Our life story

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I believe that in our lifetime we each create a life story, a narrative of who we are as a character and of how other people and key events along the way have affected and shaped us into the person we have become. It is in looking back at the life story of a loved one who has died that we find meaning in their life, and hopefully for ourselves as we begin the process of accepting our loss. ​
It is because your loved one’s life story will have been completely their own that it is right and fitting for their funeral, the last of their life events, to be unique to them. Just as illness is always a profoundly individual experience, requiring an individual response, the same is surely true of the way in which our life story is brought to its close. ​

Your need

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Whether the major task facing you right now is to make happen the funeral your loved one chose for themselves, or whether it is to create from scratch a funeral which you feel honours their memory, it would be my privilege to work in partnership with you to make it happen. ​
Or perhaps you are living with a life threatening illness, or nearing the end of life, and wish to preplan your own funeral, rather than leave it to loved ones left behind to second guess your wishes? ​
Or maybe you are struggling to grieve, perhaps feeling you have 'unfinished business' because you weren't able to attend a funeral? Or perhaps you have suffered some other loss and been denied an opportunity to acknowledge it properly? ​

How I can help

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Whatever the circumstance, I would be glad for you to allow me to listen to the stories you have to tell, to hear any particular thoughts or ideas you may have for a ceremony, and to work with you to craft an occasion which is individual and feels meaningful as we discover your own way to celebrate a life, to commemorate a death, or mark some other significant loss. ​
As someone with more than 15 years’ experience as a celebrant at funerals and other key family events, as well as being a trained bereavement counsellor, you can rely on me to be sensitive, supportive and trustworthy. ​
Together, we can create a dignified and meaningful event as a completely fitting ending or commemoration, keeping the life story unique until the last.