Apply to be a Webinar Speaker!
The National Home Funeral Alliance is looking for guest speakers to join us in our monthly webinar series. This is a paid opportunity! Learn more and apply at the link.
Recent Webinars
Navigating Unexpected Loss with Community-Led Deathcare
Speaker: Emily Bootle |
The Sacredness of Death
Speaker: Susan Oppie |
Woven Coffins & Other Sustainable Resources for Home Funerals
Speaker: Dr. Tamara MacIntyre |
LGBTQ+ Grief & Community Deathcare
Speakers: Angela Woosley and Marc Markell |
|
|
Webinars recorded a year or more ago are made available for free on the NHFA YouTube channel.
Free Webinars on YouTube
August 2025 Webinar
Sacred Connections: Designing Home Funerals as Ritual Acts
What if death wasn’t an ending—but a sacred transition woven with ritual, love, and ancestral wisdom?
Join us for a transformative webinar where we’ll explore how to create meaningful home funerals rooted in ancestral wisdom, natural magick, and spiritual direction! This session will explore the importance of including hands-on elements like ritual washing, altar building, storytelling circles, as well as incorporating continuing bonds in memorial rituals.
A practicing witch and Pagan for over 40 years, Silent is an end-of-life doula trained through INELDA and a Spiritual Director at Cherry Hill Seminary. He provides deep listening, reflective questions, and integrative practices like journaling and meditation, enabling others to uncover clarity on their spiritual paths without relying on prescribed answers. From vigil planning and psychopomp rituals to ancestor remembrances and legacy creation, Silent helps others walk the sacred passage with wisdom, ritual, and heart.
Join us for a transformative webinar where we’ll explore how to create meaningful home funerals rooted in ancestral wisdom, natural magick, and spiritual direction! This session will explore the importance of including hands-on elements like ritual washing, altar building, storytelling circles, as well as incorporating continuing bonds in memorial rituals.
A practicing witch and Pagan for over 40 years, Silent is an end-of-life doula trained through INELDA and a Spiritual Director at Cherry Hill Seminary. He provides deep listening, reflective questions, and integrative practices like journaling and meditation, enabling others to uncover clarity on their spiritual paths without relying on prescribed answers. From vigil planning and psychopomp rituals to ancestor remembrances and legacy creation, Silent helps others walk the sacred passage with wisdom, ritual, and heart.
July 2025 Webinar
Understanding How Grief Alters the Brain
From changes in neural pathways and neurotransmitter balance, loss leaves a lasting imprint. Understanding the science behind it can help you navigate it with more clarity and compassion for yourself and others. By learning how the brain adapts to loss, we can become empowered to honor grief while simultaneously caring for the brain and body.
Dr. Elreacy Dock is a behavioral health expert, thanatologist, and certified grief educator. Her multidisciplinary approach aims to advance public awareness while facilitating and contributing to critical discourse surrounding death, dying, and bereavement in our world.
Elreacy’s session will examine the complex processes that reshape the function of the brain during grief. During this webinar, she’ll explain how our brains continue to ‘search’ for our loved ones after loss, the role of neurotransmitters in grief’s emotional and physical toll, and some evidence-based strategies to soothe your nervous system when grief feels the most overwhelming.
Dr. Elreacy Dock is a behavioral health expert, thanatologist, and certified grief educator. Her multidisciplinary approach aims to advance public awareness while facilitating and contributing to critical discourse surrounding death, dying, and bereavement in our world.
Elreacy’s session will examine the complex processes that reshape the function of the brain during grief. During this webinar, she’ll explain how our brains continue to ‘search’ for our loved ones after loss, the role of neurotransmitters in grief’s emotional and physical toll, and some evidence-based strategies to soothe your nervous system when grief feels the most overwhelming.
April 2025 Webinar
Navigating Unexpected Loss with Community-Led Deathcare
When a death is unexpected, it can feel like all control is lost. But even in challenging circumstances, families can still be involved in caring for their person.
Join us for a powerful webinar with Emily, a licensed funeral director and embalmer deeply passionate about family-led deathcare. With experience across the full spectrum of funeral service—from small independent homes to corporate management—Emily has spent her career advocating for hands-on, eco-friendly approaches to death.
