Building Bridges in the Deathcare Landscape
2024 Deathcare superconference
September 27-29, 2024
Seattle WA + Virtual Conference
September 27-29, 2024
Seattle WA + Virtual Conference
About Our Speakers
Click or scroll for info about our speakers, agenda, organizers, sponsors and more.
Ben Field
Attorney, Institute of Justice
Ben will join us for Panel 1: Legal Issues in Deathcare:
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Ben Field is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he represents clients to vindicate their constitutional rights. He has litigated in federal and state courts across the country to protect free speech, economic liberty, property rights, and educational choice. Prior to joining IJ, Ben worked for two major national law firms and served as a law clerk to judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Ninth Circuits. He received his law degree from Yale Law School and an undergraduate economics degree from the University of Chicago.
Ben’s work at IJ has included defending the free-speech and economic-liberty rights of end-of-life doulas targeted by state funeral-licensing authorities. In California, he successfully represented an end-of-life doula nonprofit organization called Full Circle of Living and Dying, along with some of its doulas and clients. After Full Circle achieved major victories in court, California entered into a consent order to allow end-of-life doulas to do their work without having to obtain funeral-director or funeral-home licenses. Ben is currently representing Indiana end-of-life doula Lauren Richwine and her business Death Done Differently in a similar lawsuit against Indiana’s funeral-licensing authorities, who sought to restrict her First Amendment rights by demanding she get funeral licenses to be able to speak to her clients. Though that litigation is ongoing, the district court sided with Lauren at the preliminary stage and entered an injunction to allow her to continue her practice while the case proceeds.
IJ more generally has for decades protected the constitutional rights of practitioners in the end-of-life space against overly aggressive government intrusion. This included landmark victories in a pair of cases, including one on behalf of an order of Benedictine monks in Louisiana, asserting that it is unconstitutional to prohibit non-funeral-directors from making and selling simple caskets. IJ is also presently representing a Michigan couple seeking to open a green cemetery, which their town is attempting to block with unconstitutional zoning regulations.
Ben’s work at IJ has included defending the free-speech and economic-liberty rights of end-of-life doulas targeted by state funeral-licensing authorities. In California, he successfully represented an end-of-life doula nonprofit organization called Full Circle of Living and Dying, along with some of its doulas and clients. After Full Circle achieved major victories in court, California entered into a consent order to allow end-of-life doulas to do their work without having to obtain funeral-director or funeral-home licenses. Ben is currently representing Indiana end-of-life doula Lauren Richwine and her business Death Done Differently in a similar lawsuit against Indiana’s funeral-licensing authorities, who sought to restrict her First Amendment rights by demanding she get funeral licenses to be able to speak to her clients. Though that litigation is ongoing, the district court sided with Lauren at the preliminary stage and entered an injunction to allow her to continue her practice while the case proceeds.
IJ more generally has for decades protected the constitutional rights of practitioners in the end-of-life space against overly aggressive government intrusion. This included landmark victories in a pair of cases, including one on behalf of an order of Benedictine monks in Louisiana, asserting that it is unconstitutional to prohibit non-funeral-directors from making and selling simple caskets. IJ is also presently representing a Michigan couple seeking to open a green cemetery, which their town is attempting to block with unconstitutional zoning regulations.
Aditi Sethi, MD
Executive Director, Center for Conscious Living and Dying
Dr. Sethi will join us for Panel 4 - Models of Care:
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
Aditi Sethi, MD is a hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and Executive Director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying. Featured in the forthcoming film The Last Ecstatic Days, Aditi is an emerging and important voice for shifting our culture’s understanding and approach to dying, death, and bereavement care. She recently did a TEDx talk in Asheville, NC entitled "The Art of Dying Before You Die."
