Professional, Credible, Dedicated, Compassionate
CEOLC Affiliate Members Offer End-of-Life Products & Services
Affiliate Members of the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative (CEOLC) are vetted businesses, companies, professionals & nonprofit organizations in the state of Colorado that offer end-of-life products & services (other than those of an end-of-life doula) & embrace a similar vision and mission to that of the CEOLC.
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We specialize in Estate Planning & Elder Law. We are a member of Lawyers with Purpose. A national organization for attorneys practicing in estate planning, elder law, Medicaid planning, asset protection & Special Needs planning.
Why I Do What I Do
I believe that Estate Planning is here to give you control over who is in charge of taking care of you and control over how you take care of your family after you are gone. Without proper planning you can lose control and your family will not be able to take care of you as easily, or you will not leave your estate for the benefit of your family according to your wishes.
I had an experience in my own family where during a crisis, we lost control over where my grandmother was going to receive care. This caused my grandparents in their last years to be separated by a long distance after more than 60 years of marriage. I believe that my grandparents have drawn me into the field of estate planning and elder law to affect the lives of my clients so that they can have a different experience at the end of their lives than my grandparents did.
I place a special emphasis on protecting the assets of aging loved ones and educating families about complicated laws and the best options available to them. I am passionate about helping others preserve their money, avoid probate, and achieve lifetime estate planning goals.
I started my post-law school career working for a large financial company helping financial planners with advanced estate planning and tax planning. I utilize this financial services experience to bring a different perspective to my estate planning and elder law clients. My number one priority is to educate and empower clients to make the best decision for them and their family; there is no one way to do things. I strive to give clients options and let them choose which direction they want to go.
I like to say, “If you don’t ask yourself the right questions, you never get the right answer for you and your family.”
Skip was born and raised Aurora, Colorado, graduating from Smoky Hill High School. He graduated from the University of Kansas after being on the swimming team there for four years. Skip has an MBA and his law degree from the University of Wyoming. Skip is married to Erin and they have two vibrant young boys Braden and Kade.
Speakers Bureau
Skip Reynolds is passionate about educating families so that they have more information to make better decisions regarding their estate planning. He believes that with more knowledge families can have more choices, control, and protections both during and after life to take care of themselves and their loved ones.
As a seasoned speaker, Skip offers bi-monthly informational workshops (in-person & Zoom) surrounding estate planning topics such as Powers of Attorney, Wills, Trusts, Asset Protection and Medicaid asset protection planning.
Skip is also available and has done numerous small, private educational workshops for families, small groups, small companies and professionals such as realtors, financial planners and CPA’s.
Skip is the former host of The Estate Planning and Elder Law Hour which ran for four years on a local radio station.
12835 E Arapahoe Rd Tower 1, Suite 250 Centennial Colorado 80112
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MEANING. PURPOSE. HEALING. SPIRITUALITY.
We are a spiritual center for individuals seeking meaning, purpose, and healing in The Afternoon of Life (midlife and beyond).
We are Ariela and Baruch HaLevi, co-founders of Soul Centered, and a couple who is passionate about reimagining The Afternoon of Life (midlife and beyond).
Our mission is to empower our clients and community in consciously creating new goals, proactively designing new rules, and practically implementing new tools, as they discover their innate healing wisdom, live wholeheartedly, and unleash their soul in ways that are only possible during The Afternoon of Life.
Why we created Soul Centered
Soul Centered was created to provide a place for anyone seeking to consciously face the crossroads of midlife and courageously journey through the Afternoon of Life.
For over twenty years we dreamed of building a spiritual center where people could engage in self discovery and soul exploration, uncovering deeper meaning within their struggles, realize their true purpose in this life, and experience holistic healing through all of life’s traumas and tragedies.
This dream has been motivated by professional passions, as well as personal desires.
All of our life we have longed for a spiritual home based on universal truths, drawing upon all wisdom traditions, incorporating spiritual practice, informed by intellect, infused with holistic healing and filled by people seeking conscious community, desiring to support one another on their journey.
