in how our system cares for each other. I went back to school after over 15 years of working at the bedside as an RN, got my BSN and started researching systemic holes.

It was during that time that I truly began defining how I wanted to show up differently. I also experienced a lot of personal loss during those years and it caused me to reflect and really focus on what my path on the “death worker trail” could look like.

Initially, I started an online creative death & care work community to connect with other death and grief workers as well as to hold space for those feeling alone in this work. I hosted many virtual events and met some amazing humans along the way. If you are interested in joining our free online community, please contact me and I will get you an invite. It is still active and has many great resources for creative care practitioners and death and grief tenders.

I am also a multidisciplinary artist and my grief, death work and art often accompany each other.

I would love to collaborate with death doulas, creative care practitioners, artists, and community members. I love exploring community collaborations and events around awareness, ritual, art, music, movement and creative and supportive conversations honoring grief, death and loss. My intentions are to provide both grief and end of life support in whichever way suits the need of each unique individual or community. I am trauma informed and see death as a sacred teacher.

I am currently focused on community based care, but still offer 1:1 services for those who are interested. If you are looking for a creative and unique way to integrate this work I would love to hear from you.

I look forward to connecting!

I didn’t feel called to this work because I love death.
I came to it because of how badly we handle it.

And how as a culture, we simply avoid the conversation.

As a nurse, I witnessed people die in systems that didn’t know how to slow down, tell the truth, or make space for grief.
I saw families try to make impossible decisions without support.
I witnessed grief get treated like something to manage instead of something to honor.

Now I offer to sit with people in the middle of it and help them stay with what’s real. All while trying to bring as many creative elements into the experience.

It’s not about fixing anything.
It’s about not looking away.

Let’s hold creative space for your grief. Both personally and collectively.

Because no one should have to carry this all alone.

Liz’s Continuing Education & Professional Development

  • Becoming Grief Informed: Foundations of Grief Education – Dougy Center

  • Grief Group Facilitator training – Collective for Hope

  • Community Grief course – Deathwives

  • Funeral/Death Celebrant training – Deathwives

  • Rituals & Ceremonies course - Deathwives

  • Family Healing, Psychotherapy, and the Dead webinar - Ancestralmedicine.org

  • (Currently enrolled) Art therapy practitioner certificate (non-clinical) - Scholistico

  • NEDA member

  • CNA 2005 -> LPN 2007 -> ADN, RN 2009 -> BSN, RN 2020

  • Over 16 years of bedside nursing experience & 23 years working inside healthcare institutions throughout Michigan, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Arizona. I currently work as a telehealth nurse supporting transplant patients in the Midwest.

I passionately believe this work is ancient and rooted in collaborative community care. Death work is a calling and much more than a certificate or training course, it’s a living practice.

My bedside career has included roles in:

  • Home Health: providing care in people’s homes taught me how to honor autonomy, adapt to each person’s environment, and support chronic illness and recovery with dignity and practical compassion.

  • Medical‑Surgical Units: grounding me in steady assessment, calm communication, and the ability to support a wide range of diagnoses and needs.

  • ICU & Emergency Room: fast‑paced, high‑intensity settings that taught me attunement, presence, and clear communication under pressure.

  • Long‑Term Care/Skilled Nursing/Rehab & Dementia Units: in these facilities I learned the profound importance of dignity, patience, and honoring each person’s reality and end of life experience and autonomy. This is where I gained my experience with hospice patients.

  • Assisted Living: supporting residents and families through chronic illness, shifting independence, and complex transitions.

  • Spinal Cord Injury & Traumatic Brain Injury Units: working with individuals adapting to life‑altering injuries, working through multiple losses and changes.

  • Telehealth Nursing for Transplant Patients: supporting individuals navigating the complexities of transplant recovery and long‑term care and life altering diseases.