Jodie McCombie

Following a 30 year career in risk management in the public and private sectors, I was made redundant in 2018. This coincided with my aunt’s health deteriorating, having been diagnosed with cancer three years previously.

I decided to relocate from London to my hometown of Durham, to help my mother care for my aunt and to comfort my aunt during her end of life experience. My aunt and I planned her whole funeral together and her desire for a non-religious ceremony introduced me to the concept of civil funerals. It was clear to me during this process that my aunt found much needed comfort and a sense of regaining control by talking about and planning her funeral.

When she died in December 2018 my mother and I met with the civil funeral celebrant and we realised that helping those dying and the bereaved choose various elements for funeral ceremonies was part of that role. The meeting with the civil celebrant was extremely helpful for me and my mother in our grief and the resultant deeply meaningful and personalised tribute crafted and delivered by the celebrant at the funeral was beautiful.

Our satisfaction at having given my aunt the funeral she wanted and the incredibly positive comments from other mourners, consolidated my desire to pursue civil funeral celebrancy as my new career.