Sara Hawkins Celebrant

02/21/2025

Top 3 reasons to have a funeral for the baby you lost through miscarriage or at birth.

1) It’s a way to HONOUR the impact their short life made. Storytelling is healing and we can still tell their story…

- the story of the parents getting together and the love that brought them into existence

- the story of finding out the baby was coming and announcing the pregnancy to family and friends

- plus the stories you were looking forward to experiencing that you’re now grieving will never be (throwing the football, swimming at the cottage, etc.)

2) It’s a way for the parents to feel less alone in their grief. Gathering together and having a ceremony not only establishes the significance of this life now lost, but it also provides a space for the family grieving to receive the love and SUPPORT they really need.

3) It’s a way to validate the often minimized and overlooked grief that comes when a couple goes through a miscarriage/baby loss. If we can NORMALIZE this universal grief for parents, older siblings, grandparents, etc, we can help others bring their pain to the surface to allow them to begin to heal as well.

If you or someone you know has lost a baby and you live in the Hamilton or surrounding area and you have questions about what this type of service might look like, please feel free to reach out. You don’t have to walk this alone.

02/03/2025

Last week the world lost an incredible man. Doug Manning was a renowned grief expert, best-selling author, sought-after speaker and a person who impacted millions of lives by bringing the celebrant movement from Australia to North America. Doug was also the person who trained me as a Celebrant almost 12 years ago, changing the trajectory of my career forever.

If I have had the privilege of serving your family by leading you through a personalized, storytelling time of farewell, or if I have trained you to do the same, please take a moment to be grateful for Doug today the way I am.

If you know me personally and you’ve heard me talk about the importance of “getting into people’s buckets” or how people in grief need the “3 H’s: Hang around, Hug ‘Em and Hush”, please take a moment and be grateful for Doug.

So much of what I teach and the person I’ve become over the last dozen years is because of him: Not just through what he taught me during those life-changing days of training and by reading his books, but even more so through my interactions over the years as one of the thousands of people who got to call Doug a friend. A man of integrity, he absolutely practiced what he preached.

As I watched his funeral service live-streamed this morning, my eyes started leaking yet again when my colleague and fellow InSight Celebrant Trainer Matt Bailey began to speak. He put it so well as he talked about Doug’s professional life and the MASSIVE ripple effects it made. He closed his remarks with addressing Doug’s family:

"Thank you for allowing his friends and colleagues, the celebrants and funeral directors who knew him as our profession’s wise, loving, generous grandfather as well to be here with you to say thank you and goodbye. On behalf of my colleagues here present, those watching on video and all who reflect with sincere sadness yet profound gratitude, I feel confident I can say to you we are thankful for the gift of Doug Manning’s life. We are better because he was here. And we will honour his legacy by striving to be the people he always believed we could be."

P.S. Funeral professionals and anyone else who may be interested, the entire service is incredibly moving (which starts just after the 1 hour mark). But if you care to watch Matt Bailey talk about his impact on our profession, that begins at the 1:40 mark.

02/03/2025

What a touching story! I know so many “Hannah’s” who go above and beyond in this profession. So to Hannah and all the funeral directors and assistants reading this, THANK YOU for all the every days acts of kindness you do for grieving families, both noticed and unnoticed. We see you and appreciate you!!

Mount Pleasant Group employee Hannah Boyd recently returned from maternity leave to her role in the Learning and Development team, where she trains new staff on cemetery and funeral products and services. Before this, she spent several years as a licensed embalmer and funeral director at The Simple....

01/18/2025

Thank you Brian for this encouraging thank you email. It was such an honour to help you and your family say “bye for now” to your dear wife.

01/16/2025

I got some new pottery made by my dear aunt at Christmas. This sweet little bowl’s first job was to hold little wooden butterflies.

For what, you may ask? To give as memory tokens to the attendees (of all abilities) who came to their friend’s funeral. They took them home as a way of remembering this sweet lady who absolutely LOVED butterflies.

“The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough.” (Rabindranath Tagore)

12/16/2024

Not all "how to get through the holidays" articles are helpful. But I really liked this one for its super practical tips. Whether you're missing a loved one who died or grieving another type of loss, there are likely at least a couple of good nuggets here for you.

Personal Perspective: Once I stopped trying to fix my recurring grief, I began to feel better.

11/23/2024

Well, I guess if there are and an , then it’s time for a too!! 😆 No but for real, to my fellow , I see and appreciate you! ☺️

11/13/2024

For the grieving kids in your life... or maybe even some grieving adults who need this important reminder.

Elmo and Jessie sometimes have big feelings when they remember Uncle Jack, but Elmos dad Louie reminds them that it helps to talk about their feelings.When F...

