A Funeral Celebrant is one who works both diligently and creatively to help family and friends celebrate the life of a loved one. They are trained to create a ceremony that reflects the wishes, beliefs, cultural background, and values of the deceased and his/her family. If desired, a celebrant can work in tandem with a clergy person and their ceremonies can be held pretty much anywhere and at any time of day or week.

Most Funeral Celebrants are drawn to this kind of work by a deep understanding that each life has, at the very least, some meaning and deserves to be honoured by having their story told. Celebrants are convinced that gathering together for a funeral, graveside, memorial service, or celebration of life, can be a valuable source of healing. Little can take a family’s grief away, yet being involved in the creating or designing of a genuine, well prepared ceremony helps to ease you and your family’s pain at the loss of your loved one.

In our fast-paced society, many people no longer truly ‘get’ the profound opportunities ceremony can offer our hearts, minds and even bodies. A well-thought out and lovingly conducted ceremony can be transformational, metaphorically moving you from one place in your life to another. Ceremonies, when well done, have the power to inform, awaken, transform, and heal.

Once you have met with Nathan, our on-staff celebrant – Terri-Ann – will spend time with designated family members and friends, in an unhurried manner, to gather information pertaining to the ceremony. As the family storytelling unfolds, an initial design for the ceremony begins to evolve. The Celebrant then spends hours crafting the ceremony that includes music, quotes and readings. Such services might, or might not, include aspects and components of traditional faith based ceremonies. No ceremony is delivered unless every detail of the ceremony is checked and approved by the family. The Celebrant then officiates the ceremony at the location of your choice.

“I was telling a friend of mine about the wonderful job you did for our family (and my dad) a few years ago. My friend is a non-profit fundraiser and had recently attended a story telling workshop at a big association conference. She was very impressed with the idea of helping grieving families honour their dearly departed by listening and documenting their family stories. We all have a story to tell and everyone has a story. The exercise of sitting down and reminiscing while you listened and noted was also therapeutic in our grief process.”

Terri-Ann was trained and certified by Doug Manning and his daughter Glenda Stansbury of The In-Sight Institute in Oklahoma City. Doug Manning has pioneered funeral celebrant training both in the United States and Canada. He is renowned throughout North America as a public speaker, grief counsellor and advocate for meaningful funeral and memorial services.