2024 MCDES Board Members
Eunie Alsaker - Secretary
Eunie Alsaker, MSSW, LICSW, CT, has been counseling students at Winona State University since 2003. Her specialty areas include grief and loss, treatment of anxiety, and relationship and transitional issues in emerging adults. Eunie facilitates the campus grief support group and provides educational presentations on bereavement. In prior positions, she coordinated a support and education program for children of divorced parents and served as a community mental health therapist in rural Wisconsin. She is a Certified Thanatologist through the Association of Death Education and Counseling. She loves living in the bluff country of Winona and spending time with friends and family.
Diane Bauer
Diane Bauer, Diane Bauer, LICSW, MSW, is a retired clinical social worker with over 40 years of psychotherapy experience, both at the Hennepin County Mental Health Center and in private practice. In addition to providing therapy, Diane taught for 17 years in the combined School of Social Work at St.Catherine’s University/University of St.Thomas master’s program and holds the title of Professor Emerita from UST. A particular area of passion and expertise for Diane is in the areas of grief, loss, and aging. While in the School of School Work, she coordinated the Area of Emphasis in Aging scholar’s program and also taught numerous classes on grief and loss therapy. Diane is a long term board member for the Minnesota Coalition for Death Education and Support and is very active with that group. In her free time she loves to spend time with her three grandchildren, play tennis and golf, and ride her new e-bike!
Allison Chant
Allison Chant, MS, LMFT, has been working in the field of grief and loss for almost 20 years. She is currently in private practice in Minneapolis and also is independent contract therapist with the Center for Grief, Loss and Transition in St. Paul. Allison was a grief counselor with Allina Hospice for many years and spent the last four years on a palliative care research project as the team’s marriage and family therapist. She is a MN Board Certified Supervisor for those completing licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has a passion for working with individuals, couples and families experiencing chronic illness as well and grief, loss and bereavement.
Bob Furniss-Treasurer
Bob Furniss, MDiv., D.Min., retired-BCC, is an Episcopal priest with 34 years of experience, 17 of those years as a hospital and hospice chaplain at Lakeview Hospital and Hospice in Stillwater, having retired June 2023. One of his responsibilities as hospital chaplain was to oversee the grief groups, Weathering Life’s Losses Adult Grief Group and Kids & Teens in Grief Group. Bob lives in Woodbury where he is a member of the Woodbury Rotary Club and the Woodbury Days Council (Chair of the Woodbury Days Beer Tent, a fundraiser for the Rotary Club). He enjoys reading, writing and bicycling. He and his wife, Jean, have three adult children and a grandson.
Kay L. Johnson - Vice Chair
Kay L. Johnson, LSW, and MCDES Board Vice Chair. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University in Human Development and Family Studies, with a concentration in Adulthood and Aging and an emphasis in Death, Dying and Grief. She has practiced social work in the areas of: long-term care, subsidized housing, hospital and hospice. Seventeen years of her health care experience includes either direct bereavement related work or providing supervision/management of the work. This work has included: providing support and education to all ages via phone calls or home visits, facilitating grief support groups and providing grief education presentations. Kay has served on the following boards: MN Coalition for Death Education and Support, Struthers Parkinson’s Community Advisory and the Minneapolis Area Senior Workers Association. Published in Holiday Hope; Remembering Loved Ones During Special Times of the Year. She and her husband have three children.
Kelli Kinney
Kelli Kinney, MSW, LICSW, holds a Master of Social Work with an Area of Emphasis in Aging from St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas. Kelli worked as a hospice social worker for 10 years and most recently is an IDT Supervisor for Allina Hospice.
Kelli's interest in working with the aging population began during her undergraduate career as a research associate with the University of Northwestern, St. Paul's psychology department. Kelli assisted in conducting and presenting research on the topic of spirituality in the elder population at Stanford University in Stanford, CA and Macalester College in St Paul, MN. Through her career she has promoted and provided education on end-of-life not only to clients and families, but to others in the community including undergraduate nursing and social work students.
Kelli's interest in working with the aging population began during her undergraduate career as a research associate with the University of Northwestern, St. Paul's psychology department. Kelli assisted in conducting and presenting research on the topic of spirituality in the elder population at Stanford University in Stanford, CA and Macalester College in St Paul, MN. Through her career she has promoted and provided education on end-of-life not only to clients and families, but to others in the community including undergraduate nursing and social work students.
Christine Lewis
Christine Lewis, MSN, CNS, FT, is certified as a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in adult mental health, and is also certified in Thanatology (FT), which indicates credentialing as a grief counselor. For thirty years she worked for Hennepin County providing crisis intervention, therapy, and medication management. Chris also has a private psychotherapy practice, specializing in grief and trauma therapy and offering public speaking about related topics.
Andrea Tatley
Andrea Tatley holds a MDiv, in spiritual and personal formation. She has been in the field of grief and loss for 11 years through her work as a spiritual health provider and palliative care specialist. She has been a spiritual counselor for 20 yrs and as a writer and coach has authored a blog for 5 years, writing reflections on human formation, resilience and growth. Much of her coaching work focuses on nature-based therapy as it integrates with spirituality and in the use of creativity to lower stress and anxiety and process grief and loss. She appreciates time in the woods or by a lake with camera in hand, leading retreats and taking groups on heart-opening trips to sacred locations.
Tim Thorpe
Tim Thorpe is a business consultant working with organizations in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He was most recently the Executive Director of Pathways Health Crisis Resource