Emily's session is about applying the values of community-led deathcare after an unexpected loss. Planting the seed early on that a family can still be involved in the care of their person even when the circumstances are challenging. Using examples from her experiences with families, and interweaving legal and safety considerations, Emily will provide clarity for uncertain times.
Since the beginning of her career in funeral service, Emily has encouraged folks to take an active role in the care of their dead. She believes that this helps in the early days of grief by re-establishing a sense of control. This could mean anything from retrieving a lock of hair to setting up a multi-day vigil in the home based on the desires of the family.
Through real-life stories and legal/safety considerations, Emily will provide clarity for uncertain times—showing that involvement is not only possible but can also be a grounding force in early grief.
Wednesday, April 2 at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET.
Join us for a powerful webinar with Emily, a licensed funeral director and embalmer deeply passionate about family-led deathcare. With experience across the full spectrum of funeral service—from small independent homes to corporate management—Emily has spent her career advocating for hands-on, eco-friendly approaches to death.
Emily's session is about applying the values of community-led deathcare after an unexpected loss. Planting the seed early on that a family can still be involved in the care of their person even when the circumstances are challenging. Using examples from her experiences with families, and interweaving legal and safety considerations, Emily will provide clarity for uncertain times.
Since the beginning of her career in funeral service, Emily has encouraged folks to take an active role in the care of their dead. She believes that this helps in the early days of grief by re-establishing a sense of control. This could mean anything from retrieving a lock of hair to setting up a multi-day vigil in the home based on the desires of the family.
Through real-life stories and legal/safety considerations, Emily will provide clarity for uncertain times—showing that involvement is not only possible but can also be a grounding force in early grief.
Wednesday, April 2 at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET.
The Sacredness of Death with Susan Oppie
If we are to flourish as a society, it is crucial that we reconnect with the sacredness of death, and heal this wound that has stunted our quality of life in far too many heart-breaking and soul-crushing ways to name here. Time is of the essence. The powers that be (eg military-, criminal-, media-, and medical- industrial complexes, to name a few) are causing us to drift ever further away from a meaningful relationship with both life and death. Simple death rituals may be one of the most powerful ways to help mend the chasm that keeps us in this debilitating void.
Wednesday, February 26 at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET.
Wednesday, February 26 at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET.
About Susan Oppie:
Susan Oppie worked as a registered nurse (RN) for more than 25 years, eleven of those years in Hospice and Palliative Care. In the early part of her career, she became aware of the United State’s morbid disconnect with death. She spent the following years trying to understand how the disconnect occurred, and what could be done to remedy the situation. She attended mortuary school, researched the history of the funeral industry, collected “memorial art”, and held memorial art workshops in public libraries and other venues to help open conversations around the taboo topic of Death. She also became involved in the National Home Funeral Alliance to educate and support families. In 2014, she and two other RNs, Rochelle Martin and Lynn Holzman, started One Washcloth (www.onewashcloth.org) to help bring back the art of deathbed ritual in a simple and nonthreatening way.
Additionally, after the violent gun-related death in 2012 of a hospice nurse colleague and friend, Susan became painfully aware of the devastating ripple effects accompanying homicides in communities, large and small. And has since made it her mission to take her conversation about the importance of reconnecting with death, via ritual, to a larger audience.
Additionally, after the violent gun-related death in 2012 of a hospice nurse colleague and friend, Susan became painfully aware of the devastating ripple effects accompanying homicides in communities, large and small. And has since made it her mission to take her conversation about the importance of reconnecting with death, via ritual, to a larger audience.
August 2024 Webinar
Woven Coffins & Other Sustainable Resources for Home Funerals with Dr. Tamara MacIntyre
Want to learn more about woven coffins and other sustainable resources for home funerals? Join us for a conversation on sustainable community deathcare led by Dr. Tamara MacIntyre on Wednesday, August 28th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.
