Mortuary Science Instructor, MN Licensed Mortician, Certified Life Celebrant, Author, Speaker, Consumer Product Advocate. Passionately investing in the next generation of funeral service professionals since 2022.
According to recent Memorial Business Journal articles (Sept 7 & Sept 14) that were put out by the National Funeral Directors Association, mental health, stress, and compassion fatigue costs the funeral profession upwards of $48 billion. The articles describe how this looks in the real world: 1)Compassion fatigue leads to absenteeism. The mortician deals with death all day, is mentally and physically exhausted, has worn multiple “hats” all day with the diverse nature of this job and is on sensory overload. With limited skills and resources on how to manage these feelings, the mortician calls in sick to work. 2)The funeral home is down one person, which means everyone else who is also dealing with those same feelings above not only show up to work, but have to carry additional workload. This depletes them quickly. 3)Productivity slows down. Employees are prone to making more mistakes and oversights. Paperwork gets missed because there are more urgent matters. Lapses in judgment occur. 4)This situation leads to resentment within the company if this is not addressed, or staff turnover if the owner or employee decide to call it quits because this mortician is “not a good fit” for the funeral home. 5)High staff turnover negatively affects any business, but especially funeral homes because their #1 asset is their staff. 6)Now the funeral home is left under staffed while simultaneously expending time, money, and resources into finding a new mortician. Does this sound familiar? Not only does this impact the funeral business, it impacts the families we serve when they don’t get our best. We can teach mortuary science students the ins and outs of funeral service. But I firmly believe equipping them with tools to find purpose and build their personal self-care armor for protection against compassion fatigue and burnout is one of the best gifts we can give them. Thank you Honnalora Hubbard, Erin Creger and the Death Care Collective for helping our students identify and build their armor. Families across the nation deserve morticians who bring their best selves to the arrangement table. #deathcareindustry #deathcare #visitingtedinheaven #nfdatake5series
Chief Sales Officer | Founding Member at Death Care Collective | Keynote Speaker | Industry Event Leader
I’ve recently had the honor of getting to know Janet McGee, MBA. She embodies everything our profession needs, and is the perfect mentor for shaping and guiding the next generation of Funeral Directors. Today, Honnalora Hubbard and I had the pleasure of conducting a virtual #workshop for her class at the University of Minnesota Mortuary Science Program. The students were not only warm and engaging, but also a reassuring glimpse into the future of #Deathcare. We’re grateful for the opportunity, and truly enjoyed our time together with these future Deathcare professionals. #funeraldirector #universityofminnesota #futureleaders
That you for drawing attention to the reality of hard work, long hours, weekend work and the stress of dealing with the complicated grief work we all sign up for.
Such an important message! Thank you for your kind words, Janet, and for making an impact on the future of Deathcare.
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10moJanet, as a former U of M graduate and full supporter of mental health advocacy, especially as it relates to the funeral industry, I'm so glad you are teaching resiliency and tools to navigate a very stressful career. Having worked in the industry, even for a short time, I know how real your statistics are and as a breathwork and meditation facilitator I know how important tools for self-care can help. Please reach out if you are looking for more tools you can equip your students with as they enter this very honorable profession. We need all of them and we need them healthy mentally and physically or we will lose them.