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INFORMATION
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
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| KEYNOTE
SPEAKERS |
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Dr.
Bill Webster is the founder and executive Director
of the Centre for the Grief Journey. Widowed
in 1983, Bill struggled to come to terms with
his own loss, as well as the task of bringing
up his two sons, who were 9 and 7 when their
mother died. After graduating from the University
of Toronto with his doctorate in 1990, Bill
began facilitating grief support programs in
numerous communities..
In addition to his grief support groups, Dr.
Bill conducts many professional seminars and
educational programs on the topics of grief
both in North America and in Britain. A regular
contributor to the Canadian Funeral news, he
has published eight books at last count, and
has a 3 DVD series entitled 'Grief Matters"
He has developed a Training Programme on How
to organize and Facilitate Community Grief Support
Groups, and a very innovative website at www.griefjourney.com.
Dr. Bill Webster brings a unique blend of personal
experience, academic education and many years
of practical application to his work, combining
his own story with his knowledge and sense of
humor to effectively communicate his message.
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As
a health care professional Meg recognized that
there was a place for humour in the corporate
setting. So she decided to combine her talents
as a comic with her workplace experience to
inspire people to improve communication, deal
with stress, and achieve better balance in their
lives while establishing a healthy workplace
and home life.
Meg's
unique blend of comedy and inspirational stories
provides "humour with a heart".
This
will be our Friday after-dinner entertainment.
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Phil
Callaway will provide an inspirational message
that will uncover the five secrets that separate
those who resign from those who rejoice. He
will provide tools to help grief and bereavement
workers assist those who are grieving to understand
that it is OK to laugh amidst the grief.
This
presentation is intended to provide a balanced
approach in bringing healing into the circle
of hope and healing.
Phil
is our Saturday closing luncheon speaker.
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SESSION
SPEAKERS
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Bill
Allan
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Bill
Allan has served as the Program Advisory Chair,
Director and is the current chair of the Bereaved
Families of Ontario Provincial Board. He has
also aided hundreds of bereaved persons in facilitating
groups with Bereaved Families of Ontario.
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Dr.
Lori Gray, Ph.D
C. Psych
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Clinical,
Rehabilitation and Forensic Psychologist
Dr. Gray has strived to tackle the issue of
trauma from multiple angles by working with
first responders, trauma victims, and criminal
offenders. Her work has focused on first responders’
unique experiences, the impact of traumatic
and non-traumatic workplace stressors, and organizational
approaches for the prevention of traumatic stress
in the emergency services.
For her work with first responders and emergency
service organizations, she has received awards
from the International Society for Traumatic
Stress Studies, the Canadian Psychological Association,
the American Psychological Association, the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada, the University of Windsor, and the
Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program. Most recently,
she received the Future Pioneers of Psychology
Award from the American Psychological Association
and was nominated for the Governor General’s
Academic Gold Medal.
Key experiences include employment and collaboration
with numerous emergency services, the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health (Psychological
Trauma Program and Law and Mental Health Program),
Detroit Receiving Hospital (level one trauma
centre in inner city Detroit), private practice,
teaching at the University of Windsor, involvement
in community advisory committees, and various
other experiences. Dr. Gray is presently the
staff psychologist for Toronto Emergency Medical
Services and Essex-Windsor Emergency Medical
Services and serves as the Director of Mental
Health for the Tema Conter Memorial Trust.
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Rena
Arshinoff
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Rena
Arshinoff is a Spiritual Care Professional working
with the University Health Network at the Toronto
Western Hospital.
While attending Rabbinical School in Cincinnati,
she volunteered for several years at Fernside,
an organization that specializes in supporting
grieving children, based on the model of the
Dougy Center in Oregon. This was the inspiration
for her rabbinic thesis which was on the topic
of bereaved children and her fieldwork was conducted
at Fernside. Since her return to Toronto in
2008, she has worked with the Children's Program
at Bereaved Families of Ontario as both a facilitator
and professional advisor as well as teaching
a module on grief in children and adults for
the Certificate in Bereavement Education offered
by the Canadian Centre for Bereavement Education
and Grief Counselling in conjunction with University
of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work.
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Catherine
Buffa
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Catherine
Buffa is a Canadian Certified Counsellor with
The Clinic for Emotional Wellness and holds
a Masters in Counselling & Spirituality.
As a counsellor, who is at risk of compassion
fatigue and burnout, she has made it her particular
interest to constantly educate herself and others
about the importance of self care as a preventative
measure in light of the risks of working with
emotionally laden clients and issues. Without
the ability to properly care for ourselves,
we are at the risk of being less useful and
possible a liability to the clients, whom we
are passionate about providing care to. Her
presentation of a self-care model is ideal in
this conference setting so that new ideas and
learning about one's self can be facilitated
and utilized to provide the most positive experience
for care-givers, grief and bereavement works,
and their clients.