About Dr. Tamara MacIntyre:
Dr Tamara MacIntyre, End of Life Doula and co-founder of two mindful organizations letscope.org and The Prana Foundation, brings over two decades of experience in holistic healthcare. With a focus on fostering open dialogue around mortality, aging, illness and death. Tamara empowers individuals to navigate life's transitions with agency. As a death educator and client advocate, she offers end-of-life education, individualized advance care planning and client advocacy, alongside her work as a sustainable maker crafting willow coffins.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
About Dr. Tamara MacIntyre:
Dr Tamara MacIntyre, End of Life Doula and co-founder of two mindful organizations letscope.org and The Prana Foundation, brings over two decades of experience in holistic healthcare. With a focus on fostering open dialogue around mortality, aging, illness and death. Tamara empowers individuals to navigate life's transitions with agency. As a death educator and client advocate, she offers end-of-life education, individualized advance care planning and client advocacy, alongside her work as a sustainable maker crafting willow coffins.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
July 2024 Webinar
LGBTQ+ Grief & Community Deathcare with Angela Woosley and Marc Markell
What can complicate the grief journey for LGBTQ folks? What are some community deathcare concerns unique to LGBTQ+ people? Join us for a discussion of LGBTQ+ Grief and Community Deathcare with Angela Woolsey and Mark Markell on Wednesday, July 31st at 5pm PT | 8pm ET.
ABOUT ANGELA (she/they):
Angela Woosley is a mortician, celebrant, and death educator providing a broad spectrum of options and alternatives in the Twin Cities through her funeral home, Inspired Journeys. Inspired Journeys is the midwest’s first woman owned natural deathcare provider, certified by the Green Burial Council. Angela is an emeritus board president of the NHFA.
ABOUT MARC (they/she/he):
Marc Markell is a professor emeritus at St. Cloud State University in the College of Education and Instructional Design. They currently teach at Edgewood College and Worsham College of Mortuary Science and Edgewood College in their Master of Thanatology program. Marc also teaches Our Whole Lives for K-1st and 4-5th graders, Death Education to 2 and 3rd graders and 6th and 7th graders, and Wellness to 4-5th graders at Mayflower United Church of Christ.
Marc earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and Educational Psychology. He is a certified Professional Development Specialist through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. They are a certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Educators and Counseling and certified in Death and Grief Studies from Colorado State University through the Center for Loss and Life Transition. Marc is also a certified parent coach. She has presented locally, nationally, and internationally. Marc has earned the following certifications/training from national professional organizations: End of Life Doula, Crematory Operator, Funeral Arranger, and Celebrant.
Marc has published three books on grief, several book chapters, and numerous articles.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
ABOUT ANGELA (she/they):
Angela Woosley is a mortician, celebrant, and death educator providing a broad spectrum of options and alternatives in the Twin Cities through her funeral home, Inspired Journeys. Inspired Journeys is the midwest’s first woman owned natural deathcare provider, certified by the Green Burial Council. Angela is an emeritus board president of the NHFA.
ABOUT MARC (they/she/he):
Marc Markell is a professor emeritus at St. Cloud State University in the College of Education and Instructional Design. They currently teach at Edgewood College and Worsham College of Mortuary Science and Edgewood College in their Master of Thanatology program. Marc also teaches Our Whole Lives for K-1st and 4-5th graders, Death Education to 2 and 3rd graders and 6th and 7th graders, and Wellness to 4-5th graders at Mayflower United Church of Christ.
Marc earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and Educational Psychology. He is a certified Professional Development Specialist through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. They are a certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Educators and Counseling and certified in Death and Grief Studies from Colorado State University through the Center for Loss and Life Transition. Marc is also a certified parent coach. She has presented locally, nationally, and internationally. Marc has earned the following certifications/training from national professional organizations: End of Life Doula, Crematory Operator, Funeral Arranger, and Celebrant.
Marc has published three books on grief, several book chapters, and numerous articles.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
May 2024 Webinar
Wrapped in Love: Brief History and Modern Applications of Burial Shrouds with Dr. Tamara Joy Rettino, DACM
Dr. Tamara Joy Rettino, DACM lives in Buffalo, NY with her partner and owns a bustling clinic called Acupunktrix where she is an acupuncturist, herbalist, and Threshold Guide supporting others through life's transitions and liminal spaces such as life-changing illness, gender transitions, birth and death (including home funerals). Tamara is a mother of four grown children and is currently writing a practical guide on death and dying for Llewellyn Publications, and has taught six-week courses on burial shrouds for Morbid Anatomy. In December of 2023, Tamara suffered a sudden stroke, brain hemorrhage, and massive seizure resulting in a shattered spine and broken shoulder. She faced death (not for the first time), and feels the experience has deeply enriched her facility for empathy and understanding of the needs of her patients and clients. In her free time, Tamara creates art, experiments with sound and music, and forages in the local woods.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
April 2024 Webinar
Communicating Your End-of-Life and (Home) Funeral Decisions with Adam Zuckerman
Join us to explore the significance of proactively making, communicating, and documenting these crucial decisions. In this webinar, we'll guide participants in navigating local regulations, effectively communicating their wishes to loved ones, and taking practical steps to prepare for their end of life and home funeral arrangements.
