Note also that conventional funeral directors cover only roles 1 and 2. Note: while teams 2 and 3 are easily and logically combined, there should be no bar on multi-tasking. Team 4: those who meet the practical and emotional needs of the bereaved. Team 3: those who create funeral ceremonies - funeral celebrants Team 2: those who make administrative and logistical arrangements for the disposal of the dead and co-ordinate teams 1, 3 and 4. Meeting the immediate needs of a bereaved person calls for three distinct but not mutually exclusive competences and, therefore, three or four distinct teams comprising volunteers and paid staff: It is in our interest to help others because, in time, we shall need them to help us.
We believe that attitudes towards those who care for the dead must be restored to emotional health.
#Cfs staffing professional
At the heart of the philosophy of a CFS is the belief that the bereaved would rather deal with ‘one of us’ than ‘one of them’ – that death is better handled by ordinary altruistic members of a community than by those whose exclusive professional competence is the care of the dead and the service of the bereaved.įor this reason, a CFS is staffed as far as possible by people for whom the work is part-time, just as it was for the laying-out woman and midwife in times gone by.įurthermore, while it is the tendency of commercial funeral directors to encourage the bereaved to leave all arrangements with them, promoting dependency, a CFS believes it is beneficial for the bereaved if they are encouraged to play whatever part they feel they can in caring for the body of their dead person and, if they want to have one, creating their funeral.