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.

Laura Takacs is a 2004 graduate of the University of Washington School of Social Work and School of Public Health. Since graduating, Laura has worked both internationally and domestically, with those impacted by war, violence, trauma, loss and grief. In this work, Laura has served as counselor to those who have experiencing both war and non-war related trauma and loss and trainer in evidence-based therapeutic approaches designed to address symptoms of PTSD, trauma, anxiety and depression, loss and grief. Additionally, Laura has facilitated trainings to administration, team leaders and co-workers on topics including, burnout, secondary trauma, vicarious resilience and post traumatic growth.

In August, 2017, Laura began serving as the Clinical Director at Virginia Mason Medical Center, Grief Services, in Seattle, WA, where she provided both individual and group therapy to those bereaving a sudden, traumatic death of family, friends, colleagues and classmates. Laura utilized evidence-based approaches to address both the trauma and grief experienced after losing a loved one suddenly and traumatically.

Currently, Laura is in private practice in Seattle, WA, where she continues to provide clinical support to those who have experienced trauma, loss and grief.

Samiira Mohamed is the executive director of Diaspora Family Healing Network, fiscally sponsored by Omprakash. The Diaspora Family Healing Network (DFHN) is a Seattle based non-profit agency dedicated to assisting historically excluded migrant BIPOC families in Washington State who are disproportionately impacted by racism and mental health disorders. The term "diaspora" refers to migrant communities who have resettled in the U.S. and have had their identities and sense of belonging profoundly shaped by their migration experience and distinctive cultural background.

DFHN envisions a community in which marginalized diasporic families, particularly the women and youth facing mental health challenges, have access to mental health support programs and resources.

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.