Although we built variations of this throughout our careers, and discovered pieces of this in places ranging from synagogues and churches to yoga studios and zen centers, from counseling and healing centers to new age communities across the world, we never fully realized what we were looking for…
So, we founded Soul Centered.
As The Healer (Ariela) and The Guide (Baruch), we utilize our signature programs and pathways, empowering you to:
- Discover the possibilities within your struggles and potential within your shadows (Meaning)
- Uncover your authentic self and realize your true purpose (Purpose)
- Express your emotions as a pathway to liberate your body and live with inner freedom (Healing)
- Wake up to your spirit, letting it guide you forward in your life (Spirituality)
Ariela is available to be your Healer if….
Pulling from the experience of her own midlife awakening, her powerful intuition, and utilizing her training in energy healing and soul retrieval guidance, Ariela will provide the healing you need so that you can embrace everything that the Afternoon of Life has to offer you
- Midlife feels more like a crisis than an awakening and you need support navigating this new terrain
- You long for a deeper connection to your body, to increase the capacity to feel, to love and accept yourself fully
- You feel lonely and disempowered in your relationships, unable to find your true voice and worthiness
- You want to discard old masks of identity, roles, titles, and the expectations of others.
- You have experienced the heartache of a loss: loss of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of yourself
- Illness and chronic issues have caused so much fear and frustration that your body feels like a burden and not a joy
Baruch is available to be your Guide if…
You are standing at one of life’s many crossroads, or as he calls them, “Life’s T’s” (Transitions, Tests, Trials, Traumas or Tragedies)…
- Seeking a trusted guide to help you find your way forward through relationship struggles, midlife uncertainty, or professional emptiness
- Grieving the death of a loved one, looking for a companion to stand by your side, support and empower you
- Searching for spiritual direction in your life, and a deeper connection to your soul
- Longing to discover deeper meaning at your crossroads, and realize a greater purpose for your life
- Ready to transform the Afternoon of Life into the most important, impactful, and inspirational time of your life
Combining his unique training and experience as a Rabbi, Grief Counselor, Logotherapist, Spiritual Director, and Enneagram Coach, Baruch will guide you through your crossroads, empower you to transcend your loss, and inspire you in discovering deeper meaning, and greater purpose, in your Afternoon of Life.
Programs and Groups:
Carry The Fire with Baruch and Ariela HaLevi
This program offers you a holistic healing pathway (body, mind, emotions & spirit) on your journey through grief at any point after the death of a loved one.
Drawing upon ancient wisdom traditions, universal spiritual practices, and modern therapeutic insights and tools, you will discover meaning and purpose within your loss and learn how to transform your darkness into light.
Your Sacred Body with Ariela HaLevi
This program offers you a new, unique way to maximize your self-healing capacity, manifesting abilities, intuition, and the spiritual insight needed for the Afternoon of Life.
And, most of all, this program will help you love the skin you’re in — “imperfections” and all.
You will finally feel healed and whole and in partnership with your body, by using the missing ingredients in connection.
Choose Your Own Way with Baruch HaLevi
This program offers you proven wisdom, sound strategies and practical tools to navigate the Crisis Crossroads, or one of Life’s T’s: transitions, tests, trials, traumas or tragedies, with more clarity, deeper meaning and greater purpose.
No matter what you are facing, enduring or seeking, there is a way forward. It begins when you take back your power, consciously choose your path, and courageously step into the unknown. This program will support you, empower you and guide you as you learn to Choose Your Own Way!
Your Soul Choice – A Small Group Experience with Baruch HaLevi
The Power To Choose, The Pathway To Freedom
Your Soul Choice: The Power To Choose, The Pathway To Freedom is a program about waking up in the Afternoon of Life, returning to our true self, reclaiming our authentic voice, and owning our divine power as we stop reacting to our circumstances and start responding to our life .
