Diploma for Celebrants

Our Diploma in Advanced Celebrancy and Ritual is a rigorous and life-changing course in all aspects of celebrancy and rituals across all rites of passage.

It is taught by Veronika and Paul Robinson. Together they bring rich and varied real-life industry experiences and knowledge to ensure that you receive the best possible training, and that you’ll be confident when starting your new career.

 



Heart-led Celebrants is a dynamic movement of autonomous independent celebrants who have been certified by Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training. They are certified to rigorous standards in order to exemplify best-practice celebrancy. A Heart-led Celebrant creates, writes and officiates beautiful ceremonies with integrity, acceptance and creativity.

Celebrants who feature the Heart-led Celebrants logo are certified, and have professional indemnity and public liability insurance.



Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training is creative, practical, inspiring and thought-provoking (and for some people, completely life changing), but it also involves a huge level of commitment from the celebrant-in-training not only during the face-to-face training but afterwards with ongoing tuition.

Unlike some training organisations, our certificates and diplomas are issued on aptitude not attendance. This guarantees that our graduates become working celebrants of the highest professional standard in the industry. We make no apologies for our high standards as we take the role of celebrancy seriously, and we honour the fact that grieving families are vulnerable, and that all ceremonies will be remembered by the client.

Regardless of the type of ceremony you wish to create and officiate, we expect a high level of professionalism from all our graduates. This begins with the commitment they bring to their training.

 


Diploma in Advanced Celebrancy and Ritual
(This includes foundational content of the Certificate in Celebrancy PLUS covers all rites of passage/human transitions and bespoke ritual creation, narration and choreography)

Starts with FIVE days initial training
(Face-to-face training here in Cumbria from 9am to 5pm each day

OR

Three hours on Zoom each day followed by independent learning and course work for the rest of each day.)

 



One-to-one tuition in celebrancy with Veronika Robinson (Funerals, weddings, namings)
One-to-one voice and presentation coaching with Paul Robinson
Heart-led Ceremonies (book)
Guardians of the Threshold Study Guide
Workbook
2 years of back issues of The Celebrant magazine
FREE listing on the exclusive Heart-led Celebrants Directory
Monthly group CPD (various aspects of celebrancy)
Ongoing support and script appraisal
One-to-one tuition in other rites of passage
Masterclass: Mastering the eulogy
Masterclass: Mastering the love story
Masterclass: Mastering metaphysical marketing
Masterclass: Mastering a higher heart frequency
Masterclass: Mastering aligned client manifestation
Masterclass: Mastering bespoke rituals (for any rite of passage)
Masterclass: Mastering the use of nature in ceremonies
Copy of The Blessingway Book, Write That Eulogy,Funerals for Children & The Successful Celebrant



The learning outcomes for this course are as for the Certificate in Celebrancy, and also include any and all rites of passage, such as menarche, conscious conception ceremony, blessingways, miscarriage memorial, sagesse (wise crone), new business, divorce healing, parting of the ways, coming of age, inner child, and more.

The ability to create, write and officiate ceremonies for ANY rite of passage

Creative Writing

Word Medicine

Storytelling

Archetypes in Storytelling

Symbols, Rituals and Altars

Ceremonial Herbs

Developing a higher-vibrational heart frequency

Enhancing Intuition

Sacred Connections with Clients

Metaphysical Marketing

The Four Sacred Archetypes of Building Your Celebrancy Brand


Your Tutors:
Veronika Robinson is a highly experienced working celebrant with 28 years of experience. She has had the privilege of officiating in New Zealand, Australia and England where she has written and led all manner of ceremonies, including weddings, handfastings, blessingways, namings, divorce healing, miscarriage memorial, conscious conception, funerals, memorials, interment of ashes, sagesse, menarche, and house blessings.

Veronika has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing, from the University of Cumbria, and is an author (fiction and non-fiction), journalist, public speaker, workshop leader, and metaphysician. Her books for celebrants include: Write That Eulogy; The Blessingway; The Successful Celebrant; Wedding Celebrant Ceremony Planner; Funeral Celebrant Ceremony Planner; Funerals for Children; and upcoming books: The Discrimination-free Celebrant: unravelling our biases and prejudices; Metaphysical Marketing for Celebrants; The Five Elements.