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Spencer
Brennan
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Spencer
Brennan has, over the past 25 years, worked
as an addiction therapist, life skills coach
and adult educator and has managed volunteer
programs in a variety of settings. In his capacity
as the provincial outreach coordinator for the
Self-Help Resource Centre, Spencer supports
the development of both local and regional peer
support group initiatives by providing consultation,
networking support, resource materials and fee-for-service
training workshops. Spencer holds a diploma
in human services counselling, a degree in adult
education and has presented workshops on a variety
of topics in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
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Maureen
Pollard
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Maureen
Pollard has worked in the field of social work
for 20 years. As a bereaved parent herself,
Maureen has personal knowledge of the experience
of perinatal loss. Maureen has volunteered as
a group facilitator for Perinatal Bereavement
Services Ontario (PBSO), providing self-help
support to newly bereaved parents. Maureen has
also served as President of the Board of Directors
of PBSO. She completed the Resolve Through Sharing
(RTS) Bereavement Training in June 2010, followed
by the RTS Coordinator Training in September
2010. Maureen has been a co-facilitator for
a one day perinatal bereavement sensitivity
training in October 2010 and a two day RTS Bereavement
Training event in November 2010.
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Dr.
Brenda Marshall
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Dr.
Brenda Marshall is a well known executive coach,
facilitator and speaker. Her interest in grief
work came after the sudden death of her younger
brother in 2006. Brenda now splits her time
between general organizational consulting and
writing and speaking about sibling loss and
other topics related to grief in the workplace.
She is a contributing author to the Open to
Hope Foundation, a published author and has
been featured on both radio and video. To find
out more about Brenda, please visit : www.solaciumgroup.ca.
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| Ida
Bevilacqua |
Ida
is a Registered Nurse and the Organ & Tissue
Donation Coordinator with The Trillium Gift
of Life Network.
She and her colleagues at TGLN continue to work
to raise awareness and educate on the opportunity
of organ and tissue donation. After working
in the GTA for the last 8 years with providing
the opportunity of organ and tissue, many cultures
and religions are learning about the opportunity
and realizing that there may be restrictions
to the opportunity around their needs for funeral
arrangements or culture. It does not mean they
will not donate but can work around the opportunity
if discussed at the right time by support staff
in the various fields or areas we meet families
at this critical time. There is a continuous
need to educate everyone and discuss the many
misunderstandings to this opportunity and companion
families through their journey of grief and
loss. She is very grateful that this conference
has been established to allow the many health
care and support providers to discuss the difficult
topic of end of life care.
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| Sarah
Henderson |
Sarah
is a Counsellor with The Max & Beatrice
Wolfe Children's Center for Grief and Palliative
Care.
She worked as the Child and Youth Program Coordinator/
Education and Program Director at Bereaved Families
of Ontario - Toronto for 5+ years and facilitated
groups and individual support for youth in community
settings and schools. She co-facilitated/co-created
the Soul 2 Soul program for youth at BFO. She
is currently a grief counsellor working with
children and youth in a palliative care/bereavement
support setting at Max and Beatrice Wolfe Children's
Center, as well as 1 day per week in private
practice.
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| Stacey
Cohen |
Stacey
is employed with a Social Service Agency in
New York City, but works in bereavement outside
of that capacity. She has a Masters in Education
and an Advanced Certificate in School Psychology
and had previously worked as a school psychologist
in the New York City Public School System in
the United States. Her
experience includes presenting at training sessions
for volunteers at University Hospice in Staten
Island and at training sessions for volunteers
at Camp Good Grief in Staten Island; at a Roundtable
Discussion for volunteers at University Hospice;
and creating and facilitating a children's bereavement
group at University Hospice; and doing art therapy
activities with participants at Camp Good Grief.
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| Stephen
Hudecki |
Stephen
Hudecki is the founding Principal of Sound Mind
Therapies. He maintained parallel interests in
television music production and volunteering in
music therapy. After meeting Gary Diggins in 1999
Stephen discovered his true path and began to
study sound therapy, psychotherapy which ultimately
led to his post-graduate study in spiritual counselling.
Stephen has shared his powerful and playful approach
to good mental health with private clients as
well as hospital patients, workplace staffs, schools,
medical clinics, hospices, funeral homes, community
drum and singing circles, addiction clinics, social
service agencies, senior centers, retreat centers
and conventions. |
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