(BMOHAH) Home Funeral Training

CINDEA Launches an Expanded Online Training Program

CINDEA is proud to announce the launch of its newly transformed online training program, an evolution of the original 'By My Own Heart and Hand' course.   Previously offered as an in-person experience, this revamped program is now a comprehensive and accessible resource designed to deepen understanding and empower individuals to take a more personal and intentional approach to post-death care.

The updated program encompasses a broad spectrum of post-death topics ~ weaving together practical knowledge, emotional insight, and ecological awareness to offer a truly holistic training experience.   Although the program is geared towards Canadians (re legal requirements for each province), the course is equally valuable to people from other countries: we will help non-Canadians find the legal requirements that they must follow.   Key areas of focus include:

Home Funerals
This section provides guidance on caring for loved ones after death in the intimate setting of home.   Participants learn about the practicalities, legalities, and emotional dimensions of home funerals, reclaiming a practice that allows for personal connection and healing during this significant life transition.

Children and Death
Death is a challenging concept for children; but with the right tools and approaches, they can be guided through loss in ways that foster resilience and understanding.   This module explores strategies for discussing death with children, including age-appropriate communication, encouraging their participation in rituals, and supporting their grief journey.

Greening Death
For those seeking sustainable post-death options, this chapter delves into ecological alternatives to conventional burial and cremation.    From natural burials to emerging innovations like body composting, participants explore how post-death choices can honor loved ones while preserving and nurturing the environment.

Deathing Rites
Rituals help us process and give meaning to the transition from life to death.  This module focuses on creating personalized and culturally meaningful ceremonies, such as funerals, memorials, or celebrations of life.   Participants are encouraged to craft unique rites that resonate deeply with their communities and loved ones.

Community of Grieving
Grief is not an individual experience—it touches families, friends, and communities.   This chapter emphasizes the importance of shared mourning practices, teaching participants how to build supportive networks and foster communal healing through rituals and shared spaces for remembrance.

With this expanded online format, CINDEA’s new training program allows participants to engage with these vital topics at their own pace, wherever they are.   By blending practical education with a focus on emotional and spiritual dimensions, the program offers a deeply meaningful way to approach death care, grief, and community support.

Whether you are planning for your own end-of-life care, seeking to support others through loss, or looking to challenge and transform cultural attitudes toward death, this program provides a robust and compassionate foundation for navigating one of life’s most profound experiences.

Enroll for 'By My Own Heart and Hand' online course here!

Discover the art of facilitating meaningful home funerals,
whether you're drawn to alternative deathcare, eco-sustainability, or seeking a personal farewell experience ~ alternatives to the Funeral Profession options.

Led by CINDEA teachers Pashta MaryMoon, Madeline Christie, and Tricia Keith, this course offers:

Empowering Home Funerals
Delve into the history and practicalities of home funerals, including caring for the deceased and legal considerations.

Personalized Rituals
Create sacred farewells with personalized rituals.

Building Community
Join like-minded individuals to transform how we bid farewell and foster a supportive home funeral community.

Who should enroll?
Anyone interested in deathing, green burial, alternative deathcare, storytelling, grief, community deathcare, and more!

Additional support:
Monthly Zoom sessions provide opportunities for learning, sharing, and connecting.

Assessment Criteria:
Complete all requirements within 90 days for a certificate of completion, including lessons, assignments, and a home funeral plan submission.

Training Format:
Engage through reading, videos, discussions, assignments, and research, totalling approximately 2-3 hours per week.
The course requires approximately 24 hours (9 hours video plus 15 hours reading, discussions, surveys, assignments).

Technical Requirements:
Accessible via computer with internet and Zoom.

Everywhere Everwhen:
Although this course has a Canadian base, most of the information would be valid anywhere. 
 Rules and paperwork will be different, however; but we are happy to help you find appropriate information for your country.

For more details on the course itself, view the Course Syllabus

Fees:
The course is $300 (+tax), and includes a life-time membership in the program and its community.  
It is important to us that most everyone who wishes to take the course can afford to do so.   
We have done a fair bit of assessing the cost of other similiar programs and believe that ours is one of the least expensive.

You can sign up for a free preview lesson here!

Join us on this transformative journey of compassionate and personalized home funeral facilitation!

Questions? email BMOHAH

Testimonials for the New
By My Own Heart and Hand Training Program

I thoroughly enjoyed this course! I have come out of it with the knowledge and confidence to guide families through their home funerals. I appreciate the safe space to discuss topics of death and dying and to be apart of an online community with like minded individuals. I 100% recommend! Everything you need is all there.    Hayley N.

I am very grateful to Pashta and her team for creating this course. After completing this course, I felt prepared to begin offering support to those in my community who are interested in having a home funeral and/or making more informed choices around death and dying. This work is deeply meaningful to me and I appreciate Pashta's experience, teaching and mentorship on this journey.    S.S.T.

This was a wonderfully informative and practical course for home funeral guides in Canada!   I highly recommend this course for your own interest or to help you on your way to guiding families in hosting their own intimate home funerals.   Andrea T.     

I have so enjoyed taking this course and spending the time reflecting on what it means to have a good death, for both the death journeyer and their family. It wasn't clear to me beforehand that there were options other than conventional burial and cremation, and this knowledge has brought great comfort because neither was very appealing.   I have also learned a lot about the legalities of dying and am better prepared to deal with the eventuality of my own parents' passing.   The course material was well presented and many options for further reading/viewing are provided in each unit.   The time requirement of 3 months to complete the course is very generous and really does only require about 4-5 hours a week, depending on how much of the extra material you choose to look at.)   Carmen W.

A Profound opportunity for self-reflection: I so appreciate this course, By My Own Heart And Hands.   It was a review of many practical aspects of post death care which I learned from Pashta in the past, as well as many other subtle considerations and elements that I had not explored or had forgotten about.   I am very enriched by the modules on grief rituals, cultures, children,logistics & forms, greening depositions, and the last additional module of Deathing Ecology.   I was so honored to be included early this year as a participant in the filming of the many modules.   It gave me the opportunity to interact and learn from other partixipants, to share my own experiences, and gained so many useful insights and perspectives from everyone!   I give special thanks to the co-instructors Trisha and Maddy.   Both of your presence was so helpful and heartfelt. Finally, a big gold star to Pashta for realizing this project to make this precious knowledge and wisdom available online.   All Blessings. Alisa K.