Joe'l Simone
The Grave Woman
Joél will be discussing deathcare access in Panel 3 - Culture:
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
Hello, my name is Joél Simone Maldonado aka The Grave Woman. I am a licensed funeral director, embalmer, award winning deathcare educator, sacred grief practitioner, and proud founder of The Black Death, Grief, and Cultural Care Academy. I specialize in educating professionals about the importance of Cultural Competency, Racial Inclusion and Diversity in end of life, death and grief care.
I have worked in the death care industry since 2010 and have over 15 years experience in the healthcare industry. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Compassion and Choices, as co-chair of the boards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and volunteer on the organizations African American Leadership Council.
I educate the public through having open and honest conversations about death, dying, death care and grief culture through the use of my courses, podcast, YouTube channel and social media platforms.
I have worked in the death care industry since 2010 and have over 15 years experience in the healthcare industry. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Compassion and Choices, as co-chair of the boards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and volunteer on the organizations African American Leadership Council.
I educate the public through having open and honest conversations about death, dying, death care and grief culture through the use of my courses, podcast, YouTube channel and social media platforms.
Mel Bennett
The Life Forest, Co-Founder
Mel will join us for Panel 2: Affordability in Deathcare.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
The concept of Life Forest was created by Mel and her desire to bury her mother in a place that did not yet exist. Her dream of a space unlike any other where healing would be found through nature by burying cremains under trees, but also having the protective qualities of a traditional cemetery became a mission within reach thanks to the talents and efforts of the people introduced here.
As the concept designer and co-founder for this non-profit cemetery approach, and with graduate studies in Leadership and a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Sociology Mel has always been intrigued by the human condition and how our life experiences such as pain, illness, belief, community, tradition, and family can shape us. Mel believes that a genuine kindness and respect for others, as well as the situations that have shaped people's lives, is the starting point in achieving that feeling of fulfillment that we all deserve to have.
Life Forest is a Non-Profit Conservation Cemetery: We hold a profound belief that connecting with nature is not just an experience but also a source of healing. Life Forest is not a traditional cemetery—it's a sanctuary for celebrating life and eternal rest. As leaders in our field, we set the standard for eco-friendly practices in conservation burials, providing recorded GPS-mapped deeded rights to each burial plot, and offering legal protection under cemetery law.
As the concept designer and co-founder for this non-profit cemetery approach, and with graduate studies in Leadership and a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Sociology Mel has always been intrigued by the human condition and how our life experiences such as pain, illness, belief, community, tradition, and family can shape us. Mel believes that a genuine kindness and respect for others, as well as the situations that have shaped people's lives, is the starting point in achieving that feeling of fulfillment that we all deserve to have.
Life Forest is a Non-Profit Conservation Cemetery: We hold a profound belief that connecting with nature is not just an experience but also a source of healing. Life Forest is not a traditional cemetery—it's a sanctuary for celebrating life and eternal rest. As leaders in our field, we set the standard for eco-friendly practices in conservation burials, providing recorded GPS-mapped deeded rights to each burial plot, and offering legal protection under cemetery law.
Viennia Lopes Booth
Founder, Old Briar Botanicals
Vienna will be discussing deathcare access in Panel 3 - Culture:
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
Viennia Lopes Booth explores the intersections of life, death, and the plant world. She is the founder of Old Briar Botanicals, a wellness hub that offers education in holistic health, plant medicine and natural deathcare advocacy for joy, ritual and healing. She is a first-generation college graduate with a Master’s degree in education, served in AmeriCorps National Civilian Corps supporting communities in need and has extensive formal training in herbalism, midwifery + women’s health, environmental education and hypnotherapy.
Guided by her indigenous cultural traditions and her dad’s deep respect for nature, Viennia successfully navigated the end-of-life continuum to honor her father’s wishes to die at home, have a home wake and be cared for by family until the very end. Her experience caring for her dad at the end of his life took her on a deep exploration of natural deathcare, and she shares her personal story to help spread awareness about options beyond conventional deathcare. She aims to empower families and communities to care for their loved ones at the time of death and encourages consideration about choices around deathcare and its impact on the environment, our communities and each other. She is currently working toward creating a conservation burial ground in her home county.