Synthesizing Kabbalah and the purpose of choice, Logotherapy and the power of choice, and the Enneagram and the pathway of choice, Your Soul Choice will empower you to discover deeper meaning, live with greater purpose, and experience ultimate freedom in your life through the power of choice. This is Your Soul Choice.
7581 East Academy Boulevard, Suite 209 Denver Colorado 80230
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Mission and Vision statements
Our mission is to provide natural death care choices to families in alignment with their values potentially transforming their journey of loss into meaning and healing.
Our vision is to reimagine funeral service as a holistic offering that emphasizes ecological choice and healing ceremony in response to loss.
It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
We light the way for our families to find meaning and hope in the face of grief and loss. We have sponsored community educational events around grief and advanced planning including storytelling and writing workshops. We host an annual remembrance evening Light From Our Hearts with music, the spoken word and a name reading of our departed loved ones which is a gift to our community.
The Natural Funeral is an award-winning holistic funeral home specializing in natural Reverent Body Care™, eco cremation called water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis, and green burial. We also offer conventional flame cremation and visitations and vigils in our beautiful pine chapel. We are a full service funeral home serving the Boulder/Denver Metro area and beyond. Read our google testimonials to learn what our customers say about our high quality, personalized service.
The Natural Funeral also offers locally sourced, artist-made urns and caskets.
Karen van Vuuren has directed two award-winning educational films – Dying Wish – dyingwishmedia.com (about voluntary stopping of eating and drinking at end stage illness) and Go in Peace goinpeacefilm.org (about veterans end of life care). For more than ten years, Karen was editor of Natural Transitions magazine, sharing conscious, holistic and natural approaches to end of life. She is co-founder of The Natural Home Funeral Alliance – homefuneralalliance.org. She has taught workshops on natural death care for 20 years.
Speakers Bureau
Karen van Vuuren is a former broadcast and print journalist who is co-founder of Colorado’s first holistic, natural funeral home – The Natural Funeral (thenaturalfuneral.com) serving the Boulder-Denver metro area and beyond. Twenty years ago, Karen founded a non-profit, Natural Transitions to educate about and support families with natural death care. She has edited the organization’s biannual magazine, led regular natural death care workshops, and national death care related events on green burial and home funerals, cofounding The National Home Funeral Alliance. Karen is also a documentary-maker whose award-winning hospice films are Dying Wish (dyingwishmedia.com) about a dying doctor’s decision to stop eating and drinking) and Go In Peace (goinpeacefilm.org) about supporting caregivers working with terminally ill veterans with PTSD.
102 West Chester Street Lafayette Colorado 80026
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Grief is the normal and natural emotional reaction to any change that has impacted a life.
Often people buy-in to the myths about grief. It is not unusual, after a loss, that there are many things that must be done. Often people decide that they “must be strong” for all those around them and suppress their own feelings of pain and loss, so that they can be there for others. Some people feel that the best way to handle their personal loss is to “keep busy” with work or other endeavors, rather than taking time to go through the grief process. I believe unresolved grief is the major underlying issue in most people’s lives. As someone who has endured losses, I have learned the problem with grief is that if you fail to take action to deal with your personal emotional pain, and instead suppress it, it waits deep inside to haunt you later.
Successful recovery from loss involves sorting out the things that were incomplete and putting voice to those things we wish might have been different or better. It also involves dealing with the dreams and expectations of a different future than what is being faced after that loss. This is the foundation for the Grief Recovery Method. Coming through my experience, I felt a calling to help others who have endured losses and help them and myself heal and lead happy lives.