About Adam:
Adam Zuckerman is the Founder of Buried in Work, a one-stop shop that offers guidance, resources, and products to simplify the burden of estate planning and the tasks surrounding end-of-life activities and estate transition. Adam started Buried in Work after settling his father’s affairs following his passing. His experience includes working in clean energy, finance, non-profits, startups, and Fortune 500 companies. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and holds an MBA and JD from Washington University in St. Louis.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
About Adam:
Adam Zuckerman is the Founder of Buried in Work, a one-stop shop that offers guidance, resources, and products to simplify the burden of estate planning and the tasks surrounding end-of-life activities and estate transition. Adam started Buried in Work after settling his father’s affairs following his passing. His experience includes working in clean energy, finance, non-profits, startups, and Fortune 500 companies. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and holds an MBA and JD from Washington University in St. Louis.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
March 2024 Webinar
Defending Community Deathcare in the Midwest with Lauren Richwine
Join us for an update on the legal landscape of home funerals and community deathcare in the Midwest, learn how a federal lawsuit currently unfolding in the state of Indiana has the potential to affect the work for us all, and discover how you can be a more legally informed advocate in your own state. Recordings are sent out to all registrants within two weeks of the event.
About Lauren:
One of the earliest Death Doulas/Midwives to offer active support and in person mentorship in Northern Indiana, Lauren Richwine recieved her initial training with the Earth Traditions Program. She is a facilitator through the “Respecting Choices Advance Care Planning” Program with Parkview and is currently a member of the National Association of Certified Death Midwives (NACDM), the National End of Life Doula Alliance (NEDA), and the National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA).
In response to a cease and desist issued against her business by the Indiana State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Service in early 2023, Lauren has teamed up with the Institute for Justice to defend this important work. Together they have filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Indiana for infringing on her first amendment right to free speech.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
About Lauren:
One of the earliest Death Doulas/Midwives to offer active support and in person mentorship in Northern Indiana, Lauren Richwine recieved her initial training with the Earth Traditions Program. She is a facilitator through the “Respecting Choices Advance Care Planning” Program with Parkview and is currently a member of the National Association of Certified Death Midwives (NACDM), the National End of Life Doula Alliance (NEDA), and the National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA).
In response to a cease and desist issued against her business by the Indiana State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Service in early 2023, Lauren has teamed up with the Institute for Justice to defend this important work. Together they have filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Indiana for infringing on her first amendment right to free speech.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
February 2024 Webinar
Home Funeral Photography with Shannon MacFarlane
What can funeral photography add to your home funeral?
Funeral photography isn’t morbid or weird - it is documenting an important event within a community. It can serve many purposes, including being able to share a home funeral with those who couldn’t attend, photographing people together who haven’t been in the same room since the last family wedding or funeral, and documenting family history. The most powerful reason is the value photography has during the grieving process.
Shannon goes through life telling stories with cameras, painting memorial portraits, and wondering if she wasn’t really supposed to be a housecat. She’s known for an obnoxiously loud laugh, being a grief enthusiast, her preference for non-human animals, and excessive chocolate consumption which may or may not have contributed to kidney stones. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her grief-savvy young person, kitties, and German shepherd.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
Funeral photography isn’t morbid or weird - it is documenting an important event within a community. It can serve many purposes, including being able to share a home funeral with those who couldn’t attend, photographing people together who haven’t been in the same room since the last family wedding or funeral, and documenting family history. The most powerful reason is the value photography has during the grieving process.