Viennia is an enrolled member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. She is the daughter of a Mashpee Wampanoag/Cape Verdean father and a Dutch/English mother whose ancestors include both the original indigenous inhabitants of Cape Cod and some of its earliest colonists from afar.
Guided by her indigenous cultural traditions and her dad’s deep respect for nature, Viennia successfully navigated the end-of-life continuum to honor her father’s wishes to die at home, have a home wake and be cared for by family until the very end. Her experience caring for her dad at the end of his life took her on a deep exploration of natural deathcare, and she shares her personal story to help spread awareness about options beyond conventional deathcare. She aims to empower families and communities to care for their loved ones at the time of death and encourages consideration about choices around deathcare and its impact on the environment, our communities and each other. She is currently working toward creating a conservation burial ground in her home county.
Viennia is an enrolled member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. She is the daughter of a Mashpee Wampanoag/Cape Verdean father and a Dutch/English mother whose ancestors include both the original indigenous inhabitants of Cape Cod and some of its earliest colonists from afar.
Alex Casas
Pale Hearse LLC
Alex will be discussing deathcare access in Panel 3 - Culture:
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
With over 12 years of diverse experience in the end-of-life and funeral industry, Alex Casas began her career as a mortuary restoration specialist. She has worked in high-volume care centers, medical examiner offices, transport services, funeral homes of various denominations, and both conventional and natural cemeteries.
Alex's passion for heart-centered care led her to become a certified End-of-Life Doula, Home Funeral and Natural Burial Educator, and Guide. She actively volunteers with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Central Texas. She serves as the Texas Regional Director for International Doula Life Movement, offering certification courses for doulas, and hosting educational classes and workshops for the general public throughout the year.
In 2020, Alex founded Pale Hearse, an end-of-life and funeral care collective and marketplace, with a mission to provide transparency, education, and supportive community-driven deathcare options. She believes that end-of-life and funeral care should be family-directed and that everyone deserves dignified care without financial burden or compromise on quality. Pale Hearse upholds values rooted in compassion, community, and sustainability, empowering people to live and die consciously.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex designed and handbuilt Mobile Morgues for Central Texas, creating "Cool Cubes," which were preferred over FEMA trailers. Her innovative approach during the pandemic demonstrated her commitment to compassionate deathcare solutions, with some of her Cool Cubes still in use today.
Growing up in the border town of El Paso with deep family roots in Mexico, Alex learned the importance of caring for elders, honoring ancestors, and embracing cultural traditions surrounding death and remembrance. From an early age, she participated in her family's end-of-life care practices, leading her to express an interest in caring for the dead at just eight years old. This upbringing deeply influenced her path. While working in Austin, TX, Alex became a bilingual translator to ensure families received the care they needed, regardless of language barriers. Her diverse background and experiences have given her a profound understanding of cultural sensitivity in deathcare.
Alex's work and vision aim to make current deathcare systems more accessible and inclusive for diverse communities. She looks forward to discussing ways to expand these systems to provide compassionate and culturally sensitive care for all.
Alex's passion for heart-centered care led her to become a certified End-of-Life Doula, Home Funeral and Natural Burial Educator, and Guide. She actively volunteers with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Central Texas. She serves as the Texas Regional Director for International Doula Life Movement, offering certification courses for doulas, and hosting educational classes and workshops for the general public throughout the year.
In 2020, Alex founded Pale Hearse, an end-of-life and funeral care collective and marketplace, with a mission to provide transparency, education, and supportive community-driven deathcare options. She believes that end-of-life and funeral care should be family-directed and that everyone deserves dignified care without financial burden or compromise on quality. Pale Hearse upholds values rooted in compassion, community, and sustainability, empowering people to live and die consciously.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex designed and handbuilt Mobile Morgues for Central Texas, creating "Cool Cubes," which were preferred over FEMA trailers. Her innovative approach during the pandemic demonstrated her commitment to compassionate deathcare solutions, with some of her Cool Cubes still in use today.
