Holly Lyon-Hawk
Educator • Ceremonial Care Specialist • Holistic Funeral Director • IISCC
About Holly
Holly Lyon-Hawk is a multi-award-winning Holistic Funeral Director, End-of-Life Doula, Educator and Ceremonial Care Specialist whose work focuses on creating more compassionate, human-centred approaches to death, grief and after-death care.
Through her funeral work, teaching, writing and collaborative projects, Holly supports families and professionals in navigating death and bereavement with greater humanity, emotional awareness and connection.
Known for her calm and deeply personal approach, Holly has become particularly recognised for her work surrounding Supported Ceremonial Care of the Body - helping individuals and families remain gently connected to the person who has died through meaningful presence, ritual, witness and compassionate guidance during the earliest hours and days after death.
Holly is the founder of Gentle Endings, supporting families across Kent, East Sussex and London through bespoke funerals, natural burials, celebrations of life and deeply personal approaches to farewell.
Alongside direct family support, Holly is passionate about widening conversations around end-of-life care, grief literacy, ecological funeral practices and the emotional and ceremonial dimensions of deathcare that are often overlooked within modern society.
She currently serves as a Trustee of End of Life Doula UK and is also a committee member of the Association of Green Funeral Directors, contributing to wider conversations surrounding compassionate, ethical and environmentally conscious approaches to funeral and end-of-life care.
Holly is the author of A Gentle Good-bye with Cinnamon the Rabbit, a gentle children’s book exploring grief, love and saying goodbye following the death of a beloved rabbit companion.
Her work and perspectives on holistic deathcare, grief and ceremony have been featured through podcasts, interviews and conferences, including speaking at the International Death Literacy Symposium and other events exploring bereavement, community deathcare and the evolving landscape of end-of-life support.
Alongside her practical work, Holly is currently developing educational programmes, professional training and written works focused on ceremonial care, grief, ecology, trauma-informed support and holistic approaches to funeral care.
Her approach is rooted in the belief that whilst death is a universal experience, every life, every death and every grief is profoundly individual - and that care should always reflect this.
Holly supports people of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds with openness, compassion and respect.
