News

Funeral Celebrants: Honoring the Deceased through Story

October 18, 2018
Balloons in the air

CCMS recognized that the non-traditional and secular needs of families were not always being met. This inspired us to transform death care education by establishing a licensing partnership with InSightTM Institute to provide certified faculty trainers to prepare and certify all bachelor level graduates as part of their accredited mortuary science curriculum. CCMS students leave prepared to journey along with a family in the early stages of their grief by helping them to acknowledge that a death occurred while also honoring that a life was lived. A Celebrant service is the rich and personalized telling of the life and death story of a family’s loved one.

Lights strung outside

More families are opting for individualized services, such as the Celebrant service, to best honor their loved one’s personality, achievements, and uniqueness. Some families do not want the element of religion, while others may desire some level of religion be included along with an individually tailored, significant and eloquently delivered service that better expresses their loved one’s individuality. A Celebrant service can be conducted at the time a death occurs. However, it can also be offered days, weeks, months or even years following a death. Funeral professionals can also utilize Celebrant services as a creative way to offer their community and the families they serve special programs, such as services of remembrance around the holidays. The holidays have long been identified by grieving family and friends as some of the more difficult times following the death of a loved one. Caring support at this time could be crucial to a healthy grief process.

CCMS believes in the benefits of the Celebrant service so much, it hosted an InSightTM Institute training for local death care providers this past weekend. One attendee shared that the training was a profound learning experience because it showed her that even the most tragic loss of a loved one and a seemingly unresolvable grief could be facilitated into a healthier grieving process with the use of a Celebrant.

People in class

CCMS graduates are prepared to serve the individualized needs of all families, whether secular or non-secular, traditional or non-traditional.  As Certified Funeral Celebrants, our graduates emerge from the bachelor of mortuary science program specially trained and certified as Insight Certified Funeral Celebrants, prepared to guide families through the planning process of creating meaningful, personalized services.

See the listing of InSightTM Certified Funeral Celebrants near you.