Expert Category: Course presenter

Bryan Harnetiaux has been a Playwright-in-Residence at Spokane Civic Theatre in Spokane, Washington, since 1982. Thirteen of his plays have been published; these works include commissioned stage adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Killers, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Long Walk to Forever, all published by The Dramatic Publishing Company. His play…

Lara Moretti educates hospitals, schools and various professional groups about grief, donation and transplantation in her role as Director, Family Support Services for Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia, PA. Moretti has been with Gift of Life since 2003 where she oversees a team of licensed social workers and professional counselors who provide grief…

Joanne Harpel is President of Coping After Suicide, LLC, an international authority on suicide bereavement and postvention response. She is certified in Thanatology (death, dying, and bereavement) and has over 20 years’ experience addressing the questions, emotions, and complexities that arise in the aftermath of suicide. Harpel’s full-service practice includes working directly with grieving individuals,…

Robert Neimeyer is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, maintains an active consulting practice, and directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, which provides global online training in grief therapy. Neimeyer has published 35 books, including Living Beyond Loss: Questions and Answers about Grief and Bereavement and New Techniques of…

Wanda Henry-Jenkins is Bereavement Services Manager for Vitas Healthcare in Chicago and an HFA Hospice Hero. She has worked in healthcare for more than 50 years as a nurse, chaplain, and bereavement volunteer manager. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Henry-Jenkins, who is also known affectionately as “Reverend Wanda,” was a co-leader of Vitas’ national online support…

Dr. O’Connor is a Professor at the University of Arizona Department of Psychology, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona in 2004 and following a faculty appointment at UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, she returned to the University of…

For the last 40 years, William Hoy has been walking alongside the dying, the bereaved, and the professionals who care for them. Following more than 17 years directing the bereavement program for a southern California community hospice program, Hoy became clinical professor of medical humanities at Baylor University where he served from 2012 to 2024….

Lisa Pahl is co-creator of The Death Deck and The E•O•L Deck, tools that inspire meaningful conversations on what matters most in our lives and in our deaths. As a licensed clinical social worker with over 17 years of experience within hospice and emergency medicine, Pahl helps people cope with illness, dying, and grief. With…

Nick Jehlen is the founder of Common Practice and the lead designer of the games Hello and My Gift of Grace, which have been used by families and organizations around the world to support more and better conversations about living and dying well. Applying his background in human factors engineering and design, Jehlen has been…

Cynthia Carter-Perrilliat is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the AC Care Alliance Collaborative (ACCA). Founded in the African-American faith community, ACCA’s Advanced Illness Care Program is a community based, person-centered, care navigation intervention serving individuals with chronic,  serious, and advanced illness and their caregivers, in partnership with health, faith,  academic and community-based organizations, providing services…

Bruce Jennings is Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Health Policy and the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society. He is a former Executive Vice President and current Fellow and Senior Advisor of the Hastings Center, a nonprofit research center based in Garrison, NY that studies ethical issues in society, medicine and…

Therese Rando is a clinical psychologist, traumatologist, and thanatologist in Warwick, Rhode Island. She is the Clinical Director of The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss, which provides mental health services through psychotherapy, training, supervision, and consultation, and specializes in loss and grief; traumatic stress; and the psychosocial care of persons with chronic,…