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain… ~Vivian Greene
Services Offered:
- One on One Grief Recovery Coaching
- Grief Recovery Groups – 6-8 members
- Suicide Loss Support Groups
- Life and Wellness Coaching
Training:
- 2017 Certified Grief Recovery Specialist
- 2017 Suicide Bereavement Support Group Facilitator
- 2017 QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Program
- 2018 Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss
- 2018 Working Minds – Suicide Prevention in the Workplace
- 2019 Certified Integrative and Wellness Life Coach
5401 South Prince St #105 Littleton Colorado 80120
Senior Care Authority – Denver Metro
Senior Care Authority – Denver MetroContact Name: Kelly O’ConnorDetails
Eldercare Consulting – Placement Assistance – Advocacy
Whether you are looking to find an assisted living community or need support in navigating other care options, we can help. Our communication with you will be accessible and consistent. You do not need to do this alone!
FINDING SENIOR LIVING OPTIONS
Making the right care decision for your loved one can be a daunting task. There are so many options; the terminology is often unfamiliar and the terrain unknown. Senior Care Authority® of Denver Metropolitan Area will streamline the process to make it easier for you to make informed choices and reduce the stress and pressure associated with such important decisions.
Our team of Certified Senior Advisors carefully inspects locations from mid-to-larger size communities as well as smaller, residential care homes. We meet the staff, residents, family members when possible. State reports are reviewed to advise you of any citations or complaints issued against a particular provider. We have comprehensive knowledge and experience with all facets of senior living, from Independent Living to Assisted Living, to Memory Care and Skilled Nursing.
Your Advisor will meet with you in person to discuss your options and then accompany you on visits to places that meet your criteria. We ensure that all your questions are answered, and assist with paperwork and negotiations. The hallmark of our service commitment is that we are by your side every step of the way.
We are paid a referral fee by the communities and care homes so there is no cost to you for our placement services. In the rare case where we are not contracted with a community, your Advisor will let you know at the outset and explain any fees that might be incurred, should you choose that location. You can expect total transparency from us and we respect your right to choice.
Denver Colorado
Labyrinth of the Heart Center, LLC
Labyrinth of the Heart Center, LLCContact Name: Dianna Vagianos ArmentroutDetails
The Labyrinth of the Heart Center, LLC was created to support families going through pregnancy and infant loss and grief in order to honor our dead and our journeys with them in unity and love. Classes are offered to support families by learning appropriate communication skills around death, using ritual and creative arts for healing, and strengthening networks and communities. Writing classes are offered to individuals who are seeking a modality to express grief and honor loved ones. Motherhood includes all of our losses at the Center. We honor each other through compassion, and work with the ancestors who have also lost pregnancies and babies from the beginning of humanity. All are welcome at our table.
Dianna’s pregnancy with her daughter, Mary Rose, who died an hour after birth of trisomy 18, changed her life completely. Dianna wishes to change the cultural fear of death and social awkwardness around the bereaved by educating others to be present and open to the natural process of death. Miscarriage rates and infant death rates are high in our country, yet little support is available to families over the years.
She has written a poetry collection and novel and is in the process of seeking publication for both manuscripts. Find her poems, short fiction and essays online and on her YouTube channel.
My baby is dead. For five months of my pregnancy I knew that my daughter, Mary Rose, would die, though I did not know when she would die. What surprises me most is that I am alive. I am alive after the heartache of knowing about her condition, alive after holding her still body in my arms moments after her birth. Afterpains came with empty arms, as did my baby’s milk. Those months of pregnancy with the knowledge that our baby had trisomy 18 felt like a million years of sadness. . . During my pregnancy I did not find much to comfort me. I am writing the book that I wish I could have read when I was pregnant with my daughter. . .
I see life as spiritual path. I can only make sense of Mary Rose’s life if I look at it from a distance. I put myself in the context of my grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Women have been burying their children since the beginning of time. I am one woman who has walked this searing path of pain. Yet somewhere inside our hearts we have the strength to carry on, not to move on, as some would want us to do. We can continue our lives taking our babies with us. Our arms are empty, but our hearts are full. The love we have for our children, living or dead, grows. I do not believe in a final good-bye.
