Kevin currently serves as the Clinical Director at the Uplift Center for Grieving Children in Philadelphia and operates BLF Innervisions, LLC providing training, consulting and supervision in the areas of grief/loss/trauma. He hold a B.S. from the University of Virginia and an MSW from Howard University.

Caitlin Koch has an innate passion for journeying with children and families through their grief, as well as empowering the professionals who support them. Her desire to promote resilience in those grieving a death evolved from both witnessing profound growth in people bearing unthinkable pain, as well as experiencing such growth following her own losses. She has worked in pediatric palliative and hospice care as well as bereavement support. Prior to her role at Our TreeHouse, she was the Clinical Director at The Healing Center, a grief support center in Seattle. She also interned at The Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon. Her education includes a BA in psychology, a MS in child life, and an MSW. Her professional affiliations include The Association for Death Education and Counseling, The Association of Child Life Professionals, and the National Association of Social Workers. In addition to her role as Executive Director at Our TreeHouse, she has a private counseling practice in Bellingham.

Jim Cubbage co-founded Wild Grief where he leads grief support hikes and walks, co-develops programming, and is on the board. He has 15 years experience in facilitating grief support groups for teens and families through different organizations and venues. Before that he taught telephone crisis intervention for 4 years through the Crisis Clinic of Thurston County. He started his professional career as a wildlife biologist for 10 years.

Kelsey is currently the Youth Program Manager at The Healing Center Seattle where she continues to follow her passion of helping grieving individuals move through and process their grief in a healing way. In 2019, Kelsey graduated with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a specialization in Dance Movement Therapy from Lesley University. As a LMHCA and Registered Dance Movement Therapist, Kelsey can approach grief in a unique way due to the incorporation of movement and emphasis on the mind body connection that her groups entail. Kelsey is also a 200-hour R-YT and recently received her Grief Yoga® Teacher Certification to further her exploration of the embodied elements of grief through movement. Kelsey is honored to be presenting about the importance of movement and grief for the second time at the NW Conference on Childhood Grief alongside other inspiring grief professionals in the field.

Alice Ryan began her social work career over 23 years ago. Most of her practice orientation has been in large healthcare settings. She was drawn to the needs of patient and families as illness progressed towards the end of life. Her practice eventually led her to her current work in accompanying people in their grief journey, with special emphasis on the experience of complicated grief through the death of a child. Through the years of listening and learning from grieving families, it became more apparent that the narratives of grief from historically marginalized communities were not as present or represented in bereavement support programs. Elimination of disenfranchisement, even within the universal human experience of grief, is the north star that guides Alice’s work. She currently manages Seattle Children’s Hospital’s bereavement program, The Journey Program and has also been a faculty member of the UW School of Social Work since 2012, teaching in the MSW program. She is the recipient of 3 Instructor of the Year Awards and is the recent recipient of the Odessa Brown Ken Feldman Award at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Although she values her presence in academia, she strongly identifies as a practitioner and believes that humble service to others informs and shapes theoretical constructs.

Makenzie Muilenburg is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor from Seattle, WA. Makenzie currently works as a Grief Counselor for Providence Hospice of Seattle’s Safe Crossings Program, a program that serves grieving children and teens across King County at no cost to families. She also runs her own private counseling practice serving adults facing a range of mental health and life challenges. Makenzie has been supporting grieving children in differing capacities for 10 years and also brings her own personal experience of childhood parental loss to her understanding of the work she does. Makenzie received her BS in Psychology from the University of Washington and her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Western Washington University. She is also a Certified Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional and Nationally Certified Counselor. In her free time Makenzie loves to read, explore new places, and dance.

Lisa Duke, MSW, Lisa Duke, MSW, Bridges Center for Grieving Children. I have been fortunate to work in the role of Family Support Coordinator with the families at Bridges since 2012. Working with grief and loss has challenged and enriched my life. After receiving my Masters in Social Work at New York University, I worked for several years in pediatric community mental health in the South Bronx. I am grateful for our Tacoma community on this journey I share with my husband, Paul Duke and our two adult daughters, Rachel and Savannah.

Tyran has consulted with non-profits and foundations across the country to advance work that supports serving marginalized communities through social justice and equitable distribution lens. He holds a Bachelors of Social Work from North Carolina A&T State University and a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University.

Darren Wenz, LICSW joined the Bridges staff as Bridges Program Coordinator in July 2007. Prior to joining Bridges, Darren served as Executive Director of Families Unlimited Network, a non-profit agency serving low-income children and families. His work experience includes over twenty-five years of work with children including teaching junior high students, directing an after-school program for children ages 9-13, and counseling children, teens, and families in private practice work. Darren received his MSW from University of Washington Tacoma. While in the Social Work program, he served as an intern at Bridges during the 2004-2005 school year. Darren received his certification in Thanatology through ADEC in 2009 and became a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in 2011. For over 10 years Darren has coordinated Camp Erin-Pierce County. Darren and is wife Pam have three children, Caleb, Ryan, and Lewis.