Shannon goes through life telling stories with cameras, painting memorial portraits, and wondering if she wasn’t really supposed to be a housecat. She’s known for an obnoxiously loud laugh, being a grief enthusiast, her preference for non-human animals, and excessive chocolate consumption which may or may not have contributed to kidney stones. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her grief-savvy young person, kitties, and German shepherd.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
January 2024 Webinar
Home Funerals: What You Need to Know To Be Prepared with Glenda Villegas
After retiring from the Air Force and losing my father, I decided I would serve my community through death care services. First, I learned and worked in pre-need cemetery sales, then on to Family Services, where I learned how to serve families at death. During these years, I learned the industry inside and out. Then, I wanted more. In 2020, I branched out by becoming a licensed funeral director in California, training under Eric Putt. This led to my desire to serve families through education on the law with the option of a home funeral experience. Today, I teach families how to care for their dead. I also work with death doulas and midwives to educate and better serve families who desire more. Filling the gap of misinformation with truth is my 2024 goal.
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
Register to receive a recording of this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
December 2023 Webinar
Empowering Children in Home Funerals with Kailey Bradley
Children are often neglected from conversations surrounding illness, death, and bereavement. In this training, practical tools will be provided that invite, include, and empower children to be apart of home funerals, the dying process, and the grief process. Creative and compassionate interventions will be provided that center on the role children can play in honoring their loved ones.
Kailey has a background in hospice work and feels that companioning and advocating for grievers is her life’s passion. She is a licensed professional counselor, nationally certified counselor, and Fellow in Thanatology. Currently, Kailey is an adjunct professor at Ashland Theological seminary where she teaches grief counseling courses and Marian University where she teaches courses on Childhood Bereavement and Pediatric Hospice Care. Kailey is also currently a doctoral student at Ohio University and co-owns Refuge Counseling, LLC a private practice specializing in the intersections of grief, sexuality, chronic illness and spirituality.
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
Kailey has a background in hospice work and feels that companioning and advocating for grievers is her life’s passion. She is a licensed professional counselor, nationally certified counselor, and Fellow in Thanatology. Currently, Kailey is an adjunct professor at Ashland Theological seminary where she teaches grief counseling courses and Marian University where she teaches courses on Childhood Bereavement and Pediatric Hospice Care. Kailey is also currently a doctoral student at Ohio University and co-owns Refuge Counseling, LLC a private practice specializing in the intersections of grief, sexuality, chronic illness and spirituality.
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
November 2023 Webinar
Secular Ceremonies, Universal Rituals, & Home Funerals with Megan Sheldon
In this webinar, we will explore what makes a ritual meaningful and how we can structure a ceremony that helps us move through a time of transition or moment of change. With a focus on end-of-life experiences, we will share ritual ideas for living funerals, sitting vigil, home funerals, celebrations of life and death anniversaries. We will also discuss the role of ritual in our own self-care, including how we acknowledge the grief we carry and the other emotions that can often surround death and dying. You will leave feeling more confident to create your own rituals and ceremonies, for yourself and for others.
Megan Sheldon is the co-founder of Be Ceremonial, a guided ritual app that empowers you to create your own daily rituals and lifecycle ceremonies. Megan is also a cultural mythologist, humanist celebrant, and end-of-life doula in North Vancouver, BC.
Megan designed this app with her husband Johan after their own experiences of loss. They were searching for secular rituals to support their grief journey and decided to share all of the knowledge and wisdom they've gathered over the past decade. Be Ceremonial focuses on rituals and ceremonies that surround grief, loss and the end-of-life, including home funerals.
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
Megan Sheldon is the co-founder of Be Ceremonial, a guided ritual app that empowers you to create your own daily rituals and lifecycle ceremonies. Megan is also a cultural mythologist, humanist celebrant, and end-of-life doula in North Vancouver, BC.
Megan designed this app with her husband Johan after their own experiences of loss. They were searching for secular rituals to support their grief journey and decided to share all of the knowledge and wisdom they've gathered over the past decade. Be Ceremonial focuses on rituals and ceremonies that surround grief, loss and the end-of-life, including home funerals.
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
October 2023 Webinar
End of Life Care: Through The Eyes of Hospice and End of Life Doulas with Adrian Allotey
In this webinar, Adrian Allotey will reflect on end-of-life care from the perspective of hospice and EOL doulas, using her client Susan’s story as a framework. Adrian is an End-of-Life Doula and Owner of You Are Not Alone Elder Care, LLC in Colonia, New Jersey. Adrian specializes in elder and end of life care, support, companionship, and education. Adrian writes:
“I made it my life’s mission to promote the final years as a sacred, beautiful, honorable stage of life. I became a hospice volunteer and a certified end-of-life doula, a person who assists in the dying process, much like a birth doula does with the birthing process. Working with elderly patients has been life affirming so much so that I left a career of 20+ years.
