Death Curious

This week we return to my conversation with Christopher Stoll, artist, illustrator, and my very dear friend. Chris is the owner and creator behind Multiverse Books and, as a very important person in my own life, is one of the people I most frequently talk with about hard things– like death. I wanted to have Chris on the show because until now, we’ve only featured people within the death care profe...

This week I have the pleasure of talking with Faith Haug (she/her) Program Chair of the Mortuary Science program at Arapaho Community College. This conversation covers unique aspects of the Arapaho Mortuary Science program and more general mortuary program requirements. We also discuss the fact that Colorado doesn’t require funeral directors to be licensed individually. This conversation happened...

This week we return to my conversation with Chase Downs (he/him), Demand Gen Specialist at Gather, an innovative technology platform built specifically for funeral homes, that helps both funeral directors and families. In this part of our conversation, Chase and I discuss AI and the future of Death Care… how AI could impact death care workspaces, the death planning process, memorial services, and...

Content warning: this episode is all about suicide, and grief from suicide loss. This topic might be triggering or challenging for some people, so if that’s you, skip this one and join us next month. If you or a loved one struggle with suicidal ideation, call or text 988 to reach the national suicide and crisis hotline. This week I’m so excited to bring Dr. Sara Murphy (she/her) back to the podcas...

This week, I welcome Jennifer Muldowney (she/her), also known as The Glam Reaper, onto the podcast to talk about how death care is evolving around the world today. Jennifer founded Muldowney Memorials a death planning company that offers celebrant services and specialized memorial planning. She is also the creator of the Glam Reaper Podcast . In this episode, we talk about how Jennifer found her w...

This week, I have the absolute pleasure of talking with Kiki Klonis (she/her) from Burning Sentients taxidermy. Kiki and I talk about processing grief in tangible ways, like creativity, art, and, for Kiki, taxidermy. We discuss how grieving actually led to Kiki’s career as a taxidermist, what that journey has entailed, and how, for many people, getting to have a continued relationship with the rem...

This week we are doing things a little differently…  I’m joined by artist, illustrator, and my dear friend and loved one, Christopher Stoll (he/him). Chris is the owner and creator behind Multiverse Books As a very important person in my own life, Chris is one of the people I most frequently talk with about hard things– like death. I wanted to have Chris on the show, because until now, we’ve only...

This week I’m delighted to talk with Brian Waters of Undertaking the Podcast . Brian is a licensed funeral director and CFSP. Our conversation was such an unexpected pleasure because it took some really unexpected turns and departures from what I was expecting, and is really different from what I usually cover in these interviews. In this episode, Brian and I both share our thoughts about what we...

This week I return to my conversation with Stephanie Poirier, Partner Success Manager at Parting Stone, to touch on why being a “death curious” person can be beneficial to your family, friends, and community. From starting difficult conversations, to protecting the rights of marginalized folx in end of life care, Death Curious people can help everyone confront death in healthier ways.  Created and...

This week I have the pleasure of talking to Eileen Hollis, Licensed Funeral Director at Hollis Funeral Home , about death on social media! Eileen runs the TikTok and Instagram accounts for Hollis Funeral Home and has built a following of nearly a million people between the two platforms. In this episode, we talk about why social media is a great place for death education, what content death curiou...

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with Chase Downs (he/him), Demand Gen Specialist at Gather , to talk about Technology in the Death Care Profession. Gather is an innovative technology platform built specifically for funeral homes, that helps both funeral directors and families. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, death care was far behind other professions technology-wise. Chase and I dis...

This week I’m so excited to return to my conversation with Rev. Cat Webb (they/them), Metaphysical Celebrant, Spiritual Educator, and Psychopomp, to talk about the spiritual weight of death avoidance. Both death avoidance and grief avoidance are pervasive in our society. In this conversation, Rev. Cat and I take a deep dive into how death and loss became taboo subjects, and why avoiding the realit...