11/01/2024

This morning, in ‘s devotional book “Good Enough”, I read about looking to and being grateful for the foundations from which we were made…where we come from and the people attached to this.

This first picture is me as a baby in the stroller with my Grandma beside me. The second is an article in the local paper when she started Hawkins Pharmacy. The third picture happened last weekend when she celebrated her 99th birthday! 🎉

I often wonder if the people whose funerals I officiate knew how much they meant while they were still here. Were they aware of how they were “foundations” that impacted the people they left behind?

So this is your friendly reminder to let yours know. Look back at the people who have impacted your life. Don’t just think about parents and grandparents. Think about your teachers, bus drivers, mentors. Call, email, or write a note and pop it in the mail. You don’t know that you’ll have the gift of 99 years like I do.

We Westerners have done a pretty good job trying to “be self-made” and to “do more self-help/self-improvement”. But we stand on the shoulders of many who have gone before us. I, for one, am grateful for the foundation I have in this dear lady who personifies strength, grace, forgiveness, kindness and resilience in ways I don’t have time to describe. (And yes, she’s so cool she’s on Facebook!) I love you Grandma. ❤️

10/28/2024

He hated big crowds, funerals and being the center of attention. So we kept it simple and kept it as close to HIM as possible. Stories told by his wife of 42 years and their two kids who lost their husband and dad too soon. Lots of references to him drinking martinis and watching his beloved Leafs. A LOT of laughs and yes, of course a few tears. Most importantly, we focused on the loyal, hilarious and devoted man he was.... with the Tragically Hip to take us out at the end.

This was the email I was touched to receive from his wife after the funeral. He might have disliked the crowds and attention, but his family and friends needed to say goodbye and honour the incredible life that impacted so many.

10/03/2024

Such a pleasure to be part of these events yesterday! Thanks so much for having me Dodsworth & Brown Funeral Home - Burlington Chapel!

09/30/2024

Thank you Karen and the Ontario Funeral Service Association for your trust as I spoke at this year’s convention and for these words of encouragement that followed that absolutely made my day!

09/20/2024

Back in 2019, I decided I wanted to learn more about the world I’d worked in for the previous 6 years. I had served hundreds of grieving families, but I wanted to grow in my knowledge of how to serve and understand them even more. I also wanted to expand my qualifications as I speak in various settings about the important topic of grief.

So I began the journey of taking courses towards my certification of grief education with the University of Toronto. I took a couple years’ hiatus while working as a full time Celebrant for a couple of funeral homes (not to mention a pandemic!!) Then, after I went back to working as an independent again, I knew I wanted to finish what I started.

It may just be a piece of paper, but when this arrived in the mail, it felt like it represented a lot more! I’m feeling thankful to have the opportunity to keep growing and evolving as I continue to serve grieving families. I’m thankful for my professors at - especially and .karimajoy who I learned so much from!

I’m also very grateful for an amazingly supportive husband who helped make this happen for me. (Yes, you’ll notice I changed my name when I got married last year, but I’m holding on to Hawkins for work.) Most of all, I’m thankful to have the same passion all these years later for helping families utilize the power of story to move through grief towards healing.

09/18/2024

It was an incredible privilege to stand in front of 150+ Funeral professionals at the Ontario Funeral Service Association’s banquet last night and honour the funeral directors with 50 years of service. There were 7 special people in attendance, including Louise Brown shown here who I had the gift of calling my colleague during my time with Ward Funeral Homes.

These people put in FIVE DECADES of one of the most challenging and under-appreciated professions I know of, collectively serving thousands and thousands of grieving families across Ontario who knew they could call THEM during their darkest hour.

Please help me to continue to thank and congratulate them on 50 years of funeral service!

07/18/2024

I am beginning to partner more with funeral homes who are creating "pre-planning your funeral" workshops that people actually want to show up to! If you're interested in learning more about how I can enhance your seminar with my talk "Game Changing Ceremonies", I'd love to chat more.

07/03/2024

Love seeing the Celebrant movement making its way around the world! Here this Singapore woman describes the pivotal moment she had while attending a funeral in New Zealand that changed the way she saw the funeral business she grew up in back home:

“The funeral celebrant had masterfully woven a tapestry of stories, anecdotes, and memories that brought her life to vivid colour. The personalised and heartfelt ceremony resonated deeply, and I was struck by the significance of celebrating life and legacy in a meaningful and tailored way.”

As the only life celebrant in Singapore, Mei helps families honour their departed loved ones in unique and meaningful ways

06/17/2024

Take 2 minutes and start your week off with this sweet inspiration! :)