 



She is honoured to be a celebrant for Gift of a Wedding, a charity which provides weddings for couples where one of them is terminally ill. Veronika is the founder/facilitator of Penrith’s first Death Café which seeks to open up honest discussion around death and dying. She is also an accredited Infant Loss Practitioner and Certified in Suicide Awareness.

Veronika is the editor/owner of The Celebrant magazine, an international publication which seeks to educate and inspire celebrants of all types and at all stages in their career. 



Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson’s whole career has been centred around his voice, and other people’s. He is highly experienced as a celebrant, trained actor, drama coach, voiceover artist, singer, broadcaster, compère, and ventriloquist. Paul is an excellent communicator and teacher, and has a sixth sense about how to relate to individuals, groups and audiences.

On our course, Paul shares insights and techniques on how to make the best of your personality, how to build your self-confidence, control any nerves you may have… and of course, your voice, your presentation skills and body language.

He will also look at how to engage with clients before a ceremony – and how to be the glue that holds any ceremony together.

https://paulrobinsonvoicecoaching.co.uk/

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The Human Touch: why AI won’t be part of my work as a celebrant and author


The world is changing. There’s no question of that. I’ve long held the belief that to live and thrive in this world it’s not so much ‘survival of the fittest’ but ‘survival of those who can adapt’. And this has always served me well both in terms of being a risk taker and rolling with life’s pulls and punches. It’s a kind of shape shifting that allows me to bend, like a willow, and make my way in the world no matter what. Increasingly, though, there’s an aspect to this world, and specifically how it impacts my work as a celebrant, celebrant trainer and author, where I have been questioning just how much I adapt to those changes. Am I just an old ‘fuddy duddy’ now I’m almost 56? Am I behind the times? Is it time to hang up my celebrant hat? I’m referring to the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 



Bit by bit I’ve watched changes in the celebrant world, for example: celebrants using Kindle or some other technology to read their script from during a ceremony or various apps and programmes to store their client information. The latest intrusions into this world include celebrants outsourcing their scripts to other celebrants/writers and also the use of AI to write their scripts.

 



Here’s where I stand: I will never use a technological device from which to read my script. Apart from the aesthetics (my main aversion), there is also the risk of the device not performing on the day (for all manner of reasons). I also use good old-fashioned diaries and calendar to keep track of my dates (no risk of technological failure/theft), and use my funeral and wedding planners for essential details. I’m not suggesting it’s wrong for a celebrant to use a Kindle or to use an app like 17 Hats. I’m simply saying that it’s not my way. In the same way that I feel holding an A4 folder looks clunky compared to a smaller A5 one.

 



When it comes to outsourcing the writing of scripts to AI or other celebrants, I feel ill at the thought. (Ditto the number of professional authors now using AI to write books so they can publish more often.) What happened to heart? What about the joy of creativity? Surely this is what we want to bring to this work?

 


If someone employs me to be their celebrant, then they are choosing ME to create and dream and write their ceremony into being through my experience, imagination, creativity, wisdom, intuition, awareness and so on. AI CAN NOT DO THIS.

When someone buys one of the books I’ve written, they are buying non-fiction books based on my experience, skills and wisdom, or fiction books based on my imagination and creativity. AI CAN NOT DO THIS for me.

Are we, as humans, becoming so far removed from what it is to be human that we think and feel it’s ok, indeed preferable, to rely on technology rather than heart and the creative fire?

And if we’re going to outsource to another human then for reasons of ethics, integrity and data protection this needs to be clearly stated at the outset on one’s website and in all communications. The buyer of your services needs to know that they’re NOT getting your services! Outsourcing the writing of scripts has become prevalent in this industry. 

 



The celebrant industry (and make no mistake, it has become an industry whereby some celebrant trainers and celebrants have completely forgotten or never knew or understood the true purpose of ceremony and the place of a celebrant) is changing rapidly, for better and for worse, in ways that would have seemed incomprehensible to me when I started on this path in 1995. I’ve had so many moments in the past few years of not wanting to be part of this changing ‘industry’. It’s so far out of alignment with my approach to celebrancy that, despite my view and ability to ‘adapt’ to changes, I’ve contemplated walking away many times. And yet, I’m still here. I remain, for now. Why? I’m here for those people who understand (even if they can’t articulate it) ceremony to be a liminal place in time whereby the celebrant holds the space for those crossing the threshold (regardless of the rite of passage). I don’t, and never will, see rituals (such as handtying) as some sort of parlour game or joke or that it’s acceptable for people to arrive at a ceremony half drunk.

