Keynote speakers

Let me tell you a little about myself: I am based out of Riverside, California. I’ve been widowed. Twice. Before age fifty. I’ve faced down cancer with my first wife, who died ten years later cancer-free, but with pulmonary fibrosis and heart failure probably brought on by the chemo that gave us ten extra years. Not many years after I remarried following my first wife’s death, my second wife developed weird symptoms that no physician could seem to figure out. I finally did. That’s when we realized she had early-onset Lewy Body Dementia. She died only months after we finally got the diagnosis.

I’ve had the honor of working with too many hospice families to count, helping patients prepare for their deaths, and families for the loss that was most certainly coming. I’ve had the honor to be present when many of those patients died. I’ve provided support groups for children in schools, adults, and for those who are terminally ill. Death really is not scary to me, or a subject I avoid. I’ve raised my kids to see death as a part of life. Now that I’m married to a funeral director, it really is part of our daily life. But that does not mean we can’t laugh, we can’t feel sunshine on happy days, or that life is negative. That’s not who I am. That’s not who I want anyone else to be.

Here’s the technical stuff: my B.A. is from the University of California, Riverside, and my M.S.W. comes from the University of South Florida, and I am licensed in the state of California as an LCSW. On top of being the CEO of Central Counseling Services allowing me to serve as a clinical therapist, I am also a certified Grief Recovery Facilitator.

Debra Joy Hart, RN, BFA, CT^®, CLL-E, CHP, Joyologist has been a nurse for over 30 years and is currently a nurse consultant. Her nursing and teaching experience is in alcohol/drug rehabilitation, hospice, long term care, men’s emergency and transitional shelter, and public health.

She’s the creator of the 1000 Red Nose Project NFP ™ and travels the world or sends her red noses to different countries, collecting pictures and handing out red noses to help promote peace, laughter and healthy humor in the world.

Debra Joy is a Spiritual Director and part time minister at Unity Church and Spiritual Center in Urbana, IL. Since receiving her certification in thanatology (CT), she provides spiritual and grief support to members of the community.

Every spring and summer for the last 22 years, Debra Joy, AKA “Daisy the Clown” has been part of a collaborative team, working with FCAN (Families’ and Children’s AIDS Network) to bring therapeutic programming to the families affected by HIV/AIDS. She lives at a camp each year with the families and initiates fun-filled activities for both parents and children. Debra Joy also gives workshops for the adults on how to welcome and include more humor and joy in their lives. Her programs topics: Parenting, Resilience, Grief and Loss, Disease Stress Management, Spirituality and Faith.

But wait! There’s More!

For three years, Debra Joy has chaired (2007, 2008) and co-chaired and facilitated (2011) Association for Applied and Therapeutic (AATH) INTERNATIONAL annual conference.

She has been a frequent presenter and workshop facilitator at World Laughter Tour Advanced Workshop weaving humor, laughter, science and silliness into her appearances.

Debra Joy juggles her skills as a humorist, nurse, clown and minister speaking around the world to corporations, colleges, healthcare settings and religious organizations. Her infectious spirit, laughter and wit are just a few of the tools she has in her clown medicine bag.

EDUCATION:

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign BFA, Art Education 1974-1979
• Associates Degree in Applied Science Nursing: 1987-1989 Parkland College; Champaign, Illinois *Alpha Omega Candidate

CERTIFICATION:

• Nationally Certified Bereavement Facilitator: American Academy of Bereavement (2001)
• World Laughter Tour: Certified Laughter Leader-Expert (2008-present) and completed programs in Positive Activity Interventions.
• World Laughter Tour: Certified Joyologist (2019)
• Association for Death Education and Counseling: Certified Thanatologist (2017)
• Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Humor Academy: completed Level 3 working toward Certified Humor Professional
• Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, Humor Academy: Certified Humor Professional (2019)

Jakob van Wielink is a pioneer in the application of secure base thinking to coaching, therapy, and counseling. He is a partner in The School for Transition in the Netherlands. He is also a faculty mentor at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition  and a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement. In 2022, Jakob was the Ira Nerken International Keynote Speaker at the annual conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Jakob works internationally as an executive coach for leaders and their teams and is an educator and trainer of professional coaches. He has contributed to many books about coaching, therapy, and transition. Jakob co-authored  The Craft of the Secure Base Coach. Enabling Transition, The Language of Transition in Leadership. Your Calling as a Leader in a World of Change and Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions. A Clinician’s Guide to Secure Base Counseling all three of which were published by Routledge.

Neil Thompson is an award-winning independent writer, educator and adviser and visiting professor at the Open University and Wrexham University. He has established himself as one of the most highly respected figures in UK social work. Neil now useses his expertise to help individuals and organizations (in social work and beyond) to achieve optimal results. His expertise encompasses equality and diversity; stress; conflict managment; mental health and well-being; loss, grief, and trauma; communication; reflective practice and self directed learning; leadership and people management.

With over 50 books to his name, Neil Thompson is a highly respected award-winning author, international conference speaker and trusted adviser. He has held full or honorary professorships at five UK universities and is currently a visiting professor at the Open University and Wrexham University in the UK. He began his career in social work but has extended his interests over the years to incorporate a major focus on human relations, wellbeing and leadership.

Laurel Hilliker holds a Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in health and well-being with a specialized focus in bereavement studies. She holds a Fellow in Thanatology from the Association of Death Education and Counseling. With over two decades of experience as a college educator, she has taught and developed curriculum in the areas of medical sociology, grief and loss, and public health which includes the social dimensions of health. Her scholarly work and teaching has consistently explored the nuanced intersections of emotional experience, social context, and individual adaptation in the face of loss. This deep academic and professional grounding uniquely qualifies her to speak on the topic of The Solitude Within: Reframing Loneliness as a Crucial Element in Healthy Bereavement. Her expertise enables her to critically examine loneliness not merely as a symptom of grief, but as a potentially transformative space within the bereavement process. Drawing on both sociological theory and empirical research, she offers a reframing of solitude that challenges prevailing narratives and supports continuing education attendees in expanding their understanding of grief, resilience, and emotional well-being.

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.

Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, and maintains an active consulting and coaching practice. He also directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, which provides online and onsite training internationally in grief therapy. Since completing his doctoral training at the University of Nebraska in 1982, he has conducted extensive research on the topics of death, grief, loss, and suicide intervention. 

Neimeyer has published 30 books, including New Techniques of Grief Therapy:  Bereavement and Beyond and the Expressive Arts:  Practices for Creating Meaning, the latter with Barbara Thompson. The author of over 500 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences.

Neimeyer is the Editor of the respected international journal, Death Studies, and served as President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he has been granted the Distinguished Research Award, the Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, elected Chair of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, and given the Research Recognition, Clinical Practice and Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Most recently, he has received the Phoenix Award:  Rising to the Service of Humanity from the MISS Foundation, been given ADEC’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and been recognized as an Honored Associate of the Viktor Frankl Association for his lifetime contributions to the study of meaning.