I was the Founder and Director for the Pathways Center for Grief & Loss at Hospice and Community Care for more than 28 years. I am now working as a prn bereavement counselor for Pathways. The focus of my clinical training, practice, writing and teaching has been on issues related to end of life, compassion fatigue, crisis, trauma, and loss. I have presented internationally as well as at the national, state and local level. With NHPCO I served as the Bereavement Professionals Section Leader for the National Council for Hospice and Palliative Professionals from 2003-2008. I was a member of the NCHPP Steering Committee 2003-2008 and again 2011-2017. I was involved in developing the Family Evaluation for Bereavement Services Survey as well as the revised version, the Evaluation of Grief Services Survery. I have been involved in writing all 3 editions of the Guidelines for Bereavement Care in Hospice. More recently I served on the NHPCO Work Group on Bereavement after Opioid-Overdose Deaths.For several years I also facilitated the Pennsylvania Hospice Network's South Central Bereavement Professional's Section.
I am an FT (Fellow in Thanatology) with the Association for Death, Education and Counseling. For 6 years I chaired the Body of Knowledge committee and have also served on the Board of Directors and other committees over the years. As Director of the Pathways Center for Grief & Loss, I oversee a wide variety of bereavement services for adults, children and teens. We follow hospice bereaved families for 16 months or more, serving more than 5,500 children, teens and adults monthly. The Pathways Center offers the area’s most comprehensive programs and services for anyone in the community impacted by the serious illness or death of a loved one.
In terms of community involvement, I am also a Disaster Mental Health volunteer and instructor for the American Red Cross, on the Executive Board with the Lancaster County Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and a member of the Millersville University Emergency Counseling Team. In these volunteer roles I provide trainings, debriefings and support in the community when local tragedies occur.