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Imagine…
- Facing death with far fewer fears
- A funeral ceremony being held in a home or a private, intimate setting; allowing for a longer and more personal good-bye
- Bodies being respectfully cared for by family and friends, not by strangers
- Family and friends decorating or building a casket or urn as a healing act of closure
- Environmentally conscious final disposition
- Children learning that death is a natural part of the lifecycle by participating in a home funeral
- Knowing more affordable options compared to conventional methods
Started in 1995, Final Passages was the nation’s first non-profit, educational institute and resource center dedicated to conscious dying, and a holistic, green, compassionate and dignified alternative to conventional funeral and after-death practices. We are also the first nationwide organization to create a death midwifery and home funeral guidance training program.
Celebrating more than 25 Years in Death Doula/Midwifery and Home Funeral Guidance!
Our work serves the needs of community members who come from a variety of cultural, economic, and religious perspectives. Final Passages is an active participant in the National Home Funeral Alliance.
Day of the Dead bags
Shop for these sturdy, flat bottomed shoulder bags and cosmetic bags in a variety of designs.
In the News
Up until last week, it has been a grey area what End of Life Doulas and Home Funeral educators were legally allowed to do. Now a California court case recently decided that End of Life Doulas don’t have to be licensed to help with home funerals. They have the right to educate families about home funerals, and can receive compensation for their guidance. Read an article about this precedent-setting decision at California Can No Longer Require End-of-Life Doulas to Obtain Costly Funeral Director Licenses
While we were in Hawaii to teach at the Death Doula training, I did an interview with Amorah at Gutsy Women Radio. Click here or on the image below to watch the interview on Facebook. (No login required.)
Upcoming Trainings and Events
Level 1 training
Conscious Dying, Pre-Planning for End of Life, and End-of-Life Doula Practice
LEVEL 2 ONLINE Training
Death Doula/Midwifery Care, Green Burial, Home Funeral Guidance
Annual Level 3 – 2025 Training
Becoming a Death Midwife/Doula, Home Funeral Guide and Educator: Reclaiming the Wisdom Traditions and Art of Death Midwifery and Home Funeral Guidance
Training Super Special!
Embracing End of Life Educational Series
3rd Thursday of each month
Sacred Essential Oils for End of Life
Introduction to AromaGnosis Method and Practical Guidance on Using Aromatic Allies for End of Life.
Thursday, July 17, 2025 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Pacific Time
Presenters: Cathy Skipper & Florian Birkmayer MD
In many traditions, scents in various forms play an important part in death rituals. High quality, alive essential oils and a holistic view of the human psyche can help people heal longstanding unresolved soul wounds when dying.
In this presentation, we will introduce you to the AromaGnosis method and give you practical guidance on using aromatic allies for the end of life. Our intention is to inspire you to incorporate aromas in your work with the dying and in palliative care, so that people can be supported to make the most of this precious time through a profound connection to scent.
Cathy Skipper
My workshops and consultations here in New Mexico, internationally and online help clients learn how to use the senses, depth psychology, journeying and much more to peel away the layers, heal deep-seated and ancestral traumas and explore their entirety.
B.Ed. Hons. in Speech and Drama from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Herbalist Degree at Ecole Lyonnaise de Plantes Medicinales. Four year training in advanced kinesiology (Cellule de Vie) in France. CTA Certified Coach.
Florian Birkmayer, MD
Through my commitment to my own Wounded Healer’s journey, I help our clients and students find their own personal myth or soul’s purpose.
Alive aromatic allies, in the form of high quality essential oils, powerfully help our ego, our conscious story of ourselves, partner with our soul, Shadow or unconscious by bypassing the intellect and weakening the Default Mode Network. In response to the recent groundswell of interest in psychedelic therapies, I have pioneered the use of essential oils to enhance the benefits of psychedelic therapies in a variety of ways. Essential oils synergize with psychedelic therapies on multiple levels and ultimately my hope is to remind everyone that aromatic allies can be powerful by themselves to help us live in alignment with our soul’s purpose.