Growing up in the border town of El Paso with deep family roots in Mexico, Alex learned the importance of caring for elders, honoring ancestors, and embracing cultural traditions surrounding death and remembrance. From an early age, she participated in her family's end-of-life care practices, leading her to express an interest in caring for the dead at just eight years old. This upbringing deeply influenced her path. While working in Austin, TX, Alex became a bilingual translator to ensure families received the care they needed, regardless of language barriers. Her diverse background and experiences have given her a profound understanding of cultural sensitivity in deathcare.
Alex's work and vision aim to make current deathcare systems more accessible and inclusive for diverse communities. She looks forward to discussing ways to expand these systems to provide compassionate and culturally sensitive care for all.
Jasmine Cobb, LCSW-S
Visual Healing Therapeutic Services, PLLC
Jasmine will be discussing deathcare access in Panel 3 - Culture:
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
Bereavement Scholar-Practitioner bridging the gap between practice, education and research with a focus on empowering individuals, organizations and communities to prioritize grief and death care.
Jasmine is a licensed clinical social worker and council approved supervisor, psychotherapist, international grief educator, TEDx speaker, author, innovator and workshop facilitator. She attends Stephen F. Austin State University as a Doctor of Social Work Candidate furthering her research on African-American Grief, Dying, Death, Bereavement, and Social Work Education. Revered as a thought- leader, Jasmine’s genuine fervor is just one of many qualities that qualifies her to speak on this matter. She is the personification of intersectionality, labeled millennial black woman, utilizing autoethnographic experience from a consumer perspective with the intent to transform grief and death care research and practice. Jasmine is an executive board member and co- chair of education and outreach for the Collective for Radical Death Studies and a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She has also been recognized by the National Association of Social Work, where she is also a member and serves in a leadership position for the NASW-TX chapter.
Jasmine has been featured in Essence, Forbes, Ebony among other publications.
Visual Healing Therapeutic Services (VHTS), PLLC, was established in 2021 with Jasmine’s vision to offer an array of grief-centered resources aimed at positively impacting individuals, families and communities worldwide. Inspired by the death- loss of her mother, VHTS provides access to grief support through individual psychotherapy services, education, consultation and other innovative products that promote grief and death care.
Jasmine values diversity and actively works toward amplifying the importance of normalizing grief and mourning in all spaces. Hoping to change society’s historically oppressive attitudes, beliefs and practices toward dying, death and bereavement.
Jasmine is a licensed clinical social worker and council approved supervisor, psychotherapist, international grief educator, TEDx speaker, author, innovator and workshop facilitator. She attends Stephen F. Austin State University as a Doctor of Social Work Candidate furthering her research on African-American Grief, Dying, Death, Bereavement, and Social Work Education. Revered as a thought- leader, Jasmine’s genuine fervor is just one of many qualities that qualifies her to speak on this matter. She is the personification of intersectionality, labeled millennial black woman, utilizing autoethnographic experience from a consumer perspective with the intent to transform grief and death care research and practice. Jasmine is an executive board member and co- chair of education and outreach for the Collective for Radical Death Studies and a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She has also been recognized by the National Association of Social Work, where she is also a member and serves in a leadership position for the NASW-TX chapter.
Jasmine has been featured in Essence, Forbes, Ebony among other publications.
Visual Healing Therapeutic Services (VHTS), PLLC, was established in 2021 with Jasmine’s vision to offer an array of grief-centered resources aimed at positively impacting individuals, families and communities worldwide. Inspired by the death- loss of her mother, VHTS provides access to grief support through individual psychotherapy services, education, consultation and other innovative products that promote grief and death care.
