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Keynote speakers

A page within INTERNATIONAL DEATH, GRIEF AND BEREAVEMENT CONFERENCE

Pre-Conference Keynote Speaker

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Laurel Hilliker, Ph.D., FT®

Laurel Hilliker, Ph.D., FT®

Laurel Hilliker has 16 years of experience as a collegiate lecturer and has developed curriculum and taught college courses in the disciplines of sociology and public health. She is now teaching in a Public Health and Health Sciences Department which includes a course she developed related to her research interests, Wellness in the Face of Loss. It is offered annually for both undergraduates and graduates enrolled in college programs. Hilliker shares her knowledge gained from her studies, her personal experiences and her volunteer work by providing community talks through her consulting firm, Bearing Loss, Grief Education and Consulting, LLC. This firm resulted because of her continued desire to provide education for the bereaved and their families, as well as for the professionals who assist them.

She earned her master’s degree and her doctorate in the discipline of sociology from Michigan State University, with a concentration in health and well-being and a specialization in the field of grief and bereavement studies. She is certified in thanatology and recently earned a Fellow in Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

Previous work experience includes a position as Assistant Professor of Sociology for Park University in the Kansas City, Missouri area [2012–2015]. At the same time, she gained grant funds and assumed the role of Executive Director of the Center to Advance the Study of Loss [CASL].; She established and operated CASL at Park.&; As Director of the Center, she developed workshops for professionals and curriculum [a minor and a Certificate of Thanatology] for students wanting to specialize in end-of-life care.

Prior to academia, she practiced as a paralegal in a law office whose specialization was in Probate, Wills and Estates. In part, this work experience was a catalyst for her current research interests, namely, end of life care, the sociology of loss, support for the bereaved population, and self-care strategies during caregiving and after loss.

She has just released her first book, Grief-Stricken Stories of Altered Loss In A Pandemic Haze with Covenant Books, Inc., in an attempt to preserve her family’s 2020 stories of loss, to help others who are bereaved and to contribute to the need for grief literacy in general. She has also written for Faith Catholic Magazine and is published in several journals, including Death Studies, Illness, Crisis & Loss, An International Journal for Those Who Help Bereaved People, Taylor & Francis Group, and Omega.

In her personal life, she enjoys reading, long daily walks, especially along the shoreline of any body of water and lastly, her favorite activity is watching sunsets on any beach, and in any season of the year. She is the mother of four adult children and delights in spending time with her grandchildren. She lives in Michigan with her husband Kevin.

Conference Keynote Speakers

Monday, June 3, 2024

Amy Chow, Ph.D., M.S.W., RSW, FT®

Amy Chow, Ph.D., M.S.W., RSW, FT®

Amy Chow is the Head of the Department, Si Yuan Professor in Health and Social Work and Master of the University of Hong Kong's New College. She has a background as a registered social worker specializing in bereavement counselling and is the founder of the first community-based bereavement counselling centre in Hong Kong. She has formerly acted as Secretary of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) and Board Member of the Asia Pacific Hospice Network (APHN). As a recognized translational scientist in thanatology, Professor Chow was elected as the Chairperson of the prestigious International Workgroup on Death, Dying and Bereavement. Currently, within the university, Professor Chow is the Director of the Jockey Club End-of-Life Community Care Project and Associate Director of Sau Po Centre of Ageing. She serves the Lotteries Fund Advisory Committee as well as Boards of Directors of other NGOs in Hong Kong. She is also the first and current Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Hong Kong Academy of Social Work.

Professor Chow’s scholarship and contribution to social work practice have been recognized by the following awards: Cross-Cultural Award, (ADEC) (2005); Cadenza Fellowship (2008); Best Abstract Award (Researcher) (2010); Distinguished Alumni Award (2013) (CUHK); Rainbow of Life Outstanding Individual Award (2013); Outstanding Social Worker Award (2014); Outstanding Teaching Award of the University of Hong Kong (2014); Outstanding Research Output Awards (2017–2018) (University of Hong Kong) and Research Recognition Award (ADEC) (2020).

Harold Ivan Smith, D.Min., FT®

Harold Ivan Smith, D.Min., FT®

Harold Ivan Smith served as a bereavement specialist for eighteen years on the teaching faculty of Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, and is a celebrant for Forest Lawn Funeral Home in Palm Springs. He has a certificate from the Mid-American School of Funeral Service, graduate degrees from Scarritt College and Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and the doctorate from Asbury Theological Seminary.

He is recognized as a Fellow in Thanatology by the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

The focus of his research is on grief and bereavement in the White House and Navigating and Negotiating with ‘Jerry Springer’ Families in Grief.

His writing includes numerous journal articles and articles in The Director and the American Funeral Director. He has spoken at events for the Illinois FDA, Iowa FDA, Kansas FDA, Kentucky FDA, Minnesota FDA, the New Jersey Funeral Expo, New York Metro FDA, Pennsylvania FDA, South Carolina FDA, and for NFDA and the Selected Independent Funeral Homes.

He has led conferences and in-service training events for Thomas McAfee (Greenville, SC), Speaks Memorial Chapels (Independence, MO), Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Services (Columbus, OH), Horan & McConaty (Denver).

