Resources
Websites & Organizations
- Last Things: Maine's Home Funeral Resource
- Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine: Simplicity, dignity, and economy in funeral arrangements through advance planning, education, and advocacy.
- National Funeral Consumers Alliance: Ensuring that consumers are fully prepared and protected when planning a funeral for themselves or their loved ones.
- New Hampshire Funeral Resources & Education: Supporting informed funeral consumer choice through education and advocacy.
- Green Burial Council: Green burial is a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact.
- Death Cafe: At a Death Cafe people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea, and discuss death with no agenda, objectives, or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session.
- Hospice: Hospice is an extraordinary resource that is vastly underutilized. It is medical care for people with an anticipated life expectancy of 6 months or less when care is no longer desired or an option, focusing the shift to symptom management and quality of life. Hospice care may be received at home, in care facilities, in hospitals, or in a dedicated hospice facility. (where available) All too often, when folks involve hospice, it is at the very end of life which is unfortunate. People tend to think that involving hospice means that you are going to hasten death when in reality those on hospice who are receiving dedicated palliative care (symptom/pain/anxiety management) often live longer than those who are not on hospice. A Google search will provide you with a list of local hospice organizations. Research which hospice is right for you or your loved one.
Media/Podcasts/Films
- A Path Home (podcast): Focuses on reclaiming our innate right to care for our own loved ones at death, in natural, and often, environmentally friendly ways. The podcast demystifies the tasks related to after-death care through hearing stories from people who have ventured into culturally unfamiliar territory and cared for their own deceased loved ones at home, chose a natural burial, or both. Available on all podcast platforms.
- In the Parlor: The Final Goodbye (documentary): Rejecting the mainstream tradition of hiring funeral professionals to care for the deceased, this film follows three families who seek a more personal and fulfilling way to say goodbye by taking an active role in caring for relatives who have died.
- A Family Undertaking (documentary): This film profiles several families who have made the decision to forego the typical mortuary funeral and instead prepare their loved ones at home for burial or cremation.
- Tender (documentary): A community group in Port Kembla are determined to take back the responsibility that most of us leave to someone else - to care for their own dead. Scattered throughout are stories that cut to the core revealing why this small band has decided to take on a practice that for most is taboo. You may also watch a 30-minute video here about the movie.
- Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America (documentary): A touching film that explores the innovative ways Americans are approaching the end of life.