Excerpt from Walking the Labyrinth of My Heart: A Journey of Pregnancy, Grief and Newborn Death ©2016 White Flowers Press
Dianna is a writer, teacher, workshop facilitator and finder of joy. Join her on a journey of joyous grief.
Classes
Walking Through Pregnancy and Infant Loss – https://www.diannavagianos.com/infant-pregnancy-loss
Holding our Loved Ones who Died during the Holiday Season – https://www.diannavagianos.com/bookings-checkout/holiday-retreat-and-writing-class
Joyous Grief: Finding Beauty and Hope in a Broken World – https://www.diannavagianos.com/bookings-checkout/joyous-grief-1
The Mothership: Navigating the Complexities of Motherhood through Writing – https://www.diannavagianos.com/bookings-checkout/the-mothership-1
Writing in the Garden: Meditations on the Natural World – https://www.diannavagianos.com/bookings-checkout/writing-in-the-garden-1
Consulting
Grief – https://www.diannavagianos.com/product-page/grief-consulting
Intuitive – https://www.diannavagianos.com/product-page/90-min-intuitive-consulting
Speakers Bureau
Dianna Vagianos Armentrout offers workshops and classes on grief and loss. Her class on Pregnancy and Infant Loss is modeled after her book Walking the Labyrinth of Heart: A Journey of Pregnancy, Grief and Newborn Death which details her pregnancy and grief journey of receiving a life-limiting diagnosis for her unborn baby mid-pregnancy. Her book has helped people let go of their loved ones at the end of their life, including Kirsty Reyes who said Dianna’s words helped her take care of her mother who was dying of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Additionally, Dianna teaches poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction. She has spoken to many audiences on poetry and other topics related to creative arts in her career. She currently has classes on grief, motherhood and gardening open on her website http://www.diannavagianos.com.
P.O. Box 621076 Littleton Colorado 80127 United States
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Every funeral service should reflect the unique individual being remembered. At Feldman’s, we celebrate these special lives with meaningful services and appropriate arrangements that respect the customs and traditions of the diverse Denver communities we serve.
Feldman’s is built on the belief that honoring and remembering your loved ones is a unique and individual experience. We listen to and respect the wishes of our families and are here to help you create a memorial, funeral or celebration of life that reflects and honors the wishes of your loved one. Comforting the bereaved and caring for your loved one is our greatest privilege.
Speakers Bureau
My calling is helping people be less afraid of death. By helping them to provide their loved ones with a planned and funded funeral or memorial service, they create a path for bereavement, long before it’s need. Truly, I help people live a better, more meaningful life.
A seasoned speaker, I bring deep experience in death care to a broad range of audiences around the country, sharing insights and approaches on how to have those difficult conversations and how to address sensitive issues. Extending well beyond death and dying, my message resonates across industries and individuals, bridging my passion to demystify death while enlightening communicators on overcoming challenging conversations.
1673 York Denver Colorado 80206
Colorado
Next Steps Grief Recovery
Next Steps Grief RecoveryCertified Grief Recovery SpecialistContact Name: Lorane WilsonDetails
If you are exploring this website there is a good chance that your have recently lost someone you love, or someone you love is in the process of dying.
The sadness/grief that follows a major change or loss is normal and natural. Family and friends may try to tell you, Be Strong, Time Heals, Keep Busy, replace your loss, or even to grieve alone. Most of this advice isn’t helpful and it’s not true. We get stuck in grief and sadness because of incomplete communication. We needed to apologize, say I love you, mend a disagreement…lost hopes, dreams and expectations shattered.
This is the work of Grief Recovery. Together we will complete the relationship that is keeping you stuck. Every week for 7 weeks we will meet on Zoom in the privacy and comfort of your home. You will have simple reading assignments and homework plus one on one discussion to help you find the path out of your sadness and back to the joy you deserve in your life.
We will be using The Grief Recovery Handbook as our text, I will provide this for you.
