A new era in palliative education and grief recovery.

Now Online

Registration opens December 1st!

About CSPE

Formerly Ten Thousand Doors, the Centre for Specialized Palliative Education  honors its deep roots in the death doula movement  -  the original community-based model of end-of-life support.

We continue to value those foundations of presence, listening, and sacred care while expanding to meet the realities of today’s healthcare systems.

Our programs bridge community wisdom with professional standards, preparing non-medical palliative workers to collaborate effectively within medical teams while staying grounded in human compassion. 

Why CSPE?

The heart of the work remains the same - compassionate, steady, relational and aligned within a streamlined learning framework that supports professional practice and clear competencies. 

Guiding Principles

~ Teach with integrity: grounded in evidence, ethics, and heart.

~ Honor diverse voices: across cultures, identities, and traditions.~ Hold space for grief and dying: normalizing presence with suffering and loss.

~ Embody what we teach: mentors model compassion and trauma-informed practice.

~ Live the tagline: a new era of dying and death embodiment by developing practitioners who restore what is most needed at the end of life  - embodied presence, relational  depth, and human connection partnering with clinical care teams and the wider circle of family support.   

Who These Programs Are For:

Our programs are designed for individuals who feel called to provide grounded, compassionate support in end-of-life and grief recovery settings. This includes those who wish to work in non-medical palliative roles, collaborate respectfully within healthcare teams, and support individuals and families through dying, death, and bereavement.

 You may be a fit if you identify with one or more of the following:

~ You feel drawn to serve at the bedside - practically, emotionally, and relationally.

~ You want structured, professional training that integrates a more than a century of community wisdom with modern standards in palliative and grief care.

~ You are seeking a clear, credible path into non-medical palliative work.

~ You’re already a helper or caregiver - massage therapist, yoga teacher, wellness practitioner, doula, lpn, psw, spiritual care worker, or volunteer and you want to deepen your scope and skill.

~ You’ve supported someone through dying or grief and feel called to develop that capacity.

~ You’re committed to strengthening a model of end-of-life care that values collaboration, dignity, and human connection.

Our students come from diverse personal, cultural, and professional backgrounds united by a shared commitment to presence, integrity, and human compassion.  We are humans helping humans create a peaceful, dignified and conscious end-of-life journey. 

Pathways Overview

Choose the pathway that aligns with your calling...

At the Centre for Specialized Palliative Education, we offer two professional training streams designed for people who want to support others through illness, aging, dying, and grief with compassion and steadiness.

Palliative Care Practitioner Pathway 
For those called to companion individuals and families through illness, decline, and end-of-life experiences in a non-medical, relational, community-based role.

Grief Literacy & Educator Pathway 
For those seeking deeper grief literacy, personal integration, or the skills to teach grief education in non-clinical settings.  

Foundations in Palliative Care and End of Life Practice 

6 Weeks NOW ONLINE Begins January 17, 2026

Tier 1 – Palliative Care Foundations (Certificate)
A 6-week introduction to the heart of supportive palliative care.

You’ll learn foundational relational skills, emotional steadiness, communication, and presence — the core competencies required to support individuals and families through illness, aging, and end-of-life experiences.

Tier 1 also introduces CSPE’s original Adaptive Patient & Family-Centered Care Model (APFCCM); a flexible, human-centered framework that helps you respond to shifting needs, emotional cues, and changing conditions in real time.

What you’ll learn:
• Compassionate presence
• Emotional readiness and grounding
• Communication basics for difficult moments
• Supporting families with steadiness and clarity
• Boundaries and ethical support
• The APFCCM model
• The evolution of doula care inside modern supportive systems    

Advanced Supportive Palliative Care Practice

6 weeks NOW ONLINE! Begins February 28, 

Tier 2 – Advanced Supportive Palliative Care (Certificate)
A second 6-week live online program that deepens everything learned in Tier 1 and prepares you for more complex supportive-care roles.

You’ll learn to navigate the emotional, relational, cultural, and existential layers of palliative work — and bring the APFCCM model into applied, real-world practice.

What you’ll learn:
• Trauma-aware supportive care
• Family systems and relational dynamics
• Complex grief and emotional intensity
• Spiritual and existential conversations
• Applied use of the APFCCM model
• Supporting clients within hospital, hospice, funeral, and community structures
• Ethical boundaries, scope, and professional communication

Prerequisite: Tier 1 is required before Tier 2.   

Admissions & Requirements

(for Palliative Pathway)

To ensure students are prepared, grounded, and well-supported in this work, the Palliative Care Practitioner Pathway includes the following participation requirements:

• A supportive admissions interview
• Live online attendance for all classes
• Required sequencing: Tier 1 → Tier 2
• Openness to reflective and relational learning
• Emotional readiness to engage in supportive-care content
• Commitment to practicing within ethical, non-medical boundaries
• Practicum participation requires successful completion of both tiers

Pricing & Payment Options

(for Palliative Pathway) 

 Tier 1 — Palliative Care Foundations (6 Weeks)

Tuition: $1,487 CAD
Payment Plan: 2 equal payments of $743.50
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 three weeks later

Tier 2 — Advanced Supportive Palliative Care (6 Weeks)

Tuition: $2,199 CAD
Payment Plan: 2 equal payments of $1,099.50
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 three weeks later

⭐ Palliative Pathway Bundle (Tier 1 + Tier 2)

Bundle Price: $3,399 CAD (save $287)
Payment Plan: 3 equal payments of $1,133
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 four weeks later
• Payment 3 four weeks after that 

Track 1 - Grief Recovery Journey

(6 Weeks online)

Grief Recovery Journey (Certificate)
A 6-week live online educational program designed to build modern grief literacy and support individuals in understanding how grief affects identity, emotion, the body, and the nervous system.