After a career in mainstream academic psychiatry and addiction treatment, I became frustrated by the overemphasis on pharmaceuticals to cover up symptoms and decided to use my knowledge and experience to help people recover from pharmaceutical medications.
I received my bachelor’s degree in molecular biology at Princeton University, where I learned to question assumptions and discover the hidden gifts of the unseen side of life, the shadow. I received my medical doctorate from Columbia University, which taught me how to think critically about ‘business-as-usual’ medicine and inspired me to become an addiction psychiatrist. Psychiatry Residency at the University of New Mexico. Board-certified in Psychiatry.
ASAM-certified in Addiction Medicine. Certified Life Coach (CLCI).
Embracing End of Life is a free monthly event brought to you by Final Passages, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. We invite you to consider a gift to Final Passages when you register for this event – all donations are tax deductible. Please remember to also register under general admission to ensure you receive the zoom link for this event.
Contributions are directed to provide scholarships for our training programs, for reproducing and developing educational materials, publication of our book about home and family-directed funerals, and other community and national outreach programs, including this monthly online series.
Started in 1995, Final Passages was the nation’s first non-profit, educational institute and resource center dedicated to conscious dying, and a holistic, green, compassionate and dignified alternative to conventional funeral and after-death practices. We are also the first nationwide organization to create a death midwifery and home funeral guidance training program.
Once every 2 months on Wednesdays at 7 PM Pacific Time
July 2, 2025 at 7 PM Pacific Time
Let’s Talk About Death: Film & Discussion Evening
Postponed until further notice.
“Final Passages’ course work is life-changing. The education is transforming my perspectives on death and the healing that can occur at the end of life. I look forward to sharing, connecting and assisting with my family, friends and community about home funerals.”
— Victoria Joy
Final Passages’ trainings go far far beyond home funerals. I step into more of who truly am every time I come. There’s nowhere and nothing in the world like them. They’re consistently the most transformative trainings and workshops I’ve ever attended.
— Andrea, Santa Cruz
In reflection of the my path with your direction in May 2019, I must let you know how much that experience meant to me and continues to mean to me.
The opportunity to say good bye to my Beloved husband Tom by having his presence close to me for three days as his spirit left his body, continues to be such a healing for me.
Thank-you, so much for nurturing the peace and deep-hearted presence of love which still lives within me today.
I would love to be a part of your dedicated work; if and when there is a path for me to do so.
Please know, how thankful I am for your inspirational work.
Peace, Love and deep Gratitude,
Mathilda Cassidy, Home Funeral Guidance Client
We weren’t ready for how the veil was parted in our lives, but we appreciate all we learned at your course a few years ago. We relied heavily on what we’d just learned to a) share new options (and our wishes) with our adult children, b) advise them to let either us or someone they trusted know their wishes, and c) share with others, encouraging similar things.
Tami Monkman, Level 1 and 2 student
We had no idea that in just a very short while, we would host a tender wake at home for our 24-year old daughter, Anlya Grace.
Her tragic death in August 2018 shocked us all – family, childhood friends, and extended community in several cities. Mourners repeated over and over how much it meant to be able to bring their art/poem/quote/peace to enfold and honor Anlya.
Many didn’t know such a thing as her community-decorated cremation casket and home-directed funeral was possible. All were agreed: Anlya’s at-home, earth friendly wake was exactly how she would have wanted her community to gather. An artist, poet, and equal rights activist, she was known for sheltering and feeding temporarily homeless friends, celebrating our beautiful planet, laughing heartily, dancing and galvanizing others to reach beyond indolence, cruelty, and discrimination.
I can hear her in my mind, anxiously watching while her country chooses its path, ferociously urging while she paces.
Thank you, Jerrigrace, for your instruction, hands-on demonstrations, and resource materials provided at the workshop.
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