Services:
One on One Grief Recovery Coaching
Grief Recovery Groups – 6-8 members
Helping Children with Loss – A class for Parents & anyone working with children.
Current Projects:
I have recently expanded my business to include work with pregnancy and infant loss.
My Training:
2020 – Stillbirthday Doula and Bereavement training
2017- Grief Recovery Institute – Certified Grief Recovery Specialist
2017 – INELDA Death Doula training
2015-2017 Centers for Spiritual Living – Licensed Spiritual Practitioner
Speakers Bureau
As a certified Grief Recovery Specialist, I am happy to speak about:
- The Myths of Grief
- Anticipatory Grief – the grief that steals our todays
- Helping Children With Loss
- Grief in Aging
- Pet Loss and Grief
Mission & Vision statement:
My goal is to offer tools of healing for anyone experiencing a grief event in their life. To normalize the feelings of grief and bring the discussion into normal conversation. To equip parents, teachers and anyone working with children tools to help children with loss. To open the conversation on death and dying in our communities and families to help us create a Spiritual event instead of a medical event.
Colorado
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Be a Tree Cremation provides environmentally-friendly water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis) services to the greater Denver community. We help families honor loved ones by returning them to the earth, with full-service scattering and cremation memorial trees. Water cremation services will be available in fall 2020. Cremation memorial tree and scattering services are available now.
Speakers Bureau
Emily Nelson is the Founder of Be a Tree Cremation, one of the first water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis) facilities in Colorado. She offers expertise in eco-friendly cremation and entrepreneurship. Emily has presented for numerous executive groups in her previous role at Service Corporation International as well as educational forums within the death care space. With nearly 10 years of experience in marketing for the healthcare and death care industries, she can speak to consumer trends and reaching customers in an ever-evolving space.
“As a Pioneer in the alternative/ “green” funeral industry, Emily Nelson has been an asset to have as a guest speaker for our DeathWives students. Her bold work in bringing water cremation to Denver is refreshing and environmentally impactful.” -Erin Merelli, Founder of DeathWives
2970 W Severn Pl Denver Colorado 80204 United States
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The mission of Chun Hwa LLC, translation – One with Heaven, is to offer Transition Care Planning services to clarify, organize and communicate through an end-of-life plan, ensuring that one’s last wishes will be carried out and honored. This begins with Advance Care Planning.
Crispin Sargent, founder of Chun Hwa LLC in 2016, is a certified advanced care planner and can assist with preparing medical directives and facilitating the conversation with named agents to ensure that instructions are met. She has 30 years of experience as a private fiduciary, having served as financial power of attorney, trustee, and personal representative. She can assist in the preparation of a document finder to prepare named agents for their responsibility.
Crispin has training as an end-of-life doula, but her goal is to build the team that can carry out all end of life wishes.
In addition, Crispin is a certified grief yoga instructor and can assist the family and supporters in their healing process through individual sessions and workshops.
Certifications:
Advance Care Planner (includes specialty in Medicare and Social Security), Grief Yoga Instructor, Reiki Master, Notary
Taking Control of End-of-Life Wishes
- Advance Directives Consultant
- Funding Care Manager
- Final Transition Assistant
- Communications Facilitator
Body & Brain Yoga
Stretching for flexibility and alignment, breathing exercises and postures, meditation for focus and centering
Healing Workshops
Incorporating Body & Brain Practice to support major life transitions, including end of life
4 Winds / 5 Elements Counseling and Healing Arts, LLC
4 Winds / 5 Elements Counseling and Healing Arts, LLCContact Name: Janet Reichart, LCSWDetails
When all the pieces of life feel scattered, I empower my clients to find meaning and hope, restoring a sense of balance to their lives. I am passionate about helping clients to navigate their way through the transitions life hands us, and the changes that often result in a wide range of emotions that accompany these experiences. I am honored to provide a psychologically safe and supportive environment for people who are facing grief and loss, illness, caregiver stress, loss of independence and purpose, and end of life concerns. I support clients who are experiencing the effects of trauma, depression and anxiety. For those who desire deeper healing of past and present trauma, I offer EMDR.
