Megan Heller maintains a clinical practice at Awaken Counseling in Marietta, Georgia, where she provides grief counseling and bereavement support to individuals and families navigating loss. She holds additional certifications in specialized therapeutic techniques and utilizes evidence-based interventions to address psychological and social needs, with particular focus on complicated grief and traumatic loss across the lifespan. Ms. Heller completed hospice social work training, developing competencies in psychosocial assessment, advance care planning, and interdisciplinary team collaboration. Through this role, she gained experience conducting biopsychosocial assessments, providing emotional support to terminally ill patients and families, and coordinating community resources, establishing her foundation in palliative care principles and social work’s role within hospice teams.
Ms. Heller appears in A Butterfly Has Been Released documenting her role when her mentor, Allyson Zalva, received a terminal diagnosis, during which she coordinated the living funeral while navigating the intersection of professional training and personal loss. This experience demonstrates practical application of hospice principles and illuminates the challenges healthcare professionals encounter when providing end-of-life care to colleagues.
