We work as a team to support each other in the services we provide. Please go to the Contact page for the person on call for this month.
Peg Lorenz is the founder of Peaceful Passage at Home. For ten years she has assisted families with pre-planning and after death care. She also presents educational workshops to hospices, churches and community groups. Peg is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Home Funeral Alliance. Peg has 20 years of experience with Hospice care. She has a certificate in end-of-life care from the University of Southern Maine. Peg completed a training taught by Crossings – Caring for Our Own at Death, a resource center for home funeral care. She is a founding member of the Indian Hill Threshold Choir, a volunteer group that sings at bedsides of people who are dying.
/ North Central MA
Kathleen Rouleau is a registered nurse, Reiki master teacher, ordained minister, death midwife, home funeral consultant, birth doula, and water guardian. She has been a companion to the dying for over 25 years, starting out giving direct care to family and friends, and eventually sharing her loving presence as a hospice volunteer. As a minister she helps design personal and meaningful end-of-life memorials and ceremonies to soothe those who must carry on. Kathleen holds certificates from the University of Vermont in end-of-life care, midwifery, and Home Funeral Guide Level III training with Final Passages run by Jerrigrace Lyons in California, and The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death, holding space for pregnancy loss.
/ North of Boston
Kaat Vander Straeten is a long-time community organizer and certified permaculture designer in MetroWest Boston, where she founded several organizations for local resilience. Her passion for helping families take care of their deceased is nourished by her love of empowering personal choice-with-responsibility, and by her service to a regenerative culture. She is a scholar in Stephen Jenkinson’s Orphan Wisdom School, organizes Death Cafes, and presents on home funerals, home wakes, and vigils. Kaat was trained by Peg Lorenz in after-death body care and has helped several families take care of their loved ones at home.
/ West of Boston
Trish Garrigan has assisted several families with home funerals. She was trained by Beth Knox of Crossings and Peg Lorenz of Peaceful Passage at Home. She is a trained hospice volunteer with VNA Care Network, and has a Masters in Counseling from Lesley University. Trish is a Certified Focusing Trainer and a Teacher of Mindful Self Compassion. She also co-leads a meditation group at First Parish Church of Groton and has had a meditation practice for over 25 years. Trish has seen first-hand the benefits and healing that come from caring for a loved one at home, and she believes it can be a profoundly healing experience.
/ North Central MA
Lisa Groves is a home funeral guide, educator, and green burial advocate. She developed her home funeral skills and knowledge base with guidance from Peg Lorenz. A registered nurse with a holistic focus, her professional background includes home health care, therapeutic massage and bodywork, yoga instruction, and aromatherapy. A lover of animals and the natural world, she volunteers for feral cat spay/neuter clinics and various conservation projects, and has a certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from New England Wild Flower Society.
/ North and West of Boston
Kristen Fumarola serves as a home funeral guide, death midwife, green burial advocate, and caregiver coach. She has been involved with death care since she first became a hospice volunteer 17 years ago, and has since trained with Final Passages Conscious Dying and Home Funeral Guide Institute. She is a scholar in Stephen Jenkinson’s Orphan Wisdom School and has been deeply influenced by her studies with Martin Prechtel, The Living Dying Project, and Peg Lorenz. Kristen considers her four years as primary caregiver to both parents as having been the most instructional in teaching compassion and companionship throughout the dying process. Kristen feels a deep sense of calling to support families in finding their own personal way of being present in this profound time of life.
/ Boston area