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Join Death Expo host Dr. Karen Wyatt as she and her guest Donna Belk discuss Beyond Hospice, her training program for midwives to the dying and home funeral guides. This 88-hour certificate course trains individuals to work alongside professionals using "heart-oriented skills" to assist the dying and their loved ones.

In this interview you will learn:

• The role of end-of-life and home funeral guides
• An overview of the training necessary to become a guide
• The benefits of receiving this type of training
• How to promote home funerals in your own community

Donna Belk is the creator of Beyond Hospice, a certificate course for end-of-life and home funeral guides. She is an inter-faith minister and has also trained as a yoga and Qigong instructor. She trained officially as a home funeral guide through Jerrigrace Lyons of Final Passages, and Elizabeth Knox’s of Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death. She is also a hospice volunteer and Threshold Choir member.

She presents workshops to educate families and caregivers about how to act as a midwife to the dying, and to provide home funerals for loved ones. She combines the practices she has learned with her philosophy and her personal experience of being near death. These workshops help people learn what to expect as one dies, how to prepare for a peaceful death, and how to care for loved ones after death.

Donna has created a DVD called “Passing Through Our Hands” and also wrote three chapters of the book, “Undertaken With Love: A Home Funeral Guide for Congregations and Communities.” Additionally she has authored two books, “How to Follow Your Heart,” (1989) and “Restorative Flow Yoga” (2006) and co-authored the recently released "Home Funeral Ceremonies."

Donna is also the Vice President of the National Home Funeral Alliance, which "empowers families to care for their own dead by providing educational opportunities and connections to resources that promote environmentally sound and culturally nurturing death practices."

Websites: www.donnabelk.com

www.beyondhospice.com       

Ira Byock, MD