Thistle Community Death Care

Mission

  • • To facilitate authentic conversations about death and dying

  • • To empower the living to create end-of-life plans that reflect their values and beliefs

  • • To build a death-aware community of support and resources for the living, dying, and bereaved

  • • To companion the dying and their families through end-of-life transitions

About

Jennifer Jurlando is a death educator, death doula, Reiki provider, and ritual facilitator. She leads grief support groups for preschoolers and assisted living communities and has also led perinatal and child loss groups for Full Circle Grief Center and The Miss Foundation. Jennifer is an adjunct instructor in VCU’s Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program, where her favorite course to teach is on Death and Grief.
Her writing on loss, survival, and worth can be found on her Patreon. Her work has also been published online at RVAMAG and Life in 10 Minutes and in the anthologies, Unspoken: Writers on Infertility, Miscarriage, and Stillbirth, and Nine Lives: A Life in Ten Minutes Anthology.
She believes that authentic conversations about death make it possible to live life more fully.
Jennifer has a years-long ancestral veneration practice, facilitates monthly self-care ritual groups, and is driven to help people plan for the sacred space linking the end of life, death’s arrival, and body blessing rituals.

Events

Shrouding Workshop
January 13, 2026, 1:00-3:30
North Courthouse Library, 325 Courthouse Road, Chesterfield, VA
In the third of our shrouding workshops, we will practice using the two shrouds we have designed to date and will work on another pattern for shrouds that can be made inexpensively and tailored to the desires and personality of the deceased and their loved ones. We may add the element of moving a shrouded person, so if you have ideas about trays or rope harnesses, be prepared to share!
If you have a sewing machine, bring it! If you have ideas, experience, skills, bring those, too!
(Photo credit - Dead Good Legacies - https://unsplash.com/@deadgood)

Spring 2026: Chesterfield County Library Death Awareness Series
Chesterfield County will host three death-focused workshops in Spring 2026. More details to follow but mark your calendars for the following dates:
March 12- Death Cafe
April 9- Green Burial, Reclaiming Death Ritual
May 14 - Death Doulas

September 15, 2026: Death Matters Mock Funeral
Death Matters is a part of The Innerworks Center's offerings focused on building community and opening conversation about difficult topics. In this session, Jennifer Jurlando will host a mock home funeral. Topics will include body care, end-of-life ritual, and shrouding.

Past Events

October 2025: Death, Yoga, Self Love

Participants explore the meaning of their own mortality & cultivate self-love through movement, meditation & writing practice.
A deeply intentional slow flow yoga practice focused on connecting with breath and the experience of living fully. A death meditation and creation of a blessing for the self follow.

November 2025: Death Fest
Death Fest is an annual educational gathering at the green cemetery in Earlysville, Virginia. The event builds community around natural burial and empowers people to reclaim traditional death practices. This year, Jennifer Jurlando facilitated a mock home funeral with the shrouding team from Twin Oaks. This workshop focused on methods of body care, personalization of rituals, and special considerations for people who want to have home funerals. Flowers provided by Swann's End.

November 2025: Hallowed Homecoming
Prince William Forest Park, Triangle, VA
Hallowed Homecoming is an annual Pagan Samhain retreat. The 2025 theme was Embracing the Darkness.
Jennifer Jurlando led a workshop on focused on creating end-of-life rituals aligned with the belief systems of individuals outside of standard American belief systems. Focus was on contemplation of death, planning rites, and communication of end-of-life wishes.

November 2025: Virginia Anatomical Donation Information Session
Holistic Life Center, 1011 E Main Street, Richmond, VA
Join the director of Virginia State Anatomical Program, Raymond Rhodes, and area end-of-life doulas for a discussion about anatomical donation in Virginia. The hour-long presentation will be followed by open conversation on the topic. Virtual attendance is an option.

Resources

Eco-Conscious End of Life Planner
Free with code RVAhomefuneral

Contact

Email: [email protected]Phone: 804-304-5602

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