His books include:

  • Smith, H.I. (2012). Borrowed narratives: Using historical and biographical narratives with the bereaving. New York: Routledge.
  • Smith, H.I. (2012). When you don’t know what to say. (Rev. ed.).
  • Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
  • Smith, H.I. (2012). When a child you know is grieving. (Rev. ed.). Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press.
  • Smith, H.I. (2011). A Decembered grief: Gift edition. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Carl Becker, Ph.D.

Carl Becker, Ph.D.

Carl Becker received his Ph.D. in Comparative (East-West) Philosophy at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii in 1981, after studying in India and Japan. Subsequently he taught Asian Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Asian Studies at the U.H. Department of Education, and Comparative Thought at Japan's National Osaka, Tsukuba, and Kyoto Universities, where he became the first American fully tenured and promoted as a civil servant within the Japanese national university system. In 1986 he received the SIETAR Award for Contributing to Cross-Cultural Understanding, and in 2018, an Honorary Doctorate in Psychology from the Graduate Institute of Psychoanalysis in Moscow for his work counseling dying patients and bereaved clients. He participates in projects of Japan's Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, and is consulted by news media on issues of death and dying.;

Dr. Becker is Specially Appointed Professor of the Policy Science Unit in the School of Medicine of Kyoto University, where he teaches medical ethics and policy, and leads a national survey on bereavement and psycho-social support for terminal patients and bereaved/suicidal survivors. He is a director of the Japan Society for Medicine and Philosophy, the Japan Society for Spiritual Care, the Japan Vihara and Buddhist Nursing Society, the Japan Society for Mind-Body Science, the Japan Society for the History of Medicine, and the Japan Religious Studies Association. He serves on the editorial board of the Personalized Medicine Universe, Mortality, Journal of Near-Death Studies, Journal for the Study of Spirituality, and other medical journals. Most of his writings are in Japanese, but he has recently edited and contributed to Spirituality as a Way: The Wisdom of Japan (Kyoto University Press), and ‘Spirituality’ in the Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics (Ed. Henk Ten Have; Dordrecht, NL: Springer). Other English articles can be found on: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carl-Becker-2

Mark Vande Braak, Ph.D, FT®, MT-BC

Mark Vande Braak, Ph.D, FT®, MT-BC

With over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field, Mark has had the opportunity to walk the journey of grief and loss with the patients and families he’s encountered over the years.  These challenging and moving experiences have helped him live the mission statement of Lutheran Family Service: “We walk with people who are experiencing hard times and are there for them just as God has been there for us.“ Mark has maintained a steadfast dedication throughout his career to embody the mission statement of this organization.

Over the years, Mark has implemented grief education and support programs to various patient populations. He has developed programs for miscarriages and stillbirths, trauma on psychiatry units, and dealing with trauma and grief in the treatment of addiction. Additionally, he has facilitated support groups for chronic diseases such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Alzheimer’s, and other dementias. DMark has also worked with families and communities facing tragedy from accidents, shootings, natural disasters, and suicide.

Mark has also educated families, colleagues, and other professionals through writing and speaking. In the book “Children Surviving Traumatic Death” by Jerry Cox and Robert Stevenson, Mark wrote the fourth chapter focused on his teachings of grief called “The Berafian Model.” He has been the keynote speaker for the International Death, Grief, and Bereavement Conference. He has lectured on grief at numerous universities, educational events, and community settings throughout the Midwest. He has been a Clinical Instructor with the University of South Dakota; educating psychiatry residents on death and dying. He was featured on “Emily’s Hope,” a podcast on addiction where he focused on grief.  He has been on the South Dakota Public Television program “ON CALL with the Prairie Doc.” In addition to many articles, newscasts, and interviews over the years.

In working with Lutheran Family Service,  Mark will bring over three decades of experience as a Thanantologist and Music Therapist to serve individuals, and families in person and via telehealth. He will aid pastors, teachers, and church workers. Mark feels fortunate to be able to bring his extensive experience working with diverse populations to all he will serve with LFS.

Mark is married to Catherine. They have two children, Rebecca (husband Jake) and Seth. In his free time, Mark enjoys music. He performs with the praise team in his congregation and in a Christian band, Jacob Daniel, where he plays keys.

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Elizabeth 'Libby' Kostromin, M.P.S, C.C.C.

Elizabeth 'Libby' Kostromin, M.P.S, C.C.C.

Elizabeth 'Libby' Kostromin, M.P.S, C.C.C., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Central to her interest in the field of death, loss, grief and bereavement is the potential for post-traumatic growth as a result of challenging life experiences and transitions. Libby’s autoethnographical thesis—entitled Love Beyond Death: Suicide, Acceptance and the Awakening of the Bereaved—was the subject of her presentation at IDGB 2023. She is currently in the process of rewriting her thesis into a memoir for wider publication. Libby’s ongoing work companioning and counseling individuals and groups through grief, loss and transition has inspired a deep dive into the growing phenomenon of ecological grief. Underpinning her psychotherapy practice is previous training and experience as an organizational development consultant, group facilitator and adult learning architect, along with an embodied wisdom arising from a life-long devotion to deep philosophical and spiritual inquiry and practice.

Study participants needed

Erica Srinivasan, Director, UW-La Crosse Center for Grief & Bioethics is seeking study participants for research regarding the experience of bereaved family caregivers of a person with dementia.

Learn more