Jasmine values diversity and actively works toward amplifying the importance of normalizing grief and mourning in all spaces. Hoping to change society’s historically oppressive attitudes, beliefs and practices toward dying, death and bereavement.
Tiana Dargent
Queer Community Deathcare
Tiana will be discussing deathcare access in Panel 3 - Culture:
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal?
Tiana Dargent (she/her/elle) is a white settler currently living, working, and loving on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory colonially known as Ottawa Ontario. She is cisgender, a Queer Dyke and LeatherFemme, a single mom, and is living with long covid. Tiana is the founder of Queer Community Deathcare, through which she runs a pro-bono death doula service and facilitates monthly discussion groups on topics related to death, dying and grief. She also provides educational modules on queer and trans affirming end of life care to deathcare students of all varieties, and directly consults with end of life organizations and service providers to support them in offering 2SLGBTQIA+ appropriate services.
Kevin Díaz, JD
Compassion & Choices, Chief Legal Advocacy Officer & General Counsel
Kevin will join us for Panel 1: Legal Issues in Deathcare:
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Kevin Díaz is the chief legal advocacy officer & general counsel for Compassion & Choices. His work focuses on improving healthcare and expanding choice for the end of life throughout the United States. During his over 25-year career in public interest law he has worked to protect the liberty and enhance the dignity of people through integrated advocacy. He leads a team of nine staff, including seven attorneys, involved in litigation and legislative advocacy.
Previously Díaz served as the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and as an advocate for immigrants, particularly focusing on issues affecting migrant and seasonal farm workers. He has appeared in numerous state and federal jurisdictions including the United States Supreme Court.
Díaz was named a 2013-2014 Wasserstein Fellow by Harvard Law School for his exemplary public interest career. In 2014 he received the Fighting Spirit award from Basic Rights Oregon and was recognized by the ACLU of Oregon for his legal work on a landmark U.S. District Court case overturning Oregon’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In 2016 the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association presented Díaz with the Paul J. De Muniz professionalism award.
The Latina/o Bar Association of Washington had acknowledged Díaz as an Abogado Excepcional (Exceptional Attorney) in 2006. In addition to serving various professional and community organizations in the past, Díaz was a member of the inaugural class of the 2005 Washington Leadership Institute.
Díaz has been quoted or published in local, regional and national news outlets including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, El Comercio, The Hill, People, Associated Press, Reuters and National Public Radio affiliates, among others. Born in Perú and raised in Oregon, Díaz earned degrees at the University of Oregon and at the University of Washington School of Law. He is a proud husband and father to three children.
Previously Díaz served as the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and as an advocate for immigrants, particularly focusing on issues affecting migrant and seasonal farm workers. He has appeared in numerous state and federal jurisdictions including the United States Supreme Court.
Díaz was named a 2013-2014 Wasserstein Fellow by Harvard Law School for his exemplary public interest career. In 2014 he received the Fighting Spirit award from Basic Rights Oregon and was recognized by the ACLU of Oregon for his legal work on a landmark U.S. District Court case overturning Oregon’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In 2016 the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association presented Díaz with the Paul J. De Muniz professionalism award.
The Latina/o Bar Association of Washington had acknowledged Díaz as an Abogado Excepcional (Exceptional Attorney) in 2006. In addition to serving various professional and community organizations in the past, Díaz was a member of the inaugural class of the 2005 Washington Leadership Institute.
Díaz has been quoted or published in local, regional and national news outlets including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, El Comercio, The Hill, People, Associated Press, Reuters and National Public Radio affiliates, among others. Born in Perú and raised in Oregon, Díaz earned degrees at the University of Oregon and at the University of Washington School of Law. He is a proud husband and father to three children.
