Funeral Advice And Liminal Bereavement

Training Programme

Programme Summary

The programme is split into 2 day sections, with a gap for assignments and practice between each section. You can undertake 2, 4, 6 or 8 days depending on your needs and requirements.

Days 1 & 2 Funerals Explained: provide an overview of the period between a death and the funeral and how to plan and arrange a funeral. At the end of these first two days you will be able to guide and support a bereaved person or family by making them aware of the wide range of choices they could make, including types of funeral ceremony, coffins, caring for the body, paying for a funeral and green funerals, and to help them to know how they can access these choices.

At this stage you will receive a Funeral Guide’s Certificate.

Days 3 & 4 Arranging a funeral: after the first four days of the programme you will be able to inform, support and advise a bereaved individual or family on the practicalities of what to do when someone dies, getting quotes from funeral directors, how much things cost and to make their main choices with regard to caring for the body, choice of burial or cremation, choice of burial site, a venue for the ceremony and different coffins, urns and shrouds. You will also know the basics of what makes a good funeral and how the family can participate.

At this stage you will receive a Funeral Arranger’s Certificate.

Days 5 and 6 Advanced funeral arrangements: after the first six days of the programme, in addition to what you have achieved in the first four days, you will have learned skills to work with the newly bereaved and be able to inform, support and advise them on all aspects of arranging a funeral and dealing with the forms and paperwork, to the extent that if the family wish and are well-resourced they could go ahead guided by you and without the services of a funeral director. You will have learned about some of the less familiar options, for example burials on private land.

At this stage you will receive a Funeral Adviser’s Certificate.

Additional 2 days. Working with the dying and bereaved. This part of the programme will usually be taken between days 1&2 and 3&4 and is for those who do not have previous experience of working with the dying and bereaved. It includes theories of bereavement, exploring your own feelings and thoughts about death and dying and the skills and attitudes you need to be a calm and reassuring support at a time of distress.

Funeral Conductor and Celebrant Training

Days 1, 2 and 3 Introductory Funeral Conductor’s Course

This introductory course to be a funeral conductor and celebrant includes information on the role of the funeral conductor, all aspects of the funeral ceremony itself, choosing and decorating the venue, what makes a good funeral ceremony, arrivals and departures, words for the opening, committal and closing, poetry, music and ritual and writing a eulogy.

There will assignments to complete before proceeding to Days 4 and 5.

Days 4 and 5  Advanced Funeral Conductor’s Course

Building on the knowledge and skills of the first two days you develop the skills needed to conduct a funeral, including presentation, creating a safe space in which the mourners can express emotion, directing proceedings, funeral ceremonies in different places and for different types of deaths, for example, sudden death, suicide, for children and young adults. The course also covers post funeral ceremonies, such as the scattering of ashes.

There will be further assignments in order to complete the programme.

On completion of the four days and the assignments, you will receive a Funeral Conductor’s and Celebrant’s Certificate.

Booking and paying for courses

The training programme costs £100 per day and requires further time for reading and, if going beyond the first two days, for assignments, experience and case studies. Each two day section of the course will be run approximately two months after the previous one.

We also run shorter courses from half a day upwards for members of organisations already working with the dying and bereaved. Please contact us for details at enquiries@funeraladvisers.org.uk or on 07921 456075.