Jolena Grande facilitates tonight’s virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support Meeting to reflect on the ideals of funeral service, the realities of this challenging work, and how we can find a balance between what we expect and what we experience.

No need to register! Simply follow the link to join the conversation tonight: Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 9pm AT, 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 5pm PT.

Access meeting link: https://www.cremationassociation.org/

Jolena Grande, a certified funeral service practitioner and California-licensed funeral director, embalmer, cemetery manager, and crematory manager, began her funeral service career in 1989 working for a large mortuary/cemetery combination operation in Southern California. With more than 25 years of professional practice, she shares her insights and experiences in an enjoyable and often humorous way with students seeking a career path as a funeral service practitioner.

For many of us, October means changing leaves, crisp weather and crisper apples, and football… but it also means school (and sniffles) are back in session, fewer hours of sunshine, and a fast-approaching holiday season. It’s also a fine time to take a moment to chat about work, life, and finding a balance in funeral service.

Join the virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support meeting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 5pm PT to share what’s on your mind this month and how we can care for ourselves and each other in the months to come.

No registration required, join the conversation: https://www.cremationassociation.org/peersupport

Since 1989, September is designated as Recovery Month to raise awareness about treatment for substance use disorders, reduce stigma of those suffering, and celebrate those in recovery. That’s why this month’s virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support meeting on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 8:00pm ET, 9:00pm AT and 9:30pm NL provides space to share stories of struggle and recovery and learn more about this all too common experience.

Christopher Matthews will facilitate the September Funeral Professionals Peer Support meeting to discuss the effect of substance abuse on funeral professionals today with a focus on growth, resilience and skills to support those struggling with these common, but often unspoken, concerns.

Matthews hopes to provide a fresh, personal perspective and tools to help spot and support funeral professionals in need to the road to recovery.

Building social supports and a caring community is essential for recovery. Connect with your fellow funeral professional peers on Tuesday, September 17, 2024!

Join the Meeting

Join the funeral professional peer support meeting for anyone who works for a funeral home, cemetery, or crematory serving the public or supporting those who do. Students, apprentices, and interns are welcome.

Topic: Peer Support Group, from FPPS & CANA
Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Time: 9:00 PM Atlantic Time

Access the Professional Peer Support Zoom Meeting:
https://members.cremationassociation.org/events/Funeral-Professionals-Peer-Support-Meeting-1807044/details

“We joined this profession because we care about people, and monthly peer support meetings are a chance to care for one another. Our profession has lost too many amazing, talented people to suicide and burnout. We can’t go on doing the same thing and expecting different results, and that’s why Funeral Professionals Peer Support was founded.” During this month’s virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support Meeting (the third anniversary of its launch), we’ll reflect on three years of change and growth in the funeral profession. Join the conversation tonight at 9pm AT/ 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 5pm PT.

Michael Dixon facilitates this special peer support meeting to share what inspired him to found Funeral Professionals Peer Support and describe how it’s evolved. “When I told my colleagues what I was dealing with, many of them said ‘Man, I am going through the same thing. I am tired, frustrated, and burnt out and I am thinking of leaving,’” Michael explains. “So, instead of staying quiet and only worrying about me, I reached out to a few friends, and we decided to come together and organize the very first funeral service peer support group in the world.”

In recent years, more and more funeral professionals are opening up about their own challenges, particularly in the wake of the pandemic’s strain on the profession. Michael will share his experience with peer support and facilitate discussion on how the funeral sector has changed its approach to mental health and what we see for the future of the profession.

Join a support meeting filled with your peers from across the funeral profession and Michael Dixon. The virtual funeral professional peer support meeting is Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 9pm / 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 5pm PT via Zoom link at cremationassociation.org/peersupport. No registration is required, simply follow the link to join.

All of us remember that call (likely there’s more than one) that stays with us. The arrangement, service, embalming, removal or burial that really tested our composure in front of the grieving family.

This month’s virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support Meeting focuses on those cases that stick with us, the ones that trigger our own feelings of grief at work and explores how we can process these experiences. Join the conversation Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 9:00pm AST.

As a licensed funeral director and embalmer, medical lab tech and a bio-hazard cleaning company owner/operator, Andrea Greig has witnessed many forms of grief. Participants will be invited to share their own outlets for processing difficult losses such as deaths of infants or young children, suicides, substance abuse, or violence.

