Amy Firth - Interfaith Minister & Funeral Director

02/09/2026

💀⚠️ I found the women who run Australia’s body farm & they’ve agreed to answer alllllll our questions. ☎️💀

The Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) but affectionately know as the ‘Australian Body Farm’ is the only facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Bodies donated here are used for forensic science research, helping investigators understand decomposition, identify human remains and ultimately solve crimes.

It is extraordinary, important & generous work AND a body disposition option largely unknown to the general public - so I’m helping spread the word!

I’ve been in touch with the women who run the facility at UTS and they have very kindly agreed to answer all our questions. We’ll be talking about donating your body to science, how the facility actually works and what happens to the people who choose this remarkable final act.

This is the kind of death literacy content I live for.

So, what do you want to know? 🤔

Drop your questions in the comments below and I’ll do my very best to get them all answered.

Cannot wait to share this with you. 🐦‍⬛☠️☎️

01/09/2026

The way you’re treated in the first 48 hours after a death can stay in your body for years.

Grief isn’t just emotional - it’s neurological. Shock narrows the world. Memory fragments. Brain fog, numbness, irritability, overwhelm… these are normal nervous system responses, not weakness.

Trauma-informed death care means I work with that reality, not against it.

I slow things down.
I offer choices instead of directives.
I explain what will happen before it happens.
I ask permission before touching your person’s body.
I follow your language and use their name.
I write things down so you don’t have to remember it all.
I remind you that you can pause.

Because in those early days, you’re being asked to make permanent decisions in a temporary state.

My role isn’t to take over. It’s to restore agency. To make sure you feel heard, not hurried.

Grief is already heavy enough.
The systems around it shouldn’t add harm to harm.

If you’d like to understand more about what trauma-informed death care really means - and why it matters - I’ve written a full article on my website.
Link in bio. 🔗⬆️

29/08/2026

18/08/2026

Sydney friends!
Come join us next week for this free event at Rookwood Cemetery!
4pm - 6pm, Weds 26th Aug - All Souls Chapel.

💬 Let’s talk about death and dying

This Dying to Know, join us for a special in-person panel discussion featuring death and grief literacy thought leaders Amy Firth - Interfaith Minister & Funeral Director and Ben Gibson from Life Rites Funerals, alongside Denise Ora, CEO of Metropolitan Memorial Parks, as they explore end-of-life choices, planning ahead and creating meaningful farewells.

Join the conversation as we explore:
• Why talking about death is a gift to those we love.
• Planning ahead as a final act of care.
• Reimagining funerals and farewell rituals.
• The impact of turning away from death and grief.
• How families can play a more meaningful role at end of life.

📅 Wednesday, 26 August
🕓 4pm - 6pm
📍 All Souls Chapel, Rookwood General Cemetery and Crematorium

🎟️ Free to attend, registration is essential: https://bit.ly/4ckgzl4

13/08/2026

Guilty! 🧺🧺😂

10/08/2026

When you say: “I don’t want a funeral.”
I believe you. But I also wonder if what you really mean is:
“I don’t want THAT funeral.”

Because funerals didn’t begin in funeral homes.
Humans have been gathering around the dead for thousands of years.
We sat around fires.
We gathered in homes.
We told stories.
We sang.
We ate.
We cried.
We laughed.
We made meaning together.
That’s ceremony.

And ceremony doesn’t belong to the funeral industry. It belongs to us.

Your funeral ceremony could take place in your backyard. At the beach. In the bush. Around the kitchen table.

It could be wildly irreverent, deeply spiritual, completely secular, painfully simple or gloriously extravagant.

It could actually look and sound like you.

And here’s the bit I really want you to think about:
You won’t need your funeral ceremony.�But the people who love you will.

Not because there’s a magical “right way” to grieve. But because gathering gives grief somewhere to go. So please - reject the fluorescent chapel if you want. Reject the conveyor belt. Reject the cookie-cutter package.

But don’t reject ceremony before you’ve discovered what it can be.

That’s why I made Funerals Reimagined.
A guide for creating a funeral that doesn’t feel like a funeral you’ve been to before.

Because so much more is possible…

🔗 Learn More: https://www.amyfirth.com/shop