Liferals and funerals - we can not ignore them

The only thing constant in life is change ... and then there is death.

No matter  our age - we can not avoid it !

FOUR reasons why doing Funeral Training is important for all celebrants.

1. Gaining extra knowledge and skill in this area would be a very valuable as personal learning, to help you deal with the death of family and friends as you age, even if you never intend to do funerals.
   
   
2. Knowledge and skills taught in funeral courses are valuable for other ceremonies .. that is ceremonies that celebrate life and love. 
   
   Life-rals is in essence that type of ceremony - one where a person's life can be honoured using whatever occasion one can, or just because the person needs affirmation and support.
   
   If you want more ceremony work, but still don't  want to do funerals .. "this is your life' style senior birthdays, wedding anniversaries and funeral ceremony planning consultations are areas civil celebrants need to explore.
   
   The ACCN is encouraging and supporting celebrants to transfer their skills to these newer ceremonies through
   

• its websites aimed at thee general public - AskACelebrant.com.au, FuneralOptions.com.au, CelebrateMothersDay.com.au ... with others to come ..
•  its main Celebrant Directory on ACCN-Celebrants.com.au
• its promotional materials for celebrants to use in their community talks
• Celebration Gift Vouchers and other ACCN member services
  
  Funeral training has major components covering:

• mourning loss, and
• dealing with life changes
  
  but also covers components relating to:  

• honouring life
• story telling
• encouraging family and community support
• dealing with life changes.
  
  The latter are key areas for "honouring life" ceremonies.  

3. There are circumstances where family or close friends put excessive  pressure  on marriage celebrants they know, to do a funeral for them. In these situations, it can be difficult for the celebrant to say no, as they do not wish to let others down.

Funeral training can be very valuable in these circumstances to know how to refer onto more skilled celebrants, to work with an experienced funeral celebrant or with one in the background.

4. Funeral Ceremony Planning Consultations are stand alone services that independent civil celebrants could provide for a fee. Doing this work, does not commitment the celebrant provide to doing the actual ceremony.

Ensuring the person has piece of mind because their options have been discussed with an impartial person and their wishes recorded is a valuable service in its own right. Besides when the time comes, the family may prefer someone else. But they will be better prepared.

Recording "life stories' may provide other opportunities for the person to use that information. Along with photos, it could be presented as a Christmas or Birthday gift for grandchildren or for historical societies.

The advantage of the type of work outlined above, is that you as a celebrant will be getting known by a wider range of people for "word of mouth" referrals. Improving your skills in these areas will assist your wedding and other preferred celebrancy work.

The Australian Celebrants and Celebrations Network (ACCN) providing support and resources to assist celebrant to explore these newer areas of celebrancy:

1. Funeral Options - Celebrant Only Forum. FREE trial until the end of March is available. Register at http://www.funeral-services.net.au/register then email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it requesting access to that celebrant Forum.

Note: The ACCN_CAL Copyright Group Licence Forum is located on the Funeral Options website, to assist those celebrants willing to explain poetry and prose for the celebrancy work, but especially for birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, memorials and "newer" ceremonies.

2. ACT Now Before Your Final Farewell. - DL size leaflets with a spot for the Celebrant's name and contact details will be printed and available for purchase in the near future. See image above for draft of front.

3. Funeral Options ACCN Membership. Now available for standard and deluxe listings on the Funeral Options website.

4. Forums for the general public are available on the Funeral Options website for ACCN Celebrant members to encourage their communities to visit and explore their options.

5. Credit Card support and Celebrations Gift Vouchers are extra tools ACCN members can use to assist families and friends in providing a gift that a person or a couple may use for a celebrant related service.

6. Information about Funeral Celebrant Training has been included here in this issue of our National Celebrant e_Magazine.

Rona Goold
ACCN Director.