Additional Resources For Home Funerals

National Organizations

National Home Funeral Alliance

A  501c3 nonprofit formed in 2010, the National Home Funeral Alliance is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to educating the public about “community led after death care.” The organization consists of members from all over the U.S. and Canada, many of whom are home funeral guides or end-of-life doulas. The organization offers a wealth of resources about natural death care and the ins-and-outs of planning and implementing a family directed funeral in the home. Additionally, it has a member directory where users can search for end-of-life educators, doulas and home funeral guides.

Green Burial Council

Many families who choose to have a home funeral choose natural or “green” burial as well. To help you locate a natural burial ground in your area, the Green Burial Council’s website provides an interactive map showing the locations of natural, hybrid and conservation burial grounds across the U.S. and Canada. It also offers some helpful educational resources and informative FAQs for those who would like to learn more about the different types of natural cemeteries. 

You can reach the GBC at:

888-966-3330
​info@greenburialcouncil.org

Funeral Consumers Alliance

The Funeral Consumers Alliance is an excellent resource for families who have questions about funeral planning in general and their rights under the law. You can find a local chapter of the FCA using this interactive map or contact the main office in South Burlington, Vermont, at 802-865-8300.

Home Funeral Guides & Consultants

Heidi Boucher, Home Funeral Guide, Filmmaker

One of the pioneers in the home funeral movement, Heidi Boucher has been helping to educate families about caring for their deceased loved ones for 40 years. She is a home funeral guide, educator and speaker who offers seminars and training on natural death care and home funerals in numerous locations across the U.S. She also wrote, produced and directed the 2016 documentary film, “In the Parlor: The Final Goodbye” , which explores the home death care movement and the personal journeys of three families who choose to have a family-directed funeral in their own homes. 

Heidi is located in Fair Oaks, California and can be reached at (916) 601-9134, heidibouch@comcast.net,  www.intheparlordoc.com

Rev.Olivia Bareham Sacred Crossings

Rev. Olivian Bareham is a death midwife, home funeral guide, interfaith minister and celebrant, and the founder of Sacred Crossings Institute and Sacred Crossings Alternative Funeral Home in Los Angeles Country, California. At the Institute, she offers death education classes and certificate programs for death doulas and death midwives. The classes are open to death care professionals and non-professionals and to the public at large. 

Sacred Crossings Alternative Funeral Homes serves clients in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Long Beach, Pasadena, Ventura and the surrounding areas. They offer a number of non-traditional after-death options, including home funerals, green burials, direct cremation and full-body burials at sea. 

Contact Sacred Crossings for more information 

800-805-5561

sacredcrossings@gmail.com

Jerrigrace Lyons-Final Passages

Jerrigrace Lyons is a minister, death midwife, educator, home funeral guide and Reiki master and the founder of Final Passages, a nonprofit education and resource center dedicated to educating the public about their right to care for their own dead and alternatives to the “traditional” American funeral. Founded in 1995, Final Passages is located in Sebastopol, California, and the first organization of its kind in the U.S. It offers many useful resources on its website, including information on locating a home funeral guide, the legalities of family directed funerals and much more. 

Contact Final Passages for more information

(707) 824-0268

info@finalpassages.org

Heidi Boucher

One of the pioneers in the home funeral movement, Heidi Boucher has been helping to educate families about caring for their deceased loved ones for 40 years years. She is a home funeral guide, educator and speaker who offers seminars and training on natural death care and home funerals in numerous locations across the U.S. She also wrote, produced and directed the 2016 documentary film, “In the Parlor: The Final Goodbye” , which explores the natural death care movement and the personal journeys of three families who choose to have a family-directed funeral in their own homes.

Heidi is located in Fair Oaks, California and can be reached at (916) 601-9134, heidibouch@comcast.net

Media

Documentary Film: Zen and the Art of Dying

A documentary film by Broderick Fox, Zen and the Art of Dying explores the work of Zenith (Zen) Virago, a self-proclaimed “death walker” who has brought the concept of natural death care and community-led funerals to the Australian continent and, more specifically, the small community of Byron Bay. The film explores the ways in which families and communities can prepare for and participate in the death of their loved ones. It is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, or you may watch the trailer here. 

In the Parlor: The Final Goodbye”

available to stream on www.intheparlordoc.com.