Frankincense: A steady companion for end-of-life support and bereavement work

Dec 21, 2025

In palliative and end-of-life care, the smallest supports can carry real weight.

In our Aromatherapy for Palliative Care and Bereavement course, we explore how essential oils can be used with care, skill, and deep respect for the realities of grief, dying, and caregiving.

This 50-hour program is taught by Marika Fleri, Jonathan Benavides, and Margo Fletcher, instructors with extensive experience in palliative care, grief support, and clinical aromatherapy. The focus is practical and compassionate. Students learn how to support others without overstepping, and how to use aroma in ways that are safe, appropriate, and consent-based.

Why frankincense keeps coming up in palliative care

Among the essential oils discussed in the course, frankincense is one that many practitioners return to again and again.

Marika Fleri shares her perspective plainly and beautifully:

“If there is one essential oil that has walked beside me most faithfully in palliative care, it is frankincense.”

Frankincense is a resin with a long history of ritual, prayer, and anointing. In palliative care, that context can matter. People arrive at the end of life with different beliefs and different ways of making meaning. Frankincense can feel familiar and grounding without requiring a long explanation.

As Marika writes:

“Used for centuries in ritual, prayer, and anointing, frankincense carries a universal language that transcends culture, belief, and circumstance. In palliative care, this matters deeply. It meets people exactly where they are, offering peace without needing explanation.”

When breath feels fragile

Palliative care can bring anxiety, fear, anticipatory grief, and physical discomfort all at once. The nervous system is often under strain, not only for the patient, but for family members and caregivers too. In those moments, many practitioners reach for oils that support stillness and steadier breathing.

Marika describes frankincense in a way that captures why it is used so often:

“ Frankincense does not ask anything of us. It simply invites us to rest. To soften. To breathe more deeply when breath itself feels fragile.”

What frankincense can shift in the room

One of the most practical realities of palliative care is the atmosphere in the space. The room can hold fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty. When aromatherapy is used, the goal is not intensity. The goal is comfort, safety, and respect.

Marika’s observation speaks directly to this:

“In the presence of frankincense, the room changes. The air becomes calmer, sacred even. I have witnessed how it supports moments of deep stillness. When fear eases, when breath finds rhythm again, when the space between life and death feels gently held rather than frightening.”

Using essential oils in palliative care requires training and judgement

In palliative care, aromatherapy must be conservative, consent-based, and adapted to the individual. Scent sensitivity, nausea, respiratory compromise, fatigue, and medication load all matter. So does personal preference. An oil that feels comforting to one person may feel overwhelming to another.

In the program, students learn how to apply essential oils safely and appropriately, including options such as:

Understand the holistic nature of palliative care — physical, emotional, spiritual and familial dimensions.
Develop compassionate, presence-based care strategies: how to create safe spaces, bear witness, hold space and accompany others with empathy.
Explore the processes of dying and bereavement: preparation, transition, and support for both patient and family.
Integrate aromatherapy into palliative and bereavement care settings

The goal is a grounded, ethical practice that honours the person in front of you.

If you are called to this kind of work, join the 50-hour Aromatherapy for Palliative Care and Bereavement program, taught by Marika Fleri, Jonathan Benavides, and Margo Fletcher.

Enrol here: https://www.essenceofthyme.com/aromatherapy-for-palliative-care-and-bereavement