For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about holding space for people who are experiencing the sacred transition at end of life, whether they are dying, or they are caring for a loved one who is dying. My background as a hospice social worker informs my engagement with clients and their families. My training as an End of Life Doula brings a new depth of understanding to my varied roles, and allows me to empower clients to find meaning during this most tender of times. Finally, as a Reiki Master, for those who desire it, I bring a level of energy work into therapeutic relationships, particularly when words fail.
2201 Kipling Street, Suite 204 Lakewood Colorado 80215
Rocky Mountain Life-Cycle Celebrants
Rocky Mountain Life-Cycle CelebrantsCelebrant Foundation & InstituteContact Name: Ben MartinDetails
Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants® are individuals who understand how ceremony, storytelling, and ritual can vitally serve, as conscious aspects, in our lives; they also recognize that our society is awakening to this fact. Certified Celebrants, educated through the Celebrant Foundation & Institute, have coupled their passion for ceremony with rigorous training in faith traditions, mythology, and the art of ceremonial writing and speaking.
Regardless of whether a ceremony originates from a secular, spiritual or religious point of view, Celebrants collect gems of information from their clients, collaboratively design the structure of the celebration, and then craft a personalized ceremony to uplift, inspire and deepen the meaning of the moment.
Celebrants are Ceremony Specialists. They have studied the history, theory, principles and concepts of ritual – the foundational tools that make for a significant event. Celebrants are also savvy questioners. They take great care and time with their clients during the interview process. As a result, this shared experience brings forth the story (the hallmark of a Celebrant Ceremony), builds rapport, and grounds a sense of trust in the ceremony’s development. This first-hand level of attention is a distinctive feature that Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants bring to the creative table of ceremony making.
Ceremonies Across the Life Cycle
- Ceremonies for Families & Children
- Healing & Transitions
- Rites of Passage / Milestone Moments
End-of-Life
- Celebration of Life
- Funerals
- Living Memorials
- Pet Funerals / Memorials
LGBTQ+ Ceremonies
- LGBTQ+ Ceremonies Across the Life Cycle
- LGBTQ+ End of Life
- LGBTQ+ Weddings
Union Ceremonies
- Elopement / Vow Renewal
- Weddings
Denver Colorado United States
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Tawnya is a Home Funeral Guide, Life-Cycle Celebrant & Grief Companion. She offers home funeral education and support, custom ceremonies across the life-cycle with an emphasis in death and dying, and bereavement support.
Home funerals are when the bereaved choose to tend to the decedent themselves and/or hold a home vigil/viewing/wake with the decedent in the privacy of their own home or space. Home funerals are legal in all fifty states. See Dear Departures’ FAQ page for more information.
As a Life-Cycle Celebrant specializing in funerals, memorials, celebrations-of-life, graveside services, ash-scatterings, pregnancy and infant loss ceremonies, memorial dedications, virtual ceremonies, and more, Tawnya is strongly suited to tell authentic stories.
Living funerals are events where, when someone is nearing the end-of-life, they become the guest of honor at their own exit-party! More and more people are coming around the idea that, rather than have everyone sit around and tell stories about how great you were after you’re gone, it’s a much richer experience to be a part of that conversation while you’re still alive!
She strives to convey legacies with candor, tact, and grace.
Living Funerals are also an opportunity for the dying person to share with others what an impact those people have made on their life.
She offers ceremonies for those whose relationship with the dead was complicated, especially when trauma is a part the survivors’ past with the dead. It is critical to acknowledge the gravity of the situation in a way that gives voice to the survivors’ pain, by staying true to the narrative. Humans are fallible, after all.
“Do-over” memorials are for those who either never had a meaningful memorial for a loved one at all, or, if the one they did have was unsatisfactory. Whether your loved one has been gone for a year, or a decade, it’s never too late to create a meaningful tribute. This process can be therapeutic, especially as it relates to our past culture around miscarriages and/or infant deaths that weren’t given the acknowledgment that they deserved.