This track helps learners gain clarity, reduce confusion around grieving processes, and integrate loss with steadiness and compassion.

What you’ll learn:
• Modern grief literacy
• How grief impacts thinking, emotion, and the body
• The nervous system and non-therapeutic stabilization tools
• Identity shifts after loss
• Meaning-making frameworks
• Grief across the lifespan
• Global and cultural perspectives
• How to integrate loss into life going forward

Certificate Earned:
Grief Recovery Journey Certificate (CRJ)  

Track 2 - Grief Integration Educator Path

(6 Weeks online)

Grief Integration Educator Training (Certificate)
A 6-week professional program for individuals who want to teach grief literacy, facilitate non-clinical group learning, and support communities with trauma-aware, culturally respectful grief education.

This track expands the concepts from Track 1 and prepares you to guide others through structured, emotionally safe grief-education experiences.

What you’ll learn:
• How to teach grief literacy in non-clinical environments
• Trauma-aware educational practice
• Maintaining psychological safety in group settings
• Red flags and referral indicators
• Inclusive and culturally respectful facilitation
• Narrative and story-based teaching tools
• Managing emotional intensity in learning spaces
• Ethical boundaries and educator scope
• Preparation for micro-teaching demonstrations

Prerequisite: Completion of Track 1 (or RPL approval)

Certificates Earned:
• Grief Recovery Journey Certificate
• Grief Integration Educator Certificate (CGIE)   

Pricing & Payment Options 

 (for Grief Integration Series)

Track 1 — Grief Recovery Journey (6 Weeks)

Tuition: $699 CAD
Payment Plan: 2 equal payments of $349.50
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 three weeks later

Track 2 — Grief Integration Educator Training (6 Weeks)

Tuition: $1,109 CAD
Payment Plan: 2 equal payments of $554.50
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 three weeks later

⭐ Grief Transformation Bundle (Track 1 + Track 2)

Bundle Price: $1,699 CAD (save $109)
Payment Plan: 3 equal payments of $566
• Payment 1 at registration
• Payment 2 four weeks later
• Payment 3 four weeks after that

Also, Good to Know ....

About 12 Petalled Lotus

12 Petalled Lotus is a separate education system founded  by our Director, Cindy Butler.  that focuses on emotional development, relational awareness, and human growth across the lifespan. Its programs support individuals in understanding their patterns, relationships, and internal landscapes. While 12PL and CSPE are distinct in tone, audience, and purpose, both were shaped by Cindy's long-term work in understanding how humans learn, adapt, connect, and support one another.

How These Two Bodies of Work Relate

CSPE and 12PL remain independent pathways. CSPE offers professional training in non-medical palliative and grief support, while 12PL supports personal growth and emotional literacy. They do not overlap in curriculum or certification, yet both arise from a shared commitment to the human experience and the relational skills that shape how we support one another through life’s thresholds.

'This Human' Series

This Human Series is a public storytelling and teaching space, a collection of projects exploring what it means to be human through reflection, insight, conversation, and lived experience. It stands apart from all formal CSPE education pathways and is available for anyone who wishes to listen, learn, and reflect.

This Human Heart (YouTube)

Reflections on emotional literacy, compassion, inner life, and the ways humans relate to one another. These pieces live primarily on YouTube, where they offer short, accessible insights into the emotional world we all navigate.

This Human Frequency (Podcast)

Explorations of the internal rhythms and physiological states that shape how we move through life — including nervous system patterns, embodied awareness, and the subtle signals that influence our wellbeing. These teachings are shared through the podcast.

This Human Story (Substack)

Personal narratives and lived experiences that illuminate identity, caregiving, loss, growth, and the turning points that reshape us. These longer-form stories are published on Substack as written reflections.

This Human Thread (Store + Tangible Tools)

The tangible side of the work — journals, comfort objects, ritual tools, and meaningful items people can hold in their hands. These pieces help weave connection and create physical touchpoints of belonging. All items are available through the store.

This Human Journey (Journal)

A reflective companion for anyone moving through a season of learning, caregiving, or personal change. It offers a place to track insights, patterns, emotions, and discoveries along one’s individual path. This can be used independently as a personal growth journal.

This Human Nest (Future Physical Space — 2026/27)

A warm, grounded physical space planned for 2026/27 — a place dedicated to community gatherings, restorative retreats, education, and human connection.
Proceeds from all store purchases contribute toward securing and building this future Nest.