My Background

Prior to becoming a celebrant I worked in education as an advisory teacher, supporting children and young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties as they navigated their way through nursery, primary and secondary school.  I met with families to understand their backgrounds, successes and challenges; I worked closely with teaching and support staff to prevent challenging behaviour and suspension or exclusion; and I supported whole-school staff teams by delivering training programmes to support them in their most challenging moments.  My enjoyment of these aspects of my role led me to train as a funeral celebrant; a role that allows me to offer others’ support at a difficult time and that I find incredibly rewarding.

Most recently I completed an MSc in Psychology and hope to complete a doctorate in Education Psychology alongside my celebrancy work. I therefore limit the number of funerals I take on, in order to focus my attentions on the families I support and provide them with the best possible service.

When I’m not learning about the fascinating lives of others and supporting families to say farewell to their loved ones, I’m most often found walking my dogs, spending time in nature, reading, painting or baking delicious award-winning treats in the kitchen.  I also enjoy supporting two local school governing boards and spending time with family and friends.

My Humanist Beliefs

I haven’t always understood that my beliefs were most closely related to humanism. In fact, I stumbled on humanism quite by accident in my fourth decade, realising that there were many others out there that held similar non-religious, scientific views.  For me, humanism can be summed up as the following:

• Understanding that everyone deserves to be happy and that our own kindness can have a lasting impact.
• The belief that we each find meaning in our lives through the connections we make, our individual experiences and the endeavours we commit to.
• Being curious about the world and others that live in it.
• Believing that we only have one life and that we should live it to the full.

People are fascinating and I wholeheartedly believe that there’s no such thing as a boring life.  I love learning about, and being able to share, other’s stories as I believe we can all learn something meaningful from these experiences.

For those of us that do not have a religious faith, our significance lies in the influence we leave behind for others to remember us by. More and more families are choosing secular funeral ceremonies because they provide a comforting and meaningful way to celebrate and remember their loved ones.