Imagine…

Facing death with far fewer fears
A funeral ceremony being held in a home or a private, intimate setting; allowing for a longer and more personal good-bye
Bodies being respectfully cared for by family and friends, not by strangers
Family and friends decorating or building a casket or urn as a healing act of closure
Environmentally conscious final disposition
Children learning that death is a natural part of the lifecycle by participating in a home funeral
Knowing more affordable options compared to conventional methods

Started in 1995, Final Passages was the nation’s first non-profit, educational institute and resource center dedicated to conscious dying, and a holistic, green, compassionate and dignified alternative to conventional funeral and after-death practices. We are also the first nationwide organization to create a death midwifery and home funeral guidance training program.

Celebrating more than 25 Years in Death Doula/Midwifery and Home Funeral Guidance!

Our work serves the needs of community members who come from a variety of cultural, economic, and religious perspectives. Final Passages is an active participant in the National Home Funeral Alliance.

Day of the Dead bags

Shop for these sturdy, flat bottomed shoulder bags and cosmetic bags in a variety of designs.

In the News

Up until last week, it has been a grey area what End of Life Doulas and Home Funeral educators were legally allowed to do. Now a California court case recently decided that End of Life Doulas don’t have to be licensed to help with home funerals. They have the right to educate families about home funerals, and can receive compensation for their guidance. Read an article about this precedent-setting decision at California Can No Longer Require End-of-Life Doulas to Obtain Costly Funeral Director Licenses

While we were in Hawaii to teach at the Death Doula training, I did an interview with Amorah at Gutsy Women Radio. Click here or on the image below to watch the interview on Facebook. (No login required.)

Upcoming Trainings and Events

Level 2 ONLINE Training

Death Doula/Midwifery Care, Green Burial, Home Funeral Guidance

Friday, April 12 through Sunday April 14, 2024

Level 1 ONLINE training

Conscious Dying, Pre-Planning for End of Life, and End-of-Life Doula Practice

ONLINE Friday. April 26 through Sunday, April 28, 2024

Calling In Ritual and Support for Sudden Death

Thursday, April 25, 2024 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM Pacific Time

This month we’re on the 4th Thursday instead of the usual 3rd Thursday.

Taking time to tend to our beloveds at home in the final hours of their earth body is transformative, even when death is sudden. It can be profoundly healing even in moments of great shock when it might seem complicated and challenging.

Presenters

Missa Burry

Final Passages Core Council Members

Register to get the Zoom Link – coming soon

Once every 2 months on Wednesdays at 7 PM Pacific Time

Wednesday, May, 2024

Let’s Talk About Death: Film & Discussion Evening

Postponed until further notice.

“Final Passages’ course work is life-changing. The education is transforming my perspectives on death and the healing that can occur at the end of life. I look forward to sharing, connecting and assisting with my family, friends and community about home funerals.”
— Victoria Joy

Final Passages’ trainings go far far beyond home funerals. I step into more of who truly am every time I come. There’s nowhere and nothing in the world like them. They’re consistently the most transformative trainings and workshops I’ve ever attended.
— Andrea, Santa Cruz

In reflection of the my path with your direction in May 2019, I must let you know how much that experience meant to me and continues to mean to me.

The opportunity to say good bye to my Beloved husband Tom by having his presence close to me for three days as his spirit left his body, continues to be such a healing for me.

Thank-you, so much for nurturing the peace and deep-hearted presence of love which still lives within me today.

I would love to be a part of your dedicated work; if and when there is a path for me to do so.

Please know, how thankful I am for your inspirational work.

Peace, Love and deep Gratitude,
Mathilda Cassidy, Home Funeral Guidance Client

We weren’t ready for how the veil was parted in our lives, but we appreciate all we learned at your course a few years ago. We relied heavily on what we’d just learned to a) share new options (and our wishes) with our adult children, b) advise them to let either us or someone they trusted know their wishes, and c) share with others, encouraging similar things.

We had no idea that in just a very short while, we would host a tender wake at home for our 24-year old daughter, Anlya Grace.

Her tragic death in August 2018 shocked us all – family, childhood friends, and extended community in several cities. Mourners repeated over and over how much it meant to be able to bring their art/poem/quote/peace to enfold and honor Anlya.

Many didn’t know such a thing as her community-decorated cremation casket and home-directed funeral was possible. All were agreed: Anlya’s at-home, earth friendly wake was exactly how she would have wanted her community to gather. An artist, poet, and equal rights activist, she was known for sheltering and feeding temporarily homeless friends, celebrating our beautiful planet, laughing heartily, dancing and galvanizing others to reach beyond indolence, cruelty, and discrimination.

I can hear her in my mind, anxiously watching while her country chooses its path, ferociously urging while she paces.

Thank you, Jerrigrace, for your instruction, hands-on demonstrations, and resource materials provided at the workshop.
Tami Monkman, Level 1 and 2 student

#end-of-life-doula #endoflifedoula #deathmidwife #naturaldeathcare #greenburial #consciousdying #homefunerals #familydirectedfuneral #finalpassages #jerrigracelyons