Join the conversation on finding relief for the empathetic grief we experience in funeral service. The virtual funeral professional peer support meeting with Andrea Greig is Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 9:00pm AST via Zoom link at 

https://members.cremationassociation.org/events/Funeral-Professionals-Peer-Support-Meeting-1807039/details

It can be hard to have a successful personal life when your professional life depends on 24/7-availability. On March 19, Dwight EA Thompson facilitates the virtual monthly Funeral Professionals Peer Support meeting on the unique challenges funeral professionals face to strike a balance. 

Prior to becoming a therapist specializing in couples counseling, Dwight spent 12 years as a funeral director and embalmer and understands the particular needs of a funeral professional in a relationship.

Dwight brings his unique experience to the March peer support meeting to talk about emotional tolerance and bonding between funeral professionals and their partners. That’s why, special to this meeting, partners are invited to join their funeral professional and participate in the conversation.

Mark your calendar to attend Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 9:00pm AT, 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 5pm PT

Access the Professional Peer Support Zoom Meeting:

https://members.cremationassociation.org/events/Funeral-Professionals-Peer-Support-Meeting-1807038/details

Have you ever regretted an action? Or spent more time than you would like to admit wishing you could take back an emotional response?

This month’s virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support meeting is your chance to talk through this experience and discuss productive ways to move forward.

On February 20, CANA Executive Director Barbara Kemmis facilitates the monthly peer support meeting where we’ll reflect on mental fitness and examine proactive tactics for managing negative mental emotions.

Whether you’re seeking ways to improve or have strategies born of your own experience to share, we invite you to join in the conversation:

Click on the link below to access the meeting link |

Tuesday September 19, 2023 9:00 PM AT

Join our regular third Tuesday meeting for Funeral Professionals Peer Support. This meeting is open to anyone who serves their communities during some of their worst moments, providing care to the grieving. That includes everyone from the front office to the back room, chapel to gravesite, suited to coveralls — and everyone in-between. As a peer support meeting, all are invited to share personal experiences and connect with people who understand what you experience everyday.

In any given week, a funeral professional will be an event planner, grief support facilitator, business administrator, hairdresser, driver, phone operator, A/V support, cleaning service, and much more! Bill Sampson and Paul Daigle will facilitate the September Funeral Professionals Peer Support Meeting to talk about the pressure on funeral service professionals to do it all: celebrating the successes and getting through the failures. Join in to discuss your frustrations, stresses, and the many hats you wear with your peers on Tuesday, September 19, 9pm AT / 8pm ET.

Open to everyone across North America, no registration is required to attend, simply mark your calendar and save the Zoom link to access the meeting.

No CE is available because this is the time to connect. CANA is proud to host what is hopefully the first of many of these meetings, but staff will not be attending to give you the space to talk to your peers and share. You do not need to be a CANA Member to participate.

Apprentices, interns, and students: you are welcome!

WHAT TO EXPECT

CONNECTION

Peer support is provided by peers, for peers. Founded on key principles such as respect and shared responsibility, it’s a group of individuals with similar experiences who encourage and assist each other. Everyone is expected to treat others with care and understanding. Everyone will be given space to share their story, but no one will be “called on” because respectful listening can also be beneficial.

Anonymity is respected: attendees are asked to share just their first name or initial when they log in.

Participants will keep the information shared in the group confidential and the event will not be recorded.

Cameras and microphones are not required to be on during the meeting.

WHAT IT IS AND ISN’T

• This meeting is not a substitute for therapy
• This event does not provide continuing education credit

JOIN THE MEETING

Join the funeral professional peer support meeting for anyone who works for a funeral home, cemetery, or crematory serving the public or supporting those who do. Students, apprentices, and interns are welcome.

to request the login credentials, please email:

funeralprofessionalseduwell@gmail.com

Join our regular third Tuesday meeting at 9:00pm AT,  with guest discussion facilitator, Brian Waters, CFSP.

Brian is a licensed Indiana funeral director, serving there since 2005. He is a co-host of Undertaking the Podcast, a member of the Indiana Funeral Directors Association, NFDA and the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice.

Topic: Peer Support Group, from FPPS & CANA
Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Time: 0:00 PM Atlantic Time (see what time that is for you)

Access the Professional Peer Support Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84160505357?pwd=SVFwTk9WM2hGcXh1aGd2ZFQrbnR4QT09

Meeting Credentials
Meeting ID: 841 6050 5357 
Passcode: FPPS 

One tap mobile
+13126266799,,84160505357# US (Chicago)
+16465588656,,84160505357# US (New York)

Event by Cremation Association of North America

Tue, Mar 21, 2023, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM (your local time)

Online

Event link https://www.cremationassociation.org/event/peersupport