I can hand on heart say I will never outsource my work to AI or another celebrant. My sense of reverence for ceremony and the rituals within it don’t mean that I’m devoid of humour or can’t create a bespoke ceremony for a fun-loving couple or family wishing a joyous celebration of life. Far from it. What it does mean is that I understand the purpose of ceremony, and at each step of the way bring my whole heart, creativity, reverence, integrity and care.

 

 



To be clear: I’m not against technology. I’m writing on a laptop. I am grateful that I have a car and that a washing machine cleans my clothes rather than me standing all day long scrubbing them and wringing the water out of each item. These things all have a place in this world. I’m not against change or advancement. Ceremonies and storytelling, though? Let’s keep the heart there. In this rapidly changing world, we need it more than ever. Let us not lose touch with compassion, empathy, kindness, humour, wisdom, awareness of body language, curiosity and creativity, and dare I say: our innate sense of spirituality.

The day I don’t bring the human touch to my work as a celebrant, celebrant trainer and author is the day I step away.

 



Veronika Robinson has been a celebrant since 1995, officiating across all rites of passage, and is the co-owner and co-tutor at Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training in Cumbria. It brings her great joy to, alongside her husband Paul, teach others the sacred art of creating ceremonies from the heart.

She’s the author of over 30 books including the popular books for celebrants: Write That Eulogy; The Successful Celebrant; Wedding Celebrant Ceremony Planner; Funeral Celebrant Ceremony Planner; and coming soon: Funerals for Children; and Discrimination-free Celebrancy. On a daily basis, she is connected to the natural world and draws her inspiration from there.

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Celebrant Training: do you know the difference between certificates based on aptitude and those on attendance?

 

 

When searching for a celebrant-training course, it is vital that you’re aware of a distinct difference between outcomes. Some organisations give anyone who attends their course a certificate which declares them to be a ‘professional celebrant’.

 

 


As a celebrant trainer, there are deep concerns that I have with this approach. It means that people enter into what is already an unregulated profession with a lot of ‘cowboy’ celebrants. There’s no quality control over who ends up working with people during their rites of passage. Without assessing someone’s suitability for this profession, it leaves vulnerable people wide open to poor standards and no accountability!

Even amongst training organisations which require some work, the levels of assessment vary hugely from one training business to another.



At Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training, we make no apology for our rigorous assessments. This guarantees that our graduates become working celebrants of the highest professional standard in the industry. To be clear, not everyone who trains with us receives a certificate. It may be because they realise they aren’t suited to the profession, and don’t have the work ethic to generate bespoke scripts, for example. Mostly, it is because they just haven’t put in the required effort and have not demonstrated their willingness to learn.

As a tutor, I work diligently with each new celebrant in training to help them achieve their goal. The work required, however, has to come from them. I can’t do it for them.


We expect a high level of professionalism from all our graduates. This begins with the commitment they bring to their training and by abiding to our code of conduct.

There is a minimum of twelve weeks training (a mix of face-to-face via Zoom, written modules, vocal and presentation performance, and independent learning), followed by our monthly group CPD sessions, and life-long learning.



If you are a person who is committed to developing awareness of yourself and others, willing to train to an excellent level, and are creative, independent, inspirational, authentic and courageous, and wish to consciously create beautiful ceremonies in your community, then Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training welcomes your application. You will be required to submit all written modules and do your vocal and presentation work within twelve weeks.  We don’t have an open-ended approach to submissions because in the real world, as a professional celebrant, you will always be working to deadlines. As your tutors, we need to have a good idea of your ability to be disciplined, focussed and level of responsibility. The care, attention, enthusiasm, respect, communication skills, imagination and dedication you bring to your training are the foundation for an amazing life as a celebrant. It is our deepest desire to see this happen for you.






We take a holistic approach to celebrancy, encouraging ongoing personal development, and recognise the importance and value of ongoing skill building.

At the heart of our training, is that the life and work of a heart-led celebrant is based on integrity, self-awareness, acceptance and creativity.

If choosing to do one of our training courses, please ensure that you have the time and availability to dedicate to your training.




Veronika Robinson is the co-founder and co-tutor of Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training, editor of The Celebrant magazine, and has enjoyed being a celebrant since 1995. She lives in beautiful Cumbria and officiates ceremonies across all rites of passage.

 
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