INFORMATION VIDEOS
The Australian Home Funeral Alliance host information session on various topics to help inform and educate anyone interested in planning or hosting a Home Funeral.
After each session a recording will been added here for you to view. Any information provided is general in nature and is not intended as advice or instructions.
WHAT IS A HOME FUNERAL?
ABOUT : Claire Turnham and Bec Lyons share what a home funeral is and how it all works.
Claire Turnham MBE is a mother of 4 and the UK/NZ based Founder of Only with Love. As a pioneer of the home funeral movement, she is passionate about sharing her skills, knowledge and experience to help others. Claire is recognised internationally as a leading Home Funeral Practitioner, Educator, Celebrant and Advisor.
Bec Lyons is the President of the Natural Death Advocacy Network and the Australian Home Funeral Alliance. She is a Celebrant, Tedx speaker, end of life doula and independent funeral director. She is a Churchill Fellow and the author of 'A Heartfelt Undertaking'.
ARRANGING A HOME FUNERAL.
ABOUT : AHFA committee members Alex and Hini delve into how to arrange a home funeral. What does it involve and where do you start?
Alex Antunes (she/her) is a Naarm based aged care worker and holistic funeral assistant. She is the current treasurer of Natural Death Advocacy Network and a founder of Queer As Death Collective which facilitate monthly Death Cafes for LGBTQIA+ people.
Hini (they/them) hails from New Zealand, they're an indigenous Maori, queer non-binary person who has lived in Australia since 2006. They're a hospitality professional and creative event producer who's adding their weight to the death positive/ literacy movement.
AFTER DEATH BODY CARE IN THE HOME.
ABOUT : After death body care in the home. People talk about home funeral but what does it take to care for the dead?
AHFA committee member, Hallie Halloran is of Ngemba - First Nations, Irish & Belgian bloodlines. I have always had a personal passion & interest in human relating, nature, lore, life & death. I was born with a strong yet soft humanitarian heart that likes to listen, observe & feel more than talk.
She is the owner of Paperbark deathcare and she offers an accessible, affordable & eco-conscious family led service offering the knowledge, advocacy & guidance, so that they may do as much or as little themselves.
BODY DISPOSAL OPTIONS
ABOUT : Bec Lyons is the President of the Natural Death Advocacy Network and the Australian Home Funeral Alliance. She is a Celebrant, Tedx speaker, end of life doula and independent funeral director. She is a Churchill Fellow and the author of 'A Heartfelt Undertaking' and has travelled the world looking at different body disposal options. She presented an overview of her research and findings.
WHAT DO I SAY
ABOUT : Do you know what to say when someone is dying, or to someone recently bereaved? AHFA committee member Annie Whitlocke has years of experience to share on this topic.
Annie has completed Death Doula Australia training 1 and advanced, Death Doula Australia training Death of a Baby, Deathwalker 1 and advanced, and Midwifing Death Amicus. She works as a Clinical Pastoral Education (Monash Hospital) and sits on the advisory committee for Secular Spiritual Care Network.
Annie also serves as a part of the advisory committee for Victoria Governments Palliative Care Clinical Insight committee, as an on-call Buddhist chaplain at all major hospitals and as a Palliative Liaison coordinator Buddhist Council Victoria.
CEREMONY REALLY MATTERS
ABOUT : AHFA Committee member Zenith Virago will be sharing her decades of wisdom about creating meaningful ceremony.
Zenith lives in Byron Bay, Australia and is the EO and founding member of the NSW Charity, the Natural Death Care Centre. She is the co author of the book The Intimacy of Death and Dying, and subject of the international independent documentary, Zen & the Art of Dying, and patron of the Good funeral guide, UK.
With a legal and community background and work history, she is a seen as a community resource, assisting people to know and reclaim their legal rights, and co-create their own social rites of passage. She has been working towards more holistic cultural change in approaches to better and continual end of life and after death care for well over 25 years.
CREATING RITUALS OF DRESS AND DEATH
ABOUT : Dr. Pia Interlandi is a designer who addresses death through dress; dress as an act, as a doing, and as a becoming (poiesis). Harnessing a toolkit of skills that combine tacit and explicit knowledge bases, Pia intermeshes scholarly and professional practice, interlacing personal reflection, community engagement, and the rigor(mortis) of academia.
Through her practice, Garments for the Grave, Pia designs rituals for facilitating dressing and addressing the dead body. She co-designs garments with the terminally ill and dresses them with family for their funerals. As an academic, her teaching and research explore the materials and materiality of death, disposal, decomposition and dispersion.
A DOULA'S SUPPORT IN DYING
ABOUT : At this event, facilitate by Tracey Rusden, we explored the role of an End of Life Doula, sometimes referred to as EOLD.
What does a doula do? At a glance, you might work with an EOLD if;​
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You are advancing in age or have a life-limiting or terminal diagnosis and want to get your 'affairs' in order.
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You want to have important discussions and conversations about end of life.
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You would like to know your options, to be prepared and organised.
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You want your wishes and preferences documented and would like support to get it sorted.
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You’re an independent thinker and have some ideas about what you want and don’t want.
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You want personalised support for you and your people, you are interested in support with advocacy.
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You want to minimise any challenges for your people.
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You like an open and honest approach.
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You want to remain in your own home.
REFLECTIONS OF MY QUEER BIRTH/DEATH RITUAL
ABOUT : In this session, will share photos and personal experiences of attempting to metaphorically dead while she reflects on the birth/death ritual she hosted - a queer death experiment.
Drawing on her experiences of working as a Personal Care Attendant and Mortician's assistant, she explores switching roles with friends. Conversations around consent, boundaries, and desires play an intrinsic role in the experiment.