Become a Certified Grief Companion— Enrol in the Founding Cohort 2026
Everlight Academy trains compassionate people to hold space after loss, honour memory, and lead grief-support practice ethically — with guided cohorts, supervised practicum, and a credential to begin your practice.
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A school for the people who hold others through loss.
Most education teaches about grief. Everlight teaches how to companion it — presence, memory, and the practice of holding space. Built within the Everlight ecosystem of writing, memorials, and companioning, the academy is where that ecosystem finds its guides.
Presence over answers
We teach the discipline of sitting with loss without rushing to fix it — the first act of companioning.
Story as medicine
Memory preserved honestly is a form of care. We train guides in restorative storytelling and legacy work.
Community, not isolation
Grief isolates; the circle returns us to one another. Every path ends in shared remembrance practice.
A credential you carry
Three guide certifications — Kintsugi, Companion, and Story — rooted in practice, not clinical licensure.
Part of the Everlight ecosystem. Where Everlight helps people write, remember, and companion, the academy trains the guides who hold that work — and certifies the people called to do it.
Explore the programsChoose the path that fits your calling.
Each path moves through the same five stages — Entry, Core, Transform, Community, Certify — shaped to a different way of holding loss.
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Kintsugi Path
“You are not ruined by what broke you.”
The foundational companioning path — presence, reflective listening, and the kintsugi mindset. Learn to sit beside grief without fixing it, sustain yourself, and hold space with trauma-aware care.
- 1Entry2 weeks
Companion Skills Foundations
The shared language of companioning. Learn what grief is across cultures and kinds of loss, and the posture of a non-clinical companion.
- 2Core3 weeks
Holding Space — Listening Without Fixing
The core discipline of companioning: reflective listening, holding silence, and refusing the urge to rescue.
- 3Transform3 weeks
Kintsugi Mindset for Guides
Mending with gold. Learn the kintsugi mindset — honouring the seam, finding meaning without forcing it — and carry it as a guide.
- 4Community2 weeks
Burnout & Secondary Trauma for Helpers
Sustain the companion so the practice endures. Recognise burnout and secondary trauma, and build a self-care rhythm that holds.
- 5Certify2 weeks
Trauma-Informed Presence for Helpers
The certifying capstone. Hold space with trauma-aware presence, and complete your competency review to earn the Kintsugi Guide credential.
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Spiritual Path
“The light shines in the darkness (John 1:5).”
For those who companion grief through faith in Christ. Learn biblically-rooted companioning — the God who draws near in sorrow, the psalms of lament, and how to hold the question without supplying easy answers — meeting the mourner in the hope of Scripture without proselytising the grieving.
- 1Entry2 weeks
Scripture & the Landscape of Biblical Grief
Begin where the Bible begins — with a God who draws near to the brokenhearted. Learn the scriptural ground of grief companioning.
- 2Core3 weeks
The God of All Comfort
Sit beside someone in the night without demanding dawn. Learn the companion's place in the dark season, comforted to comfort.
- 3Transform2 weeks
Biblical Remembrance & Meaning-Making
Lead simple, meaningful rituals grounded in Scripture. Learn to shape remembrance rites that hold the whole person before God.
- 4Community2 weeks
Bearing One Another's Burdens at Work
Carry Biblical companioning into the workplace. Support grieving employees and shape bereavement-aware practice that carries Christ's care.
- 5Certify2 weeks
Walking Through the Valley — Anticipatory Grief & Caregiving
The certifying capstone. Walk beside someone before and during a loss through the valley, and complete your competency review to earn the Biblical Companion Guide credential.
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Legacy Path
“What deserves to be remembered?”
The remembrance path. Learn story-gathering, ceremony design, peer circles, and digital legacy — helping the bereaved tell, keep, and carry a loved one's story forward.
- 1Entry2 weeks
Legacy Story Harvesting
Gather a loved one's story with care and consent. Learn the legacy interview and the small true details that hold a life.
- 2Core3 weeks
Remembrance Ceremony Design
Shape a memorial that holds the whole person. Learn to design gatherings that invite the room to remember together.
- 3Transform3 weeks
Facilitating Peer Grief Circles
Hold a circle of mourners. Learn the simple structure and facilitator posture that keeps a grief circle safe.
- 4Community2 weeks
Digital Memorial & Story Vault Practices
Keep memory where it will last. Learn ethical digital memorial practice and the story vault — with consent, privacy, and stewardship.
- 5Certify2 weeks
Compassionate Leadership for Teams
The certifying capstone. Carry remembrance into leadership and community, and complete your competency review to earn the Story Guide credential.
Some paths lead somewhere you can travel to.
Every Everlight path is taught online — and each opens into an optional, in-person residency where the practice becomes embodied. The Kintsugi Path goes to Japan.
Seven days in Kyoto — the home of kintsugi.