Along with my team, we serve as non-medical elderly companions who specialize in physical, emotional and spiritual care. We meet our clients on their terms, see them as whole, and build relationships with them and their loved ones. Our self-care regimen, personal growth and intuition allow us to mindfully hold space and provide comfort for elderly people and their family in a non-judgmental, loving manner. Our motto ‘heart to your heart’ is evident in the holistic elder companionship we provide.”
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
“I made it my life’s mission to promote the final years as a sacred, beautiful, honorable stage of life. I became a hospice volunteer and a certified end-of-life doula, a person who assists in the dying process, much like a birth doula does with the birthing process. Working with elderly patients has been life affirming so much so that I left a career of 20+ years.
Along with my team, we serve as non-medical elderly companions who specialize in physical, emotional and spiritual care. We meet our clients on their terms, see them as whole, and build relationships with them and their loved ones. Our self-care regimen, personal growth and intuition allow us to mindfully hold space and provide comfort for elderly people and their family in a non-judgmental, loving manner. Our motto ‘heart to your heart’ is evident in the holistic elder companionship we provide.”
Register to immediately receive a download of the recording from this 90-minute event for a sliding scale donation (starting at $10).
September 2023 Webinar
Backyard Burial with Elizabeth Fournier
In this webinar, green burial advocate Elizabeth Fournier will talk about backyard burial in the United States. A backyard burial includes burying a person on residential property, or land that is privately owned. Most bodies are buried in established, endorsed cemeteries, but burial on private property may be possible. Laws vary not only state to state but county to county in the US; it’s most accepted and typical in rural settings.
If you are considering a backyard burial, think carefully about what it may mean for the property itself and the person who owns it (which may be yourself). All other issues aside, burying someone on private land impacts the future sale of that property. In addition, however remote the concern may be, you should consider how you’d feel, and what you would do, if your deceased loved one resided on property that you no longer owned.
Elizabeth Fournier began her career in 1990 in Portland, OR, where she was employed as the live-in night keeper, sleeping in a trailer in a Portland cemetery. Thirty-three years later, she is a one-woman funeral service in the rural town of Boring, Oregon. Elizabeth owns and operates Cornerstone Funeral Services where she is affectionately known as “The Green Reaper” for her green burial advocacy. She is also the Manager of Historic Columbian Cemetery, Portland's newest green burial choice, and author of The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Green Burial Alliance, gave a TEDx talk called, "Going Green: The Last Act of Environmental Volunteerism," and People Magazine honored her work by writing, “Elizabeth Fournier is doing her part to change the way Americans bury their dead.”
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
If you are considering a backyard burial, think carefully about what it may mean for the property itself and the person who owns it (which may be yourself). All other issues aside, burying someone on private land impacts the future sale of that property. In addition, however remote the concern may be, you should consider how you’d feel, and what you would do, if your deceased loved one resided on property that you no longer owned.
Elizabeth Fournier began her career in 1990 in Portland, OR, where she was employed as the live-in night keeper, sleeping in a trailer in a Portland cemetery. Thirty-three years later, she is a one-woman funeral service in the rural town of Boring, Oregon. Elizabeth owns and operates Cornerstone Funeral Services where she is affectionately known as “The Green Reaper” for her green burial advocacy. She is also the Manager of Historic Columbian Cemetery, Portland's newest green burial choice, and author of The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Green Burial Alliance, gave a TEDx talk called, "Going Green: The Last Act of Environmental Volunteerism," and People Magazine honored her work by writing, “Elizabeth Fournier is doing her part to change the way Americans bury their dead.”
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
August 2023 Webinar
Good Dying: An African American Perspective with William Dixon
In this webinar, palliative care chaplain William Dixon will draw on thirty years of healthcare experience and his doctoral research to explore the concept of good dying from an African American perspective. William will discuss how anti-black systemic racism and African American religious cultures impact individual views of death/dying, and offer thoughts on how to support African American patients at end-of-life.
