r/askfuneraldirectors • u/illminded_seraph • 1d ago
Advice Needed: Education Future mortuary student
So Im gonna go on a bit of a rant here, Im currently enrolled into a college course that allows students to explore various pathways and I will be doing this for the current year. Biology, chemistry, and an intro to health care as I have plans next fall to enroll for Funeral director class 1 embalming at a college a few hours away. Im currently looking into resources for Thanatology to study on my own time, and if it would be a good idea to volunteer at a Hospice to get some death care experience. All thanks in advance!! 🥰
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u/warmkitsunesocks 1d ago
I currently work in hospice and am enrolled in mortuary school too. Hospice and a funeral home are both very different aspects of death care. If you volunteer for hospice, the best avenue I would suggest is standing vigil for those who are actively dying. It is a bit on call depending on the hospice agency and its census, but nevertheless, being around those who are actively dying was helpful for me being in the funeral home. Aside from that, hospice volunteers can do an array of things and it may not be close to what you're seeking. If that isn't your jam, I'd find a part time funeral assistant position
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u/Zero99th 1d ago
While agree that hospice and funeral home care are very different, as people have previously commented. I will say that I was a hospice nurse for 10 years prior to directing.. I apply SO many of the skills I learned, navigating family dynamics as a hospice nurse, now as a funeral director. Both jobs are very much about helping families to navigate through their grief, giving them their options, and walking them through the things that need to be done. I feel like my hospice experience really helps the families transition from making final decisions for their loved one's life right into making the final decisons for their resting place. For me, it was invaluable, and I honestly dont know if I would have found my place in death care without working in end of life care. So, while it IS different, there is a lot of cross-over when dealing with the families and loved ones. Not only that, but I frequently work with the hospice agency I worked for prior to switching careers, and that's been very benefical as well, when it comes to getting things filed and attested on more than one occasion and I have lots of experience reading this particular doctor 's hand writing. Which is beside the point. Also, as a hospice nurse, I had lots of experience in caring for, cleaning and dressing people once they had passed and waiting for their funeral home of choice to pick up.. Which is helpful. Of course, once they come into the funeral home, a lot more happens as far as embalming etc.. but that was a very useful tool to have.
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u/lizardfiendlady Mortuary Student 1d ago
Hospice isn't gonna be the same, but I don't think that experience would hurt you at all. I have some classmates who did that. I'd look for work in funeral homes, crematoriums, cemeteries etc. first.