The Kintsugi Path culminates in an optional seven-day residency in Kyoto, Japan. Where the online path teaches the mindset, the residency lets you sit with the craft itself — in a working kintsugi studio, beside an artisan, with a temple garden and the season's first blossoms close by.
- 7-day cohort residency with an Everlight guide
- Dojo visit — watch a master mend with gold lacquer
- Temple garden contemplation & mending practicum
Retreat into presence, close to home.
Optional weekend residencies and weekly Scripture sits — shared silence, morning and evening prayer, and a closing remembrance service, rooted in Christ.
Explore the Spiritual Path
Gather a story, in community.
Optional in-person workshops where families bring photographs and keepsakes, and you learn to gather a loved one's story — guided by a Story Guide, face to face.
Explore the Legacy PathResidencies are optional capstones, not a requirement for the online credential. Each carries a separate programme fee; travel and accommodation are additional.
Five stages, one journey — from learner to guide.
Every Everlight path follows the same rhythm, so you always know where you are and what comes next.
Entry
Begin where you are. A gentle first step into companioning — no prior experience needed.
Core
Build the practice. The disciplines of presence, listening, and holding space.
Transform
Integrate the work. Move from learning into a lived, embodied practice.
Community
Hold space with others. Facilitate circles, gatherings, and shared remembrance.
Certify
Earn your guide credential. A reviewed practicum and the Everlight certification.
FROM LOSS
TO REMEMBRANCE.
Most training stops at information. Everlight connects gentle education to companioning practice, remembrance work, community circles, and a network of guides who hold the same calling.
The whole arc of loss — taught, not avoided.
Grief does not begin at the funeral, and it does not end there. Everlight organises learning around the three seasons every mourner — and every companion — must walk.
Anticipatory grief, hard conversations, and the preparation of memory.
- Anticipatory grief
- Hard conversations
- Preparing for a loss
- Memory preservation
- Planning with loved ones
The first nights, the presence, the rites — how to sit beside someone in the dark.
- The first night of grief
- Presence over answers
- Rites and rituals
- Holding silence
- Companioning the newly bereaved
The long return — carrying the loss forward, building legacy, and finding a new rhythm.
- The long return
- Legacy and remembrance
- Anniversaries and triggers
- A reforged life
- Becoming a guide
The everyday practice of holding strong.
Beyond the certification paths, Everlight keeps a living library of resilience topics — for the individuals, managers, and caregivers who hold others every day, not only at the moment of loss.
Browse the Resilience CurriculumBuilt for
You don't have to walk this alone — and you can learn to walk with others.
Everlight is built for anyone who holds people through loss — personally or professionally.
Families
Hold a loved one's memory and companion each other through the seasons of grief.
Caregivers
Sustain yourself and those you care for — presence without burning out.
Facilitators
Lead grief circles, Lantern Gatherings, and remembrance groups with confidence.
Chaplains & faith leaders
Deepen faith-sensitive companioning across traditions, without proselytising.
Funeral professionals
Extend care beyond the service — legacy work and the first year of remembrance.
HR & managers
Support grieving employees, bereavement leave, and grief-aware workplaces.
You don't learn to companion alone.
The Companion Circle is the heart of community at Everlight — a dedicated space where grief-support trainees connect, share their journey, and practise presence with one another. Because the work of holding space asks first that you be held.
A private circle for trainees
Every enrolled companion joins the Companion Circle — a quiet, moderated space to ask, share, and be witnessed as you learn to hold space for others.
Cohort companions
Your cohort walks the path beside you. Share module reflections, practicum nerves, and the moments that stayed with you after a session.
Peer grief circles & sits
Join facilitated peer circles, remembrance evenings, and Scripture sits — the shared practice every path ends in, offered close to home.
Already a member? Open the Companion Circle
Explore the Academy.
Then enroll.
Pick a guide to understand the classes, specializations, and pathways inside Everlight Academy — then move toward enrollment when you're ready.
Download & print each path (PDF) →EXPLORE FIRST · UNDERSTAND THE PATHWAY SECOND · ENROLL THIRD
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
BEFORE YOU BEGIN.
Program & Enrollment
The Everlight Guide Credential
Pricing & Payment
Support & Scope
Still have questions? Reach the Everlight team
LEARN PRESENCE.
HOLD SPACE.
CARRY THE LIGHT.
Join the founding cohort and get early access to Everlight companioning training, circle practice, and a community of guides holding the same calling.
Your path's exact fee and instalment plan is confirmed at your orientation session.
HOLD SPACE
FOR WHAT MATTERS.
Learn to be present.
Practice the paths.
Companion the grieving.
Lead remembrance.
Carry the light forward.
Begin your journey today. Enrollment is limited to the 2026 Founding Cohort.
Questions After a Session?
Attended an orientation and want to dig deeper? Request a free 1-on-1 conversation with an Everlight guide — no commitment required.
30 minutes · Free · No obligation
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