Dr. Kami Fletcher
Associate Professor of African Diasporic History and Coordinator of Africana Studies at Goucher College
Dr. Fletcher will join us for Panel 2: Affordability in Deathcare.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
Dr. Kami Fletcher is an Associate Professor of African Diasporic History and Coordinator of Africana Studies at Goucher College. She teaches courses that explore the African experience in America and unpacks social and cultural U.S. history at the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. She serves as the Humanities Advisor for the PA Hallowed Ground Project and the past Historical Consultant for Mount Harmon Plantation (2017-2018) and John Dickinson Plantation (2021-2023). In 2018, she co-founded The Collective for Radical Death Studies and since 2019 has served as President.
Her research centers on African American burial grounds, late 19th/early 20th century Black female and male undertakers, and contemporary Black grief and mourning. She is the co-editor of Grave History: Death,Race and Gender in Southern Cemeteries (University of Georgia Press, December 2023) and Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). She has also authored articles and essays, which include the following: “Black Women Undertakers of the Early Twentieth Century Were Hidden in Plain Sight” and “Are Enslaved African Americans Buried at Mount Harmon Plantation? Space and Reflection for National Mourning and Memorializing”.
Currently, Dr. Fletcher is working on the “Culture Keeper’s” Oral History Project funded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with George Washington University. The project asks African American funeral service workers, the nation's culture keepers, how rituals have been recreated, disrupted, reconceptualized, abandoned and sustained during the pandemic.
For more on Dr. Fletcher visit her website and/or contact her on Twitter using @kamifletcher36.
Her research centers on African American burial grounds, late 19th/early 20th century Black female and male undertakers, and contemporary Black grief and mourning. She is the co-editor of Grave History: Death,Race and Gender in Southern Cemeteries (University of Georgia Press, December 2023) and Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). She has also authored articles and essays, which include the following: “Black Women Undertakers of the Early Twentieth Century Were Hidden in Plain Sight” and “Are Enslaved African Americans Buried at Mount Harmon Plantation? Space and Reflection for National Mourning and Memorializing”.
Currently, Dr. Fletcher is working on the “Culture Keeper’s” Oral History Project funded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with George Washington University. The project asks African American funeral service workers, the nation's culture keepers, how rituals have been recreated, disrupted, reconceptualized, abandoned and sustained during the pandemic.
For more on Dr. Fletcher visit her website and/or contact her on Twitter using @kamifletcher36.
Kaishauna Guidry, MD, HMD
Mourning Dove Medical CEO
Dr. Guidry will join us for Panel 4 - Models of Care:
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
Kaishauna Guidry, MD, HMDC, is a prominent mobile concierge physician based in California. Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, she attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School and UCLA, graduating in 1997 with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Education Studies. She initially worked as an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Dr. Guidry has been married to her college sweetheart, Javelin Guidry, for 27 years, and they have three young adult children, one granddaughter, and a rescued Shih-Tzu named Bella. After dedicating 14 years to her family and community, she pursued a career in medicine.
She began her medical education as a non-traditional premed student at Long Beach City College and Cerritos College. She then attended Texas A&M College of Medicine, providing for underserved patients at the student-run clinic ‘Health for All.’ Dr. Guidry completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she was elected to the Program Improvement Committee and developed a passion for palliative medicine.
Today, Dr. Guidry runs Mourning Dove Medical, a mobile concierge practice. In 2021, she launched her podcast, “At the Heart of Healthcare with Dr. G,” which was rebranded in 2023 as “Dr. G at the Heart of Healthcare.” She has authored two books: Dr. G’s H.O.S.P.I.C.E. Pocket Guide and The Real Deal About Hospice.
Dr. Guidry is a healthcare advocate and mentor, actively working to combat healthcare inequities and promote diversity in medicine. She serves on the executive boards of IDEAL for Healthcare and The Association of Black Women Physicians (ABWP). In her personal time, she enjoys self-care, beach visits, fine dining, and cheering for the LA Rams.
Dr. Guidry has been married to her college sweetheart, Javelin Guidry, for 27 years, and they have three young adult children, one granddaughter, and a rescued Shih-Tzu named Bella. After dedicating 14 years to her family and community, she pursued a career in medicine.