This week I’m excited to talk with Stephanie Poirier, Partner Success Manager at Parting Stone, about all things alkaline hydrolysis! Stephanie was instrumental in getting alkaline hydrolysis legalized in California, and explains this gentle, eco-friendly disposition option in detail for us. We also talk about the intense push-back this disposition method has gotten from funeral professionals, and...

Deathcare Decoded is expanding! We are rebranding to expand our content and mission statement, and in this special transitional episode, I will walk you through the inspiration behind this growth. Death Curious is a platform for death exploration and a community of like-minded, death positive people. We imagine a future in which talking about death is normalized, comfortable, and even encouraged....

This week, we return to my conversation with Mark Harrison (he/him), President of Certified Safety Training, and Ebone Dukes (she/her), Funeral Service Program Director at Northwest Mississippi Community College to talk about the funeral rule, which was recently up for review. We talk about what the funeral rule is, what might be changing about it in the current review period, and the pros and con...

This week I’m joined by Rev. Cat Webb (they/them), Metaphysical Celebrant, Spiritual Educator and Psychopomp to talk about spirituality at end of life and beyond. In this episode we talk about end of life work that occurs after someone has died, what it means to be a psychopomp, and why it’s important to offer support for diverse spiritual practices in end of life care.  Produced and Hosted b...

In this episode I share research and data that I've been gathering, which shows that large numbers of death planners care about having more eco-conscious and green options in death care. We look at studies from Kates Boylston Publications, IBM Institute for Business Value, Passare, and Choice Mutual Insurance that break down what death planners care about, how they make choices, and what they will...

This week I return to my conversation with Mark Harrison (he/him), President of Certified Safety Training , and Ebone Dukes (she/her), Funeral Service Program Director at Northwest Mississippi Community College, to continue our discussion about equity over equality in the workplace. In this part of the conversation we dive deeper into how meeting people where they are and addressing individual nee...

This week I have the pleasure of being joined by Mark Harrison, President of Certified Safety Training , and Ebone Dukes, Funeral Service Program Director at Northwest Mississippi Community College. We talk about the importance of funeral business regulation compliance and the effects that regulations can have on our profession as a whole. We discuss how regulations can help communicate the value...

This week I return to my conversation with Dianne Hullet, death educator, death doula, and founder of Best Life Best Death . In this episode, we continue our conversation about how more open and honest conversations about death and grief can improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of our society. In part two of our conversation we talk about how to explore what needs to be done in your life to...

This week, I return to my conversation with Glenda Stansbury, VP of InSight Books, Co-Founder and Dean of the InSight Institute Certified Celebrant Program , adjunct professor in the University of Central Oklahoma’s Funeral Department, and licensed funeral director and embalmer. We discuss the role of celebrants in more detail, and some of the key characteristics that a successful celebrant will h...

This week I return to my conversation with Dianne Hullet, death educator, death doula, and founder of Best Life Best Death . In this part of our conversation, we change things up, and Dianne interviews me about my role at Parting Stone, my own journey into the death profession, and why forward thinking progress in death care is vital. We talk about the value of innovative technologies like solidif...

This week, I return to my wonderful conversation with Tiana Dargent (she/her), Founder of Queer Community Deathcare in Ontario Canada, to discuss Death Cafes! We talk about what death cafes are, the benefits they offer, and why death cafes should be available in every community. We also touch on the Queer Community Death Cafe that Tiana runs, and how conversations around death are particularly imp...

This week I have the pleasure of speaking with Diane Hullet (she/her), death educator, death doula, and founder of Better Life Better Death, about how more open and honest conversations about death, dying, and grief can improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of our society. In part one of our conversation we talk about the need for more conversations about death, why these conversations are im...

This week, I’m delighted to bring Joél Simone Anthony (she/her) back to Deathcare Decoded. Joél, also known as the Grave Woman , is a sacred grief practitioner, licensed funeral director, and deathcare educator. She joins us this week to talk about some of her new courses on Cultural Competency in funeral service, and how diversifying our education as funeral professionals will benefit everyone th...