Graphic design with five abstract gold-colored shapes resembling eggs and crescent moons on a black background.

Funeral Celebrant & Grief Support

Three withered dried flowers with brown and beige petals against a black background.

Services & expertise

Funeral
Celebrancy

Creating and officiating highly personalised and meaningful ceremonies alongside families and chosen families. This is for when someone has died or a loss has occurred. This may be a funeral, a memorial or grief ritual for the anniversary of a death.

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Grief
Support

As a social worker trained in grief and bereavement, I can further assist families and individuals with brief contact grief support counseling, education and referrals.

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Pre-planning, advice and legacy work

Contact me to discuss or seek advice around funeral home providers, end of life care options and legacy projects. Let’s workshop together to discuss what resources are available to suit you and your loved ones’ needs.

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Minimalist illustration of a black cat with a round orange head, two orange crescent shapes representing eyes, and two orange crescent shapes representing ears, set against a black background.
A black and white photo of a woman with short hair, smiling and looking to her right, wearing a dark shirt against a plain light background.

INTRODUCTION

Joh Fairley

Hi, my name is Joh Fairley aka Joh Nyx and I am a community development worker and artist from Coburg, Naarm. I have always worked in community engaged creative settings since undertaking a social work degree with honours, from RMIT in 2007. I worked at the Asylum Seeker Resource centre as a case worker and arts manager...

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“Amid a devastingly sad funeral, Joh did an amazing job of providing warmth, compassion and deep insights to the affected family and the life of our friend. She is an excellent communicator and projected a genuine care for the people in the room. It’s obvious that she cares deeply about this job.”
— Aaron
“Joh brings a calm, considered and wise voice to a time of grief. She offers a unique perspective on the things that we can do to best farewell loved ones. Joh is such a good fit for this line of work.”
— Bec
View fullsize Last Monday I was the celebrant for a baby. The first time I’ve written a ceremony for a young child. It was very tender and memorable meeting the bereaved family. I found the hardest part was finding the words to write. Beyond the generic yet
View fullsize This image is titled ‘blooms of the abyss’ by @welderwings . To me it speaks of the abyss like feeling of grief. The enormity and often loneliness accompanying such a universally experience……. I also see within the image the
View fullsize I wrote a Blog post ‘paper boats and silver ribbons’ on creative funeral rites and the rituals we performed to honor my late brother Jimi. Written for the wonderful @australianhomefuneralalliance link in my bio
View fullsize Nyx quarterly newsletter just dropped. Sign up in my bio for musings on death, dying and events in Naarm. 📸 Ring for Two by Otto Kuenzil
View fullsize Here lies a community grief ritual. We wrote letters and folded them into stars. We danced under the stars and then burnt them to the great unknown. The importance of grief rituals. Grief rituals in all their forms allow for a container for our big
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View fullsize Mother’s Day brings a multitude of emotions. The complexities are felt by numerous people who have grief intertwined with love on a day celebrating mothers. My mum Faye (aka Bucket) was the definition of a wonderful mother. Generous, kind, supp
View fullsize I have had the honor to sit with many people over the last year who are grieving. Often in their homes discussing their loss, photos in hand. I offer an empathetic and lived experience ear, education on grief and when appropriate simple somatic exerc