Death Curious

This week, I return to my conversation with Cara McCarty (she/her), Founder and CEO of Betterleave , a bereavement care company which helps employers provide grief support and bereavement care benefits to employees. In this episode, we discuss how death care and bereavement regulations and laws differ state-by-state, and how Betterleave provides resources for helping local communities understand w...

This week, I return to my conversation with Glenda Stansbury (she/her), 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. This week we talk about the current trajectory that the funeral profession is on, some of the biggest hurdles...

This week we return to my conversation with Tiana Dargent (she/her), founder of Queer Community Deathcare in Ontario Canada, to talk about how to make death and end of life care a safer space for the LGBTQIA2S+ population. We talk about specific roadblocks this community has to receiving safe and equitable care, why more queer-identifying deathcare workers are a good thing, and some steps that dea...

This week, I have the pleasure of speaking with Cara McCarty (she/her), founder and CEO of Betterleave , a bereavement care company which helps employers provide grief support and bereavement care benefits and resources to employees. In this episode, Cara shares the personal story of why she started Betterleave, the three pillars of support the company provides, and why bereavement support is vita...

This week, I have the absolute joy of talking with Glenda Stansbury (she/her), VP of InSight Books ,and Co-Founder, 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. Glenda discusses how Insight Books got its start, how Insight Institute created it’s Celebrant program...

This week, I have the pleasure of talking with Tiana Dargent (she/her), founder of Queer Community Deathcare in Ontario Canada which offers a space of support for all members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in matters regarding end of life, death, dying, and grief.. In part one of this conversation, Tiana shares her personal journey to providing accessible death care support and and hosting death cafe...

This week, I return to my conversation with Courtney Gould Miller (she/her), Chief Strategy Officer at MKJ Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Tribute Technology, to talk about the role that marketing can play in solving the challenge of recruiting and retaining quality funeral service professionals. We talk about the value of online continuing education, like the program that MKJ marking off...

This week I return to my conversation with Courtney Gould Miller (she/her), Chief Strategy Officer at MKJ Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Tribute Technology, to talk about successful marketing for cremation services and the future of ecommerce business in deathcare. We discuss how good marketing strategies can help educate families about cremation options, the role that ecommerce crematio...

This week I return to my conversation with Lauren Bowser (she/her), Owner and Manager of Cusick Funeral Home to discuss unconventional areas of innovation in the deathcare space. We talk about the value of moving the profession forward with new technologies like green embalming fluids and products, the role of social media in continued learning and best practices for morticians and embalmers, and...

This week I have the pleasure of talking with Courtney Gould Miller (she/her), Chief Strategy Officer at MKJ Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Tribute Technology, about the relationship between good marketing strategies and business success in deathcare. We discuss the value of working with a marketing firm with specific expertise in the deathcare profession, the specifics of what a good ma...

This week I have the pleasure of speaking with Lauren Bowser (she/her), Owner and Manager of Cusick Funeral Home in Somerville New Jersey, to talk about being a first generation funeral business owner in today’s deathcare world. We discuss changes that funeral businesses saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, the differences between being an independent tradesman and owning a funeral home, and advice f...

This week, I return to my conversation with Mel Bennett, Creator and Co-Founder of Life Forest , to talk about equity in cemeteries and permanent placement options. We discuss various ways that burial has historically been inequitable, various situations that might warrant special care and consideration, and how to make sure that families choosing permanent placement receive the support that they...

This week I am joined by Dr. Sara Murphy and Timothy McLoone to talk about the value and experience of deathcare conventions and conferences. Timothy McLoone is a Licensed Funeral Director & Certified Celebrant and Dr. Sara Murphy is a death educator, certified thanatologist, and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional experience in the field. In this inter...

This week, I return to my conversation with Mel Bennett, Creator and Co-Founder of Life Forest, to talk about cemetery law and the value of permanent placement for families choosing cremation. We discuss what the process of starting a new cemetery is like, and the best way to protect the rights and legacy of buried cremains. We also touch on why permanent placement can be such an important option...

Dr. Sara Murphy is a death educator, Certified Thanatologist (Association for Death Education and Counseling), and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional experience in the field. In this conversation we discuss disenfranchised grief, what it is, what causes it, and everything that funeral professionals need to know to help families avoid it. We talk about body...

This week, I talk with Mel Bennett, Creator and Co-Founder of Life Forest , about building the first cemetery created specifically for cremation families seeking burial for their loved ones’ remains. Mel shares her personal journey into the deathcare space, walks listeners through the grounds at life forest, and explains the in’s and outs of choosing permanent placement for cremated remains with a...

This week I return to a previous interview with Sandra Walker, Vice President of Strategic Business at Fairmount Memorial Association, to reflect on what her experience has been like as a deathcare professional during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sandra gives an honest account of what funeral service was like for most of 2020, how her funeral business approach shifted in 2021, and offers excellent advic...

This week, I am joined by Dr. Sara Murphy, death educator, Certified Thanatologist (Association for Death Education and Counseling), and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional experience in the field. In this conversation we discuss the in’s and outs of thanatology as a field, and how thanatology overlaps with funeral care and the work of funeral service profe...

This week I return to my conversation with Morgan Yarborough, Services Manager at Recompose, to talk about branding, marketing, and aesthetics in funeral businesses. We touch on the importance of funeral homes having both well designed physical spaces, and an appealing online presence in today’s deathcare world, and why putting time and energy into designing both of those things well is a smart bu...

This week I return to my conversation with Brie Smith, Services Director at Return Home , to talk about the importance of eco-consciousness in the funeral profession. Studies show that consumers across industries are changing their purchasing behaviors to be more eco-friendly, and death planning is no exception. We talk about the low carbon footprint of Natural Organic Reduction, innovative ways t...

This week I return to my conversation with Dr. Sara Murphy and Timothy McLoone to talk about grief and deathcare looking forward in the time of covid, and beyond. Timothy McLoone is a Licensed Funeral Director & Certified Celebrant and Dr. Sara Murphy is a death educator, certified thanatologist, and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional experience in the...

This week I talk with Brie Smith, Services Director at Return Home, about the value of slowing down deathcare processes for grieving families. With the emergence of new, alternative forms of disposition like natural organic reduction which inherently take a long time, funeral professionals at the cutting edge of deathcare are seeing a huge benefit to going slow and allowing space for families to p...

This week we are joined by Dr. Sara Murphy and Timothy McLoone to discuss their recent NFDA Continuing Education Course “Connecting with the LGBTQ+ Community.” Timothy McLoone is a Licensed Funeral Director & Certified Celebrant at William R. May Funeral Home, in Glenside, PA and Dr. Sara Murphy is a death educator, certified thanatologist, and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pe...

This week I return to my conversation with Morgan Yarborough, Services Manager at Recompose, to talk about the importance of ritual building for grieving families. We talk about some of the ways that Recompose helps support families in ritual building including a walk-through of their carbon cycle laying-in ritual and being open to and supportive of at-home family care for deceased loved ones. We...

This week, I return to my conversation with Barbara Kemmis, executive director of CANA to talk about her 10 year anniversary in that role. We discuss CANA’s educational and research programs and the role that data collection and research plays in strategically planning funeral businesses. We talk about CANA’s annual statistics report, it’s notorious accuracy, and future predictions about cremation...