Tawnya also offers guidance in eulogy writing, as well as in crafting your own obituary! Obituaries don’t have to be simple timelines of events. They can be fun, witty, reverent, and lush! One need not be dying to start writing an obituary. Getting a head start means that when the inevitable happens, (be it tomorrow or years from now,) the things that are important to YOU about your life’s story have been highlighted!
Additionally, she offers pet-honoring ceremonies before, during, or after a pet death.
She’s even crafted send-offs for non-living beloveds, like vehicles lost to accidents, and homes lost to fire.
The sky is the limit in how we acknowledge and honor our grief!
TESTIMONIALS
“The event was beautiful! Tawnya over delivered! I got numerous compliments from attendees. I felt her compassion and empathy from beginning to end. She had great attention to detail. All of this taken together will ensure that I recommend her to someone else.” -Janet C., Memorial Client
“Tawnya was very personable. Her expertise made the service extra special. I wouldn’t change a thing.” -Agaitha B. Memorial Client
EDUCATION & AFFILIATIONS
- Life-Cycle Celebrant Certificate, Specializing in Funerals, Celebrant Foundation & Institute
- Bereaved Sibling Support Group Facilitator
- Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss Certificate (plus the advanced course), Institute of Birth Breath & Death
- Sacred Passage Guide Certificate, Conscious Dying Institute
- Board of Directors, National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA)
- National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) Member
- Denver Hospice Volunteer
- Shifting Deathcare: Tool for a New Paradigm, Going With Grace
- Trauma Informed Death Work, Narinder Bazen
- Bachelors of Science in Human Services/Counseling & Mental Health, Metro State College of Denver
Speakers Bureau
Tawnya offers presentations and workshops on topics that include but are not limited to:
- Home Funerals & Community Death Care (law, logistics, ritual, & more)
- Medical Aid in Dying
- Voluntary Stopping of Eating & Drinking
- Eulogy & Obituary Writing
- Eco-Friendly Options in Death
- Grief in the Workplace
- Disenfranchised Grief
- Suicidal Ideation
Have a special request? Tawnya is happy to custom craft and/or co-create presentations and workshops on just about any topic in the death, dying, and grief space. Feel free reach out to share your ideas & requests!
Serving the greater Denver metro area & the Front Range PO Box 472462 Aurora CO 80047
Laura Walker, Writer
Laura Walker, WriterDetails
- Marketing and communications professional with comprehensive organizational and leadership skills
- Project manager with advanced ability to balance priority with deadline in work planning, collaboration and execution
- Business-to-business acumen, technical writing and editing proficiency, perceptive and versed content writer
- WordPress website creator with knowledge of best SEO practices, analytics, social and other digital media marketing
- Master’s degree in writing, 15 years teaching college-level English, 17+ years professional writing and editing experience.
As a practiced hand in the strategy, design, fulfillment, analysis and revision of compelling marketing and communications projects, I provide a spectrum of services. Having worked with numerous organizations in myriad industries, I have also written award-winning business plans, complete with competitive analysis and financial projections, as well as planned and executed marketing strategies. From the complex job of comprehensive rebranding to the straightforward print-mailer campaign, and everything in between, I’ve done it or will quickly learn how. Some examples:
- Copywriting: Specialty, research and news articles; B2B correspondence; press releases; white papers, blogs and websites; video and film scripts; business plans and reports; and various other marketing materials.
- Editing: Government and scientific documents, quarterly financial journals, semi-annual literary magazine, poetry anthology, quarterly digital magazine, procedure manuals, and marketing materials.
- Marketing: WordPress website creation, social media and email marketing, print advertising and sales materials, nonprofit fundraising, and successful solicitation of high-quality content donated by professional writers and bloggers.
Broomfield Colorado 80023 United States