An added "PTSD" that affects funeral businesses

The Diagnosis (Part 1 of 2)

Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health condition that is silently prevalent among funeral professionals (1). This article does not deal with PTSD symptoms, causes, or treatments from a clinical perspective. If you may be suffering from PTSD, we encourage you to make an appointment with your doctor or a mental health professional.

The COVID-19 Pandemic placed a tremendous strain on the resilience and mental health of nearly everyone worldwide. For funeral professionals, in particular, the uncertain and shifting body of medical knowledge, regulatory conditions, and heightened anxiety among bereaved families added unprecedented demands and pressure to their work.

From a funeral service delivery perspective, necessary remote meetings, arrangement conferences, and virtual funeral attendance forced significant change on the death care sector. In fact, over 80% of funeral businesses adopted some form of live streaming for the first time during the first six months of the Pandemic. Businesses that had long specialized in organizing traditional rituals and social gatherings to help the bereaved were suddenly learning about live streaming and scrambling to assist families cope not only with their grief but also with digital technologies that few had ever used before.

The Nightmare Stories

If you ask, nearly every funeral director can tell you a tense, sad story about a time their live stream failed and the acute stress and pain it caused them and the family they were serving. The outcome has been that most funeral directors, even today, will only offer to live stream a funeral when a family asks them to (and the family is clearly in need of that service).

Chris Cruger related a story late last year about "Linda," whose brother passed away unexpectedly. She lived across the country and her husband couldn't travel to the funeral for health reasons--and Linda was his sole caregiver. "Her pastor suggested she call the funeral home to ask about livestreaming her brother’s service, so she could attend virtually. The funeral director’s answer was: 'Oh, we did that during COVID, but we don’t do that now.'"(3)

This avoidance, self-doubt, mistrust, and resistance to offering funeral streaming to every family a funeral director meets with is a condition we gently call "Post Traumatic Streaming Disorder." Of course, its root causes are relatively mild in comparison with other traumatic experiences; however, those demonstrated tendencies and behaviors can be easily correlated to the terrible live stream experiences they've witnessed.

The Impact of "PTSD"

Unfortunately, this behavior--or the failing on the part of funeral professionals to meet the modern needs of families--is hurting funeral businesses that obviously operate in a digital era. The majority of today's families expect the funeral home they choose will offer to live stream the funeral service. As a result, when a funeral business doesn't (or can't) offer a premium live stream experience, it has a negative impact on that consumer's overall perceived value of the services offered. The lack of quality live streaming may not change a consumer's choice of funeral home on that specific occasion, but it will certainly have an impact on their future purchasing decisions and recommendations.

Assessing and addressing the underlying causes

Given the apparent business risks and potential problems that the added "PTSD" can trigger, in Part 2, we'll examine the issues behind the condition and discuss some simple remedies for funeral businesses.

About the Author: Trajan Schulzke is the founder and CEO of Foveo Memorial Services Inc., the funeral streaming company (foveo.org).