She began her medical education as a non-traditional premed student at Long Beach City College and Cerritos College. She then attended Texas A&M College of Medicine, providing for underserved patients at the student-run clinic ‘Health for All.’ Dr. Guidry completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she was elected to the Program Improvement Committee and developed a passion for palliative medicine.
Today, Dr. Guidry runs Mourning Dove Medical, a mobile concierge practice. In 2021, she launched her podcast, “At the Heart of Healthcare with Dr. G,” which was rebranded in 2023 as “Dr. G at the Heart of Healthcare.” She has authored two books: Dr. G’s H.O.S.P.I.C.E. Pocket Guide and The Real Deal About Hospice.
Dr. Guidry is a healthcare advocate and mentor, actively working to combat healthcare inequities and promote diversity in medicine. She serves on the executive boards of IDEAL for Healthcare and The Association of Black Women Physicians (ABWP). In her personal time, she enjoys self-care, beach visits, fine dining, and cheering for the LA Rams.
Victoria J. Haneman
Associate Dean for Research & Innovation Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates at Creighton University School of Law
Professor Haneman will join us for Panel 2: Affordability in Deathcare.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
Professor Haneman is the Associate Dean for Research & Innovation and the Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates at Creighton University School of Law. In Fall 2024, she is the Visiting Verner F. Chaffin Chair on Fiduciary Law at University of Georgia School of Law. Professor Haneman is the co-author of four books, including Planning for Large Estates (Matthew Bender, 2023 ed., 2024 ed.), Questions & Answers: Wills, Trusts, and Estates, 4th ed. (Carolina Academic Press), Federal Taxes of Gratuitous Transfers: Law & Planning (Aspen, 2d. ed.), and Making Tax Law (Carolina Academic Press). She is also a regularly engaged expert by media including PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Wired, Forbes, and Fox Business. Her recent scholarship focuses on taxation, the death services industry, industry disruption, and women and the law.
Tanya Marsh, JD
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law
Professor Marsh will join us for Panel 1: Legal Issues in Deathcare:
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Tanya Marsh, JD is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She teaches Property, Trusts and Estates, and the only Funeral and Cemetery Law course in a U.S. law school. Tanya's scholarship focuses on the law regarding the status, treatment, and disposition of human remains. She frequently speaks, writes, and consults on these topics. Tanya is the author of The Law of Human Remains (2015), the first treatise on the subject in 70 years, and co-author of Cemetery Law: The Common Law of Burying Grounds in the United States (2015).
Heather Massey, MSW
Equitable Disposition Alliance, Co-Founder
Heather will join us for Panel 2: Affordability in Deathcare.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
Heather Massey, MSW, is a community death educator, end-of-life specialist, and consumer advocate for post-death options and choices, with over four decades of professional experience in the field of death, dying and bereavement. A lifelong student of thanatology, she studied and trained with Dr. Elizabeth Kübler- Ross and others. Massey is a former hospital Social Services Director and VNA/Hospice Administrator, having practiced in both the US and the UK. She is passionate about providing free death related learning opportunities in the community, and frequently teaches at medical, academic, and environmental conferences at regional, national and international venues. Massey’s family background includes home births and deaths, including three generations of home and family based after-death care. She is passionate about sharing and reviving the ancient art of natural deathcaring, and the many benefits therein for families, communities, and the environment.
Heather Massey is here to discuss indigent disposition as co-founder of the recently formed Equitable Disposition Alliance (EDA), a volunteer organization created to identify, research, gather, and disseminate information on various indigent disposition programs around the United States. By creating a database containing such information accessible to all, the EDA hopes this information will be a resource to public entities and programs around the country who are tasked with creating policy, procedures and direct services for the bodies of those determined to be indigent at the time of final disposition. Additionally, the EDA plans to continue offering educational programs on the topic of indigent disposition to raise awareness, share the data collected, and identify and influence more accessible and equitable disposition options.
