In collaboration with Holly Pruett, a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant and Home Funeral Guide who has provided community death education and consulting services for more than a decade. She is certified in Thanatology by the Association for Death Education & Counseling, and earned her EOL Doula Proficiency Badge from the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance. Founder of PDX Death Café and the Death Talk Project, Holly led “Talking About Dying” sessions for Oregon Humanities for three years, and in 2019 co-created Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, a free, non-commercial public information site, followed by the companion site, Washington Funeral Resources & Education.
Did you know that in most states, no one is required to purchase the services of a funeral director or funeral home? Many people don’t know about the rights of families to care for their own dead – what’s often called a “home funeral." Learn about families’ rights and responsibilities when death occurs; what’s meant by a “home funeral” and how families can benefit from more hands-on engagement; the barriers posed by misinformation, conventional wisdom, and default practices among helping professionals; and how you can be the one in the room who says, "You know, I think you can...."