Companioning Mortality

My Journey 

Andi Chatburn is both a hospice physician and ordained ceremonialist who guides people through life's most profound transitions by weaving together conventional medicine and ancient wisdom traditions. As an apprentice to death, she understands how intimate encounters with mortality—both our own and others'—can become portals to previously unimagined aliveness. Her own journey into full aliveness has unfolded through the transformative mysteries of deep grief. With over 20 years of experience as a ceremonialist and spiritual director, Andi knows that authentic connection with the Divine requires venturing beyond conventional approaches into the deeper mysteries of human experience. Her work honors the understanding that transformation—whether through life transitions, psychological growth, or spiritual awakening—ripples outward, affecting not just individuals but entire webs of relationships.

Andi’s path began in childhood, when her grandmother, a pioneering force of nature and hospice volunteer early on in the movement, involved her in caring for their great-grandparents during their final transitions. Through these formative experiences, she witnessed how death could be a natural, sacred passage rather than just a medical event. This early understanding shaped their approach to medicine and eventually led her to become not just a physician but an underworld guide; a shaman who isn't afraid to journey into the metaphorical and literal dark places with those facing life's deepest and most profound transitions.

My Unique Approach

Having navigated the healthcare system both as a provider and as someone seeking integrative and holistic approaches, I deeply understand what it means to feel misunderstood or marginalized by conventional medical systems. This dual perspective allows me to create a space where you can bring your whole self, including aspects of your identity or beliefs that you might usually feel you need to hide in medical settings.

What I Offer

In both my work as a physician and as a ceremonialist and spiritual director, I've learned that healers often require an adventure into territories beyond conventional medicine. As your guide, I help you tap into the inherent wisdom of your own body, your ancestors, and the more-than-human world and the natural rhythmic cycles of life. This integration of many ways of knowing can support your wholeness amid life’s portals and in the end-of-life process from a series of medical decisions into a threshold for profound personal and relational growth.

Working Together

When clients feel truly seen and supported in bringing their authentic selves to this journey, something remarkable often happens: both existential and physical pain can soften, making space for what matters most. Whether that's spending precious time with loved ones, crafting a meaningful legacy, or exploring the deeper mysteries of this transition, my role is to help create the conditions where this sacred work becomes possible.

”Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.”

-Meg Wheatley, Turning to One Another

When she’s not with patients or clients and families or writing for her PhD work in Philosophy - Ecology Spirituality and Religion- Andi enjoys fully surrendering to her own embodied pleasures within the human and more-than-human companions and knows these practices are necessary for sustaining her witness of grief and suffering, including that of the planet in the climate crisis and sixth mass extinction. Dancing burlesque, swimming in rivers, lakes, and oceans, and wandering in wildish places are some of Andi’s favorite ways to wile away the hours.