Heather Massey is here to discuss indigent disposition as co-founder of the recently formed Equitable Disposition Alliance (EDA), a volunteer organization created to identify, research, gather, and disseminate information on various indigent disposition programs around the United States. By creating a database containing such information accessible to all, the EDA hopes this information will be a resource to public entities and programs around the country who are tasked with creating policy, procedures and direct services for the bodies of those determined to be indigent at the time of final disposition. Additionally, the EDA plans to continue offering educational programs on the topic of indigent disposition to raise awareness, share the data collected, and identify and influence more accessible and equitable disposition options.
Joyal Mulheron
Founder & Executive Director, Evermore
Joyal will join us for Panel 1: Legal Issues in Deathcare:
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Joyal spent twenty-five years advising high-ranking politicians, including governors and The White House, and translating basic science into public policy. She has enjoyed leading significant initiatives for the National Governors Association, the National Academies of Science, and the American Cancer Society. Joyal holds a master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University and degrees in Biochemistry and English from Virginia Tech, as well as a minor in Chemistry. After a series of high-profile death events and the death of her daughter, Joyal founded Evermore to change policy, advance science, and improve the lives of all bereaved people in America. Her work has been covered by many media outlets, including The Washington Post, NBC News, CBS News, USA Today, and PBS NewsHour, among others.
Laura Musselman
Humane Prison Hospice Project
Laura will join us for Panel 4 - Models of Care:
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
Following the deaths of both of her parents, Laura Musselman felt compelled to begin work in end-of-life care and left her career in higher education as a college philosophy instructor. Upon her departure from academia, she trained with the International End-of-Life Doula Association (INELDA) as an end-of-life doula and became a hospice volunteer for Hinds Hospice in Fresno, California in 2018. At Hinds, she took on roles as a patient care volunteer, home hospice volunteer, and vigil volunteer; soon, she began training other volunteers to sit vigil for patients, which led to working with the Comfort Care volunteers at the Central California Women’s Facility located in Chowchilla, California.
As a former teacher of ethics (and as a current human being) she believes deeply in the accessibility of compassionate end-of-life care, and that the right to die with dignity is an essential human right. In addition to her work as the Director of Communications for the Humane Prison Hospice Project, Laura is also a trauma-support specialist, writer, and mother to three dogs and one human child. Her interests include examining the ways in which privilege informs access to a “good death;” advocating for community care; and reading, listening to, and learning from other peoples’ stories.
As a former teacher of ethics (and as a current human being) she believes deeply in the accessibility of compassionate end-of-life care, and that the right to die with dignity is an essential human right. In addition to her work as the Director of Communications for the Humane Prison Hospice Project, Laura is also a trauma-support specialist, writer, and mother to three dogs and one human child. Her interests include examining the ways in which privilege informs access to a “good death;” advocating for community care; and reading, listening to, and learning from other peoples’ stories.
Lashanna Williams
A Sacred Passing & A Place to Die
Lashanna will join us for Panel 4 - Models of Care:
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare?
Lashanna is an intentional tender. A tender of people and spaces, a recovering corporate employee and avid learner. A mistake maker, community lover, consensual hugger, garden witch, and mother; a midwest-grown University of Michigan graduate, artist, facilitator, and holder of heavy things. Creating space for belonging is at the core of their work, from teaching medical professionals to working with youth, from shrouding a community member to hand-grinding herbs for tea. Lashanna lives and works in the intersections of death, art, education, and love. As a member of multiple community and national boards, she gathers, guides, and supports efforts to remain purposeful, creative, sustainable, and free from the anti-Black patriarchal Western structures currently in place. Lashanna is a Scorpio, which means they were born an agent of change and have lived that life.
Lashanna is Executive Director of A Sacred Passing and created the A Place to Die initiative.
Lashanna is Executive Director of A Sacred Passing and created the A Place to Die initiative.
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