Grief is something not many people understand, yet everyone experiences. And the way we grieve is changing, quickly. It seems that the old paradigm was seeing grief as a more linear process. There are many schools of thought about grief. One is the Continuing Bonds (CB) theory, which addresses many of the problematic aspects of other schools of thought around grief.

​Funeral practices and rites vary greatly among cultures and religions. However, funeral practices usually share some common elements—removing the deceased to a mortuary, preparing the remains, performing a ceremony that honors the deceased and addresses the spiritual needs of the family, and carrying out final disposition of the deceased. Funeral directors arrange and direct these tasks for grieving families, taking great pride in their ability to provide comfort to family and friends of the deceased and in providing appropriate services.