🎬 Here is the recording of our first ever virtual cuppa for those who want to catch the replay. My day was full of unforeseen curve balls so ended up having to dial in from the car - but wouldn't have missed it for all the world! Deep thanks to those who joined & blessings to those who will join the replay. We're weaving something so special here... thanks for being here & creating this together. x 🐦‍⬛ THE BELL AND THE BLACKBIRD By David Whyte The sound of a bell still reverberating, or a blackbird calling from a corner of a field. Asking you to wake into this life or inviting you deeper to one that waits. Either way takes courage, either way wants you to be nothing but that self that is no self at all, wants you to walk to the place where you find you already know how to give every last thing away. The approach that is also the meeting itself, without any meeting at all. That radiance you have always carried with you as you walk both alone and completely accompanied in friendship by every corner of the world crying Allelujah. 🐦‍⬛

Your experience deserves a better name… A while back, I changed one word on my website menu: BLOG became RESOURCES. That’s it. One word. But something big shifted. Not just visually, not just strategically. Something shifted in how I related to my own work. Because my inner critic had been quietly calling my writing self-indulgent for years. Just Amy processing things on the internet. Nothing to see here. 🙈 Renaming it asked me a different question. Not *what am I feeling?* but *how can this be of service?* It gave me a new angle for crafting and sharing my experiences. Through the lens of genuine usefulness rather than whatever that voice in my head had decided it was. And here’s what happened… The RESOURCES section is now the most visited part of my entire website. Those articles act as standalone lead magnets. They’re the main driver of my newsletter sign-ups. People find them, read them, and decide if they want more. Same writing. Same ideas. Just held differently. TRY IT FOR YOURSELF: Here’s a place to start. Look at what you’ve already written, or already know, or list some ideas you have - (or use any of these…), and ask: what is this actually doing? 1. “Some thoughts on embalming” → A plain-language guide to what embalming is, what it isn’t, and what families can ask 2. “Why I stopped using the word closure” → A reflective piece on grief language and what we say instead 3. “That funeral that changed everything for me” → A case study in what meaningful ceremony actually looks like 4. “What I wish families knew before they called a funeral home” → A practical rights-and-choices guide for people at the beginning of the process 5. “How I plan a ceremony when I’ve never met the person” → A behind-the-scenes look at ceremony design methodology 6. “On sitting with a body at home” → An introduction to home vigil and what families need to know 7. “The questions nobody asks at the arrangement meeting” → A question bank for families navigating funeral decisions

Death care content can feel like shouting into the void sometimes - especially in the early days, especially on platforms that don’t always love what we talk about. So let’s make it a little less lonely… Drop your handles below - Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, wherever you’re showing up - and let’s go find each other. Follow, engage, share what moves you. This is how we build something together. 🐦‍⬛ I’ll go first: Insta - https://www.instagram.com/amyfirthministry TT - https://www.tiktok.com/@aussiedeathcarelady Facebook - www.facebook.com/amyfirthmusic The Visible Death Worker: https://www.instagram.com/visibledeathworker https://www.tiktok.com/@visibledeathworker Amy x

It's so wonderful to see you all start to arrive - I feel like the excited/nervous party host who's spent way too long decorating and tidying... now it's time to exhale and receive the joy of you each arriving... :) Feel free to share a quick intro in the comments below... perhaps: where you're based, what you do & one main struggle you have with promoting your work/services... GO! x

Soooo glad you're here, welcome friend! I'm Amy - interfaith minister, funeral director, and recovering marketing consultant. I made this community because too many good death care practitioners are invisible to the families who need them. And I've spent long enough on both sides of that problem to know exactly why - and what to do about it. For the past decade I've sat with dying people, held families in their rawest hours, and designed ceremonies that actually look & feel like the person who died. Before that - and running alongside it - I spent fifteen years working as a communications and marketing consultant across the arts, education, charities and corporate organisations. Building brands, running campaigns, creating content, helping people find a clear voice in the world. Which means I understand, from the inside, why visibility feels so uncomfortable in this field. The sense that promoting yourself is somehow at odds with the sacredness of the work. The hesitation before posting. The undercharging. The relying on word of mouth and hoping it's enough. I also know that when good practitioners stay invisible, families default - to the loudest option, the most conventional model, the one that moves quickly and perpetuates the dominant model in death care so many of us are trying to disrupt. That's what this community is for. Figuring out how to be findable, in a way that actually fits this work. So - tell me who you are, where you're based, and what kind of death care work you do. I'd love to know who's in the room... I'm just so glad we've all found each other. x