Darling Vizzy D's: let's start with a group hug cos my gosh this week has felt like a year. Some seismic departures from our planet this week - a lot of aching hearts. Dolly is on high rotation in our house and if ever there was a weekend to dust off Steel Magnolias & Rocky Horror Picture Show. 🍿🍿🍿 A few things to share this week, then a prompt that's been sitting with me for a while. 🐦‍⬛ *WEBINAR: HOLDING FAMILIES THROUGH ASSISTED DYING: A reflection space for death care workers.* This virtual gathering is happening in a couple of weeks and the uptake has been huge, so much so I've had to cap numbers at 60 and there's already a waitlist. Seems like this is a conversation we're all hungry for. My intention is to record it and make it available here as a resource, so if you missed out on a spot don't worry, it'll come back around. Details are here and the call itself is on the calendar. Zoom details will be sent out to those registered soon. 🐦‍⬛ The Vizzy D Resource Library keeps growing, I try to add a few bits each week, but don't forget you can suggest your own too. If something's shaped your practice and it's not in there yet, comment to add it in. 🐦‍⬛ Any Vizzy D's near Sydney/Blue Mountains, our Coffin Weaving Weekend is coming up on 19/20 September. A beautiful, hands on, immersive gathering, and you'd be so welcome. Details here. 🐦‍⬛ Now, this weeks prompt: "THIS WORK!" I have a little WhatsApp thread with two dear colleagues where we debrief and defrag this work. Most of the time it's a simple image from a ceremony with two words underneath it: 'THIS WORK!' A plain proclamation of awe, desolation, wonder, heartbreak and reverence, all at once. Choosing to work IN death care means choosing to be worked BY death care. This work works us. It can't not.

Hi everyone I’ve been booked to take my first memorial. The person requested a direct cremation and now the family are planning to celebrate his life next month. While I have created and led many funeral ceremonies I have yet to lead a memorial. I feel comfortable with the overall process but am wondering how you end the service. I often use a blessing before the farewell / committal - would this be a fitting end? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance Beth

Oh hi you, and welcome to week EIGHTEEN of these Vizzy D Prompts - this week it's short & simple ideas for your next blog / socials post / community talk ideas... 🐦‍⬛ Every week someone in this community tells me they don't know what to write about. And every week I want to say: you're not short on ideas, you're short on permission to answer the questions people are already asking you. As death workers we get asked things constantly. In waiting rooms. At dinner parties when someone finds out what you do. In hushed voices after the third glass of wine. And guess what? If you keep a note of these questions: they can become your content calendar. They're PROOF of what people are actually curious about, not what you think you should be writing about... So this week's prompt is simple. Pick one question from below (or one from your own inbox, your own kitchen table conversations) and write the blog post you'd want a stranger to find at 2am when they can't sleep and can't stop thinking about it. Write it from your voice. Your perspective. Your experience. Questions to work from: - What actually happens to a body in the first 24 hours after death? - Do I have to use a funeral home, or can my family do this ourselves? - How do I talk to my kids about death without lying to them? - What happens if I can't afford a funeral? - Is it normal to feel relief when someone dies? - What should I do with my grief when there's no ceremony to hold it? - Can I see the body? Should I? - What are my options besides burial and cremation? - How soon after a death do I actually need to decide anything? - What do I do with someone's belongings when I can't bear to touch them yet? - Is it too late to plan the funeral I actually want for myself? The prompt: Write the answer you wish someone had given you, or given a client, the first time this question landed in the room. Not the polished professional version. The honest one. If you publish something from these ideas, please drop it in the thread so we can all enjoy it.

I've been sitting here this week beaming like a proud mama hen. So many of you have started putting your face and voice out there in new ways, on camera, in your own words, and I just want to say I see it. It's not a small thing. So this week I'm gifting you a snippet from the Social Reels Masterclass. Eight minutes, deep dive, all about Your Profile, Your Platforms, Your Sound. Watch for free below and you can find the full course in the Classroom tab. I'm also dreaming into something bigger. A Vizzy D Video series where I challenge us all with different prompts and questions to speak to camera and share it in here first, encouraging each other across that vulnerable threshold together. Still shaping what this looks like, but I wanted to say it out loud before it's fully formed, because that's kind of the whole point isn't it... Would this be something you'd want to be part of? Curious what a prompt might look like for you, something silly, something serious, something that scares you a bit to say out loud. What is stopping you from putting your face and voice out there? What are the blocks? How can we help each other? Only love, Amy 🐦‍⬛

This week I’m gifting y'all a lil snippet from the 'Visibility Foundations' course where we delve into TRUST SIGNALS. Start by watching the video below - it’s only 6 minutes. 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 1: Website Copy 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 2: Your Lovely Face 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 3: Description of your Services 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 4: Visible Pricing 🐦‍⬛ Trust Signal 5: Community Presence There's a full mapping exercise inside the 'Visibility Foundations: Trust Signals' lesson that walks you through where to start with these once you've scored yourself, but I hope this is food for thought in the meantime. These Trust Signals are always adapting and evolving, that's the nature of the work, and we should keep checking in on them. 🐦‍⬛ I'll go first with a couple of updates on my to-do list: - I know I need a more recent headshot, and photos that demonstrate HOW I show up in this work.  I'm dreaming into a mock funeral photoshoot in the Spring here in the Blue Mountains. I plan on making this a community building event, where I invite Death Café regulars to come and be the ‘guests’ and will have a cardboard coffin for us to paint & decorate together. I'm partnering with a local florist & venue, so we can all share in more imagery to 'advertise' what the non-traditional funeral ceremony can look like. - I'm also updating my sliding scale ballpark pricing. Here's my latest model which I need to add to my website: ‘CELEBRANT FEES: My fee for a memorial or funeral ceremony works on a sliding scale, because I believe every family should have access to bespoke, meaningful ceremony regardless of their financial situation. I trust families to choose the tier that honestly reflects what they can afford: Supported ($650) - for those experiencing financial hardship or limited resources. Comfortable ($1100) - for those in regular employment, meeting day-to-day needs without difficulty. Abundance ($1550) - for those with means to pay in full, which helps make the supported rate possible for others.