Resources

An alliance of death-positive practitioners who offer a layer of support that complements conventional healthcare, including death doulas, holistic healthcare practitioners, educators, social workers, funeral directors, celebrants, and grief counselors. We are all passionate about reclaiming and reimagining end-of-life care: during the planning stage, through the dying process, immediately after passing, and in bereavement.

Pennsylvania’s first exclusively green burial ground is committed to creating a beautiful burial park where nature is at the forefront. Penn Forest offers full body burial, cremated remains burial, and cremated remains scattering sites, and people of all faiths are welcomed. One third of the 35-acre property is set aside as a nature preserve habitat for native wildlife and plants, and everyone is welcome to explore our hiking trails and play with the goats at adjacent Returning Home Farm.

Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information: Shopping for Funeral Services. The FTC works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. The FTC Funeral Rule makes it possible for you to choose only those goods and services you want or need and to pay only for those you select. The Rule allows you to compare prices among funeral homes, and makes it possible for you to select the funeral arrangements you want at the home you use. (The Rule does not apply to third-party sellers, such as casket and monument dealers, or to cemeteries that lack an on-site funeral home.)

A Center for Grieving Children, Adolescents and Their Families. This is a safe place where grieving children and families can come together and be with others who understand what they’re going through. An essential community resource, the Caring Place offers services at no charge to grieving families from throughout the community.

When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.

Pittsburgh Bereavement Doulas exists to support grieving parents following the loss of a pregnancy or an infant. We help caregivers and parents mourn and celebrate the lives of their children across their spectrum of need — from assisting with immediate practical decisions to providing ongoing physical and emotional care.

A non-profit, all volunteer organization that offers after-death care support and education across the country. Created in 2010, their members come from 45 states, five provinces, and seven countries. Many are home funeral guides who also identify as licensed funeral directors, ordained ministers, educators, body workers, licensed social workers, registered nurses, therapists and counselors, directors of nonprofits, attorneys and physicians.

At a Death Cafe people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. The objective is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’. A Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session. Connect with Death Cafe Pittsburgh by visiting the Facebook group.