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A Path Home
National Home Funeral Alliance
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Herland Forest: Natural Organic Reduction
A Path Home
11/19/22 • 32 min
On this episode Sarah has a conversation with Walt Patrick, the steward of Herland Forest in Washington State, a natural burial ground and licensed human composting facility, (also called natural organic reduction) and Elizabeth Fournier, a progressive funeral director and author of the The Green Burial Guidebook, who often works with Walt. Today they share with us what a “laying in” ceremony for a natural organic reduction entails at Herland Forest. “Laying in” is the first part of the process, literally placing the body in the composting cradle.
https://www.herlandforest.org/

Holding Hands
A Path Home
11/04/22 • 48 min
Today I have a conversation with Karry Sawatsky. She shares with us the story of her grandfather’s death and how she supported her grandmother throughout the process. Karry is a full-time death doula and founder of Modern Deathcare. She works with adult-children and spouses supporting a dear one with a life limiting illness and is launching The Life and Death Academy death doula training program in January. Karry’s own challenging experiences with the death of several loved ones called her to this vocation. Here is the link to Karry's website: http://moderndeathcare.com
and follow her on Instagram @moderndeathcare

Caring for a Baby Brother, Decades Later.
A Path Home
10/21/22 • 24 min
Today I have a conversation with Karen van Vuuren, founder of the educational non-profit, Natural Transitions, a founding member of the NHFA, and co-founder of The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, Colorado. Karen has been an integral part of the natural death care movement for more than 20 years. She is also an award-winning documentary film maker of two movies, Dying Wish and Go In Peace (links below).
In this episode we discuss the unexpected way that she got started on this path.
https://www.thenaturalfuneral.com/
https://www.dyingwishmedia.com/
https://goinpeacefilm.org/

Jen's Last Ceremony
A Path Home
10/07/22 • 38 min
Today I have a conversation with Darshan Stevens on Cortes Island in British Columbia. Darshan and her mother, Jennifer, lived on the same property when Jen was diagnosed with cancer. For two years they navigated her cancer treatments. In the end, Jen chose MAID, Medical Assistance In Dying. Darshan shares the story of her mum's dying, death, the after-death care and the natural burial that they and the family co-created along with the help of the community-led death care collective on the island.
https://cortescurrents.ca/darshan-stevens-her-mothers-life-death-and-afterward/

Bound by the Ropes of Love
A Path Home
05/20/22 • 41 min
In early December, 2021, Adrienne Parker discovered that her oldest child, Brandyn, had died in his car. Brandyn's life had been caught in a cycle of mental illness and incarceration, resulting in his being homeless and living in his car. His body needed to be examined by the coroner before Adrienne, with the help of her friend, Rebecca, had him brought back home to be cared for there by his loving family.
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Arizona Community Death Care
A Path Home
05/06/22 • 43 min
Today we hear from two members of the Arizona Community Death Care collective, Dani LaVoire and Jade Sherer. This is another episode that will be of interest to those listeners who are either already engaged in or just beginning to form community groups. If you have any questions for the AZ collective you can reach out to them here: https://www.azcommunitydeathcare.org/mission
The website for White Eagle Memorial Preserve is here:
https://www.naturalburialground.org/
And to learn more about Jade's offerings check out these beautiful pages:
https://www.itsournature.net/
https://www.patreon.com/jadesherer
http://insig.ht/jadesherer

Crossroads Community DeathCare
A Path Home
04/22/22 • 50 min
Sarah is joined by Angela and Michael Franklin, founders of Crossroads Community DeathCare, for an in-depth conversation on how engaging in community led death care has the potential to shift the culture around dying and death.
To find out more about what they offer, find them on Facebook:
https://m.facebook.com/crossroadsdeathcare
and Instagram:
https://instagram.com/crossroads_deathcare

Healing Through Participation
A Path Home
04/08/22 • 36 min

Bringing A Homeless Son Home
A Path Home
03/25/22 • 38 min
On this episode Sarah has a conversation with three members of a community led death care group in Canada. They share the touching story of bringing Gypsy's son, Andrew, home to the island to care for his body and lay him to rest in a natural burial.
Here is the link to the article: https://news.yahoo.com/grassy-green-future-composting-human-095323526.html
And the Community-Led Death Care group:
https://communityleddeathcare.ca/

Making Space for Grief with Sarah Hines
A Path Home
12/02/22 • 35 min
Today I have a conversation about grief with Sarah Hines. Based in Canada, Sarah has founded The Lodge Project where she and her team, coach the leadership of organizations and corporations to respond to grief compassionately and include grief support and awareness in the culture of their companies. Sarah acknowledges that a well lived life must include grief.
https://www.thelodgeproject.com/