Professional Development

Humanists UK maintains an accredited list of Humanist Celebrants. In order to achieve and maintain accreditation, a celebrant must:

• Complete rigorous training, including practical assignments and all the basic skills required to conduct a ceremony, such as personal presentation, public speaking, writing skills and planning a ceremony
• Train for specific types of ceremony, i.e. weddings, funerals, namings etc.
• Continue to enhance their skills – Humanists UK is commited to continuous professional development and provides opportunities for Humanist Celebrants to enhance their skills through workshops, conferences and local networks. Humanist Celebrants should also demonstrate that they take advantage of personal development opportunities, such as reading and following social media.

Continuous Professional Development undertaken:

• I am a regular attender at North Yorkshire Humanists (http://nyhg.humanist.org.uk), where I actively participate in discussions
• I occasionally attend the York Rationialists Group (http://www.meetup.com/York-Rationalists/).
• I read widely around wedding traditions, symbolic rituals, life and death, and public speaking
• I am member of the ‘Humanist Wedding Celebrants: Class of 2016’ group on Facebook
• I attended the BHA Conventions in June 2016 and June 2017
• I have attended the annual BHA Celebrants Conference since 2016
• I am an active member of my local and regional celebrant groups

Ensuring quality

I am a mentor to celebrants in training and in the past have helped to select trainees and evaluate the quality of the training provided for Humanists UK.

I am also part of a local Peer Observation programme where, on an annual basis, we each observe a colleague and are observed by a colleague whilst we present a ceremony. This is an informal opportunity to get helpful feedback on style, content and structure and how we might improve. In addition, I am a designated  accreditation observer for probationary celebrants who are newly qualified, and a Complaints Duty Officer for Humanists UK.

I also have access to the celebrant forum on Humanist UK’s website where I can post questions, share experience and seek advice.