Born in Ankara in 1971 as the third daughter of a family reflecting the diversity of Anatolian lands, Berna has been contemplating the meaning of the sacred, the wisdom of being human, and the cycles of life for as long as she can remember.
She is a graduate of Hacettepe University’s Business Administration Department and is currently studying Psychological Counseling with a focus on grief. Since receiving her first Death Doula training in 2018, she has been working in the fields of death and grief.
In her service to the grief and death field, her intention is to truly hear the emotional reality of the other—without seeking to remove grief. She invites symbols, metaphors, laments, dance, poetry, and stories into the space, seeking the words, images, and movements that can carry the truth of loss from within the pain.
On a personal level, she deeply believes that she will remain a lifelong apprentice to death and grief, and that the strength to continue on our path comes from what our own grief vocabulary has to say.
Workshops & Offerings
- Introduction to Death Doula Work
- Advanced Death Doula Work with Ritual Support
- Death Circle & Meditation (death-themed circle, awareness practices, Buddhist-inspired Death Meditation)
- Death Café
- Grief & Death Wisdom (with Filiz Telek)
- Biography Writing & Memory Sharing
- Grief Circles
- Seminars on Grief and Death
Services
- Deep listening practice with individuals and families in grief
- Death Doula work (support for people nearing death and their families)