MCDES Board Members for 2006–2007

Cynthia Anderson –After more than 20 years in health care administration, she is currently a graduate student in the School of Social Work at The University of St. Thomas and the College of St. Catherine. For five years she served as a facilitator for the child loss group with the Edina Grief Coalition, was a Life Source volunteer, and currently is a volunteer with Health Partners Hospice of the Lakes.

Ted Bowman is a trainer/consultant who specializes in work with families, organizations, and communities facing change and transition. He has worked throughout Minnesota, other states, and internationally, in work related to resiliency and capacity building in response to stressful life events. Ted is an author of numerous articles and has published two books dealing with loss of dreams. He is also an active member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, serving now on its board of directors.

Allison Chant is a licensed associate marriage and family therapist and works as grief counselor with Allina Hospice and Palliative Care, St. Paul. Her initial introduction to the field of death and dying was as a hospice volunteer during her undergraduate years. She did not know then it was the beginning of a career that she would come to love. In her work she continues to learn and is encouraged by families' resilience, individuality, and courage in facing losses of all kinds. She is also a new mom!

Sharon Dardis, RN, BSN, is the MCDES Newsletter Editor. She was the Children's Bereavement Coordinator with the St. Croix Chaplaincy Association and Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN. Her background includes nursing in medical/surgical units, ICU, CCU in the 1960's and 70's in numerous hospitals in North Dakota, Mississippi, and South Dakota. From 1982 – 1987, her various roles at Hospice of the Red River Valley in Fargo included volunteering, staff nursing, fundraising, and bereavement follow–up. From 1987–1993 Sharon designed and directed a Kids Grieve, Too program in Fargo for the hospice program and served as the Children's Bereavement Coordinator during that period. She gave community education talks regarding kids and grief also facilitated grief support groups for children. In 1993 Sharon moved to the Twin Cities and began volunteering with Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater. She helped design the Kids In Grief Program there which led to a part–time position in 1996 as coordinator and lead facilitator of the Kids in Grief program at Lakeview Hospital. She is the co–author of a book on meditations for end–of–life, As I Journey On: Meditations for Those Facing Death.

Abby Dawkins has a strong history being on Boards of Directors with such organizations as Capitol Community Services, Planned Parenthood, Health Start, Face to Face Health and Counseling, and currently serves as chair of the nominations committee for the NASW. For five years Abby worked with the St. Paul Police EAP program and was witness to the effects of traumatic loss on police, their families and on civilian survivors. In private practice she currently sees many survivors of horrendous, traumatic murders and accidents.

Jean Havlina-Madsen is currently working as a hospice nurse at the Pillars Residential Hospice House in Oakdale, MN. She has been with the Pillars since it opened in 2000. Prior to Pillars Jean worked with the very diverse populations that HCMC serves. She is also the owner of Portages, Alternative Funeral Advocacy and assists families in caring for their own at the time of death. She has served as a facilitator with the Center for Grief, Loss and Transition and was recently accepted into the End-of-Life Counselor program through the Alaya Institute in California

Edward Holland currently serves as the Coordinator of Spiritual Care and Grief Support at Methodist Hospital Hospice, Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis, a program he helped to create in 1979. Ed is a United Methodist minister, a board certified chaplain (APC) a certified Gestalt therapist and a licensed marriage family therapist. He is a past president of Hospice Minnesota (formerly known as the Minnesota Hospice Organization, 1993 & 1994), served as MHO's vice president (1991 & 1992), has served as a member of MHO's Ethics Committee and also chaired MHO's Clergy Education Task Force. Additionally, he has served as a member of PNHS' BioEthics Committee, the PN Cancer Center's Complementary Therapies Task Force and the PN Parish Nurse Advisory Committee. Ed has been involved with his denomination's health and welfare ministries since 1976 and has recently served as Team Leader for the Health Ministries Action Team of the Minnesota Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Paul Johnson –After serving for nearly 16 years as the Director of Aftercare Services with Bradshaw Funeral and Cremation Services in the Twin Cities, Paul is now the Bereavement Services Supervisor for HealthPartners Hospice of the Lakes. He is also a consultant and trainer in areas related to loss and grief. Paul believes MCDES has always provided a valuable means for networking with other individuals interested in issues related to death, grief and bereavement and his goal is to enhance such networking. Through the MCDES educational conferences as well as its newsletter, the Coalition provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn from each other. Paul states, “Professional relationships and personal friendships are among my most valued benefits of active involvement with MCDES.”