William Dixon is currently a Palliative Care Chaplain at Inova Fairfax Hospital in the Washington, DC metro area. He is co-author of the chapter on Cultural Humility in the Oxford Medicine Textbook of Palliative Care Communication (2015). William earned his Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Care from United Theological Seminary in 2008 and is now pursuing a Master of Legal Studies with emphasis in bioethics. He is a Board Certified Chaplain who brings over thirty years of experience in healthcare and ministry, with a speciality in palliative care chaplaincy.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
William Dixon is currently a Palliative Care Chaplain at Inova Fairfax Hospital in the Washington, DC metro area. He is co-author of the chapter on Cultural Humility in the Oxford Medicine Textbook of Palliative Care Communication (2015). William earned his Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Care from United Theological Seminary in 2008 and is now pursuing a Master of Legal Studies with emphasis in bioethics. He is a Board Certified Chaplain who brings over thirty years of experience in healthcare and ministry, with a speciality in palliative care chaplaincy.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
July 2023 Webinar
Protecting Identity in Death with Jordan Rose
A Guide for Queer/Trans/Non-Binary+ Folx and those who care for them
In this webinar, we will look at the ways the legal system, healthcare, and culture intersect when caring for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. We will cover basic definitions, next of kin structure, who gets a say in your services, and take a look at some cases of trans and non-binary decedents. We will also talk about ways to be a good ally and create a welcoming and inclusive environment in your death practices.
Jordan L. Rose (she/her) is a licensed funeral director and embalmer and end-of-life doula living in Chicago, IL. She is on a mission to put the rights of individuals at the end of their lives back into their hands. She is vocal about creating inclusive death practices that hold up marginalized voices. When she's not talking about death and dying, she's playing Dungeons and Dragons or redecorating her apartment...again. She can be reached by email.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
Jordan L. Rose (she/her) is a licensed funeral director and embalmer and end-of-life doula living in Chicago, IL. She is on a mission to put the rights of individuals at the end of their lives back into their hands. She is vocal about creating inclusive death practices that hold up marginalized voices. When she's not talking about death and dying, she's playing Dungeons and Dragons or redecorating her apartment...again. She can be reached by email.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
June 2023 Webinar
Grief & People with Disabilities with Marc Markell
This presentation focuses on the experiences of people with disabilities as they grieve. Many people with disabilities experience disenfranchised grief, which means they do not receive the same level of support as people without disabilities. Although grief is highly individual, some people with disabilities who are grieving may have needs unique to this population. This presentation will cover person-centered and identity-first approaches to engaging people with disabilities; how people with disabilities may experience cyclical grief in regards to their experience of disability; and tips for companioning disabled people on their grief journeys.
Marc Markell is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Special Education at St. Cloud State University. Marc offers his perspective as a member of the disabled community with many years of experience working with disabled folks and grief. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and Educational Psychology. He is a certified Professional Development Specialist through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He is a certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Educators and Counseling, and certified in Death and Grief Studies from Colorado State University through the Center for Loss and Life Transition.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
Marc Markell is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Special Education at St. Cloud State University. Marc offers his perspective as a member of the disabled community with many years of experience working with disabled folks and grief. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and Educational Psychology. He is a certified Professional Development Specialist through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He is a certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Educators and Counseling, and certified in Death and Grief Studies from Colorado State University through the Center for Loss and Life Transition.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
May 2023 Webinar
Infant & Child Deathcare with Toula Saratsis
Toula is a Certified End-of-Life Doula that specializes in perinatal and pediatric palliative care, end-of-life, and after death care support. She was called to this work in 2016 after her daughter Angelica’s anticipated passing from a life limiting condition at nearly seven years old. Her work and service to others is rooted in advocacy that parallels activism through Community Death Care Education.
The collective goal of Infant and Child Deathcare advocacy is to raise awareness of connection, understanding, and options for children and their circles of care. Taking into consideration the unique needs of this population means normalizing and validating experiences that others may have difficulty connecting with. This presentation will introduce Infant & Child Deathcare Advocacy, community connections, and family stories.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
The collective goal of Infant and Child Deathcare advocacy is to raise awareness of connection, understanding, and options for children and their circles of care. Taking into consideration the unique needs of this population means normalizing and validating experiences that others may have difficulty connecting with. This presentation will introduce Infant & Child Deathcare Advocacy, community connections, and family stories.
This webinar is now available for free viewing on YouTube!
|
NHFA |
Resources |
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.