Episode 17 : Funeral service is transitioning - Join us as Faith Haug discusses with Dan Shea and Jess Clasby how funeral service can grow and serve clients as more transgender funeral professionals and students feel comfortable becoming their true self as well as serving families and navigating conversations at the arrangment conference. How to incorporate proper pronouns and prefered names while still abiding by the law on legal paperwork. How do we navigate using two names with an insistant family and how do we work with families that may not be as accepting or affirming as we are. This is the longest episode to date as we dive into the educational system, students today and cover quite a few topics that you are sure to enjoy.  This is part one, join us for part two for episode 18 as the conversation continues about funeral students today.

This month we compare two popular mortuary simulation games with real life management. 

What does it mean to go the extra mile and how do we collectively improve.  As an industry we either grow together or we sink together.  We need to do the extra stuff and leave our comfort zone.  It is the seminars, speakers, conferences and allow us to grow and learn how to improve based on others work.  Preventing a stagnant environment requires the extra mile.

Join us as Prof. Shea covers study techniques that will prepare you for your semester and academic career no matter what field you are studying for.  

Join us for a chat with Chelsea Cush, funeral director, embalmer and mortuary educator.  Chelsea is a licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer in Michigan and Pennsylvania and teaches for the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, PIMS.  

The NFDA's arranger training is a great opportunity to sharpen your skills at the arrangement conference and in general will make you better at funeral home operation and management.  This eight hour day will be a mixture of learning, interacting, networking and practicing your skills.  Melissa Loose offers a dynamic day of learning and when you leave you will be empowered to bring what you have learned back to the families you serve.  Cape Cod Community College will be hosting this training September 29th 2023 in Bridgewater Massachusetts on the Bridgewater State University Campus where they reside.  To sign up go to NFDA.org/Arrangertraining

Join us as we cover how a funeral director and embalmer can approach suicide related deaths and tell the deceased story the way the family wants.

Following Governor Maura Healey's announcement of Mass Reconnect we sat down the the President of Cape Cod Community College, Dr. John Cox to discuss this monumental moment that will open doors and break down barriers to education.  If you are 25 or older and ready to pursue your first college degree or maybe you have started but never finished, visit CapeCod.edu/Free for more information on Mass Reconnect.

Emma Waugh, Public Health Program Coordinator for the United South and Eastern Tribes - USET joins us this to discuss how funeral directors can better serve Native Americans, their tribes, death certificate misclassification and funeral directors can do to correct this.  USET also provides training throughout the United States at your location.

Joe Reardon joins Melissa in discussing cremation and how it affects the modern funeral director.  What can we do to serve families better and keep up with the times.