Christine Lewis has a diverse clinical background. She is certified as a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in adult mental health and has been employed as such for 24 years by Hennepin County, providing crisis intervention, loss and trauma therapy, medication management, and some public speaking about grief and similar topics. In addition, Christine has been called upon by county supervisors in several situations to provide guidance and support to other county workers who experience sudden loss. She also worked for two years in after-care for a funeral home providing bereavement groups and individual counseling.

Debi Lillegard has worked with cancer patients and their families for over 18 years. She is currently a family therapist at park Nicollet Cancer Center and also manages all of the patient support and education programs. She has facilitated grief support groups both in the church setting and the health care setting. Debi volunteered for the Family Grief Retreat and provides grief counseling for families whose loved ones died from cancer

Connie Moeller, MA, is a Family Therapist & Grief Counselor at Neuro-Integration Therapy. She utilizes Neurofeedback, Sound Therapy, Alpha Theta & Clinical Hypnosis, and EMDR, in treating illness, grief, loss, and trauma. Connie has been a volunteer group facilitator at Pathways, a Health Crisis Resource Center, for 11 years, and has led various groups: Healing Grief, Transforming Trauma, Living & Dying Education & Support, Healing Relationships, and Renewing Life™. She also facilitates PAIRS™ Relationship Enhancement Workshops in the community, and specifically for Law Enforcement Couples. Connie was led into the field of death/dying by her own health crisis and near death experience. She writes the “On the Road” column for the MCDES newsletter..

Amy Shaleen, LGSW is currently a Social Worker with Fairview Lakes HomeCaring and Hospice in Chisago City, Minnesota. She works with individuals and families in both home care and hospice so she gets to serve people (and families) on a continuum from temporary medical issues to those individuals who are nearing the end of life. She is also a former Child Protection Worker (Chisago County, Minnesota) where she worked for over 10 years with children and families facing numerous issues including abuse, neglect, chemical dependency, mental illness and physical disabilities. Grief and loss are pervasive in this population and impact all facets of the lives of these families. Amy has served as the MCDES Board Secretary for over five years.

Ben Wolfe, M.Ed., L.I.C.S.W. Ben is the founder and Program Manager of the 19 year old St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System's Grief Support Center in Duluth where he does individual, family and group counseling for persons dealing with life–threatening or terminal illnesses, or who are bereaved (from any cause of death). Ben serves on the St. Mary's Medical Center's Bioethics Committee, and is a mental health member of the Northern MN CISD team, He also does a significant number of presentations throughout the region and country, and has taught graduate courses for over 20 years on dying, death and bereavement for UMD and for the past 16 years teaching a course on life–threatening illnesses for the UMD School of Medicine. Ben is a Past–President of the international organization, the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), which currently has over 2,000 members, is on the National Kidney Foundation's eleven member National Donor Family Council Executive Committee (the “Home for Donor Families”-over 10,000 members) and has served as a Board Member for MCDES since the early–80's, and chair of MCDES for the past eight years. Ben states, “I have GREATLY appreciated the friendships over the years and look forward to the continued growth of MCDES and membership involvement.”

Judy Young, M.Ed., is Manager of Education and bereavement Services at Allina Hospice and Palliative Care, St. Paul. She has worked in many phases of the life cycle including childbirth education, perinatal loss, community and hospital–based hospices, oncology support and education, and home care. She has facilitated support groups on depression, Parkinson's disease and leukemia/lynphoma. As the Coordinator of Bereavement Services, Judy is responsible for supervising bereavement care by staff grief counselors, mentoring graduate students, facilitating grief support groups, death and grief education of healthcare employees and community groups, school partnerships, an annual family grief retreat and an annual memorial service.