9 MONTHS OF CREATIVE PRACTICE FOR FUNERAL MAKERS People so often ask me what funeral training I recommend. And for a long time, I’ve wished I could point them towards something that explores not just the practicalities of arranging a funeral, but the nuance, the complexity and the extraordinary responsibility of this work. Something that makes room for the creative possibilities. Something that challenges the cookie-cutter approach to funeral ceremony and invites us to imagine what else might be possible… Because no two lives are the same. No two griefs are the same. And how we hold this work should reflect that. A sudden death asks something different of us than a death anticipated for years. A family divided by faith, a complicated relationship, the death of a child or a person who died by suicide all bring their own questions, complexities and possibilities. I wanted to create a place to think deeply about this work, develop our creative judgement and learn from the possibilities others can see that we might not… We so rarely get to practise this work without a bereaved family sitting in front of us. But crafting ceremony is a creative practice and creative practice needs… well… practice. The Ceremony Exchange is my new online creative funeral studio, launching in November with monthly classes starting January 2027. Each month, we’ll explore a different fictional funeral scenario, designed to stretch our thinking and explore a particular nuance of grief, bereavement, family dynamics or the circumstances surrounding a death. Whether you're new to death care and want a place to practice, or you're a seasoned "Deathie" seeking new ideas and inspiration - The Ceremony Exchange is for those who want to go deeper into the creative practice of ceremony making. Exploring how we design bespoke, meaningful experiences that reflect the nuance of death & grief. How different lives, deaths, circumstances and family dynamics call for different approaches. It’s ALSO a place to literally EXCHANGE ceremony scripts & ideas. Together, we’re building a growing library of inspiration, language and imagination. A resource shaped not by one person’s expertise, but by the collective creativity of ceremony makers around the globe. In a world where AI is taking our language, The Ceremony Exchange is a place to return to each other and share in the quiet wisdom of this work.

This week I’m gifting y'all a lil snippet from the 'Visibility Foundations' course where we delve into TRUST SIGNALS. Start by watching the video below - it’s only 6 minutes. 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 1: Website Copy 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 2: Your Lovely Face 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 3: Description of your Services 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 4: Visible Pricing 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 5: Community Presence There's a full mapping exercise inside the 'Visibility Foundations: Trust Signals' lesson that walks you through where to start with these once you've scored yourself, but I hope this is food for thought in the meantime. These Trust Signals are always adapting and evolving, that's the nature of the work, and we should keep checking in on them. 🐦‍⬛ I'll go first with a couple of updates on my to-do list: - I know I need a more recent headshot, and photos that demonstrate HOW I show up in this work.  I'm dreaming into a mock funeral photoshoot in the Spring here in the Blue Mountains. I plan on making this a community building event, where I invite Death Café regulars to come and be the ‘guests’ and will have a cardboard coffin for us to paint & decorate together. I'm partnering with a local florist & venue, so we can all share in more imagery to 'advertise' what the non-traditional funeral ceremony can look like. - I'm also updating my sliding scale ballpark pricing. Here's my latest model which I need to add to my website: ‘CELEBRANT FEES: My fee for a memorial or funeral ceremony works on a sliding scale, because I believe every family should have access to bespoke, meaningful ceremony regardless of their financial situation. I trust families to choose the tier that honestly reflects what they can afford: Supported ($650) - for those experiencing financial hardship or limited resources. Comfortable ($1100) - for those in regular employment, meeting day-to-day needs without difficulty. Abundance ($1550) - for those with means to pay in full, which helps make the supported rate possible for others.

🐦‍⬛ This week: shoot your shot... Not recklessly. Not in a "put it out to the universe" kind of way. Just one small, deliberate act that takes you somewhere you haven't quite been willing to go yet. A podcast you'd love to be on. A publication you want to write for. Someone whose work you genuinely admire and whose radar you'd like to be on. A collaboration idea sitting in your drafts. A workshop proposal. A DM. An email. An ask. Most of us wait. We wait until we feel ready enough, established enough, polished enough to deserve the ask. We wait for visibility to arrive before we risk being visible. But it usually works the other way around. Courage tends to show up first - and it often looks completely ordinary. Sending the email. Pressing publish. Introducing yourself to that neighbourhood centre. Starting the Death Café. Replying instead of lurking. Letting yourself be seen before you feel certain. This isn't about being louder. It's about making yourself more available to what's possible. What if once a month we made a ritual of this? Carving out space for the courage to do something for our future selves. Consciously nudging the edges of our comfort zones. Forging a path in the direction of what's actually calling us. So, your Visible Friday prompt for this week: What's one shot you could take that your future self would thank you for - even if the answer turns out to be no? 🐦‍⬛ Drop yours in the comments - let's inspire each other, swap ideas, maybe even help each other craft the ask. Mine makes me wince a little to say out loud, but I've always wanted to be on the radar of Sarah Kerr at Sacred Deathcare. So I'm going to shelve my fangirl nerves and reach out. What's yours? 🎵 And because courage can grow collectively, I’ve made us a playlist mixtape. A shared 45minute soundtrack for sending the email. Pitching the idea. Hitting publish. Taking the meeting. Backing yourself.

Amy, thanks so much for the class about Death Cafes. It was such a practical session. I feel inspired and motivated to do this in my community. This question is for you, but for everyone also! Are you allowed to play with the Death Cafe concept? I know you said it being free is critical…but a month or so ago I had this inspiration of a Death Dinner Party. Getting either together a 6-8 known, or unknown people to share the topic of death over a meal. Does anyone know of this being done? Is it a bit too left of centre? Or any advice?

This week I'm gifting you all a snippet from the Visibility Foundations Course because what we explore in this lesson seems to be coming up a lot at the moment. I'm keen to know how and where this lands in you... it's 5 mins, watch it & tell me... This is the video most practitioners tell me they needed years ago. Not the practical stuff. The permission. The naming of something that has been quietly operating in the background of every decision about pricing, posting and self-promotion since they began this work. Death care sits at the intersection of the sacred and the commercial. Historically it has belonged to community, to ritual, to religion, none of which operate on market logic. When you put a price on sitting with a dying person, or promote your grief facilitation services on social media, some part of you wonders whether something is being violated. Whether you are "cheapening" the thing you came here to do. Sacred, to me, isn't about religion or ritual done a certain way. It's about presence. It's the moment someone lets you see them at their most undefended, when the ordinary rules of composure and privacy fall away and what's left is just the truth of what they're going through. I learned that from my grandmother long before I had language for it, and I've spent years since trying to build spaces where people can arrive at that truth without shame. That's what I mean when I say sacred. Not separate from life. Woven right through it. That feeling is not weakness. It is not imposter syndrome. It is a structural reality of this field, and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than hustled past. This video takes it seriously. And then it offers a reframe that I hope will stay with you long after... Visibility in death care is not about commercialising the sacred. It is about making the sacred accessible. 🐦‍⬛ Visibility Prompt #12: Which of the beliefs in this video landed most strongly for you? Which one felt most like your own? You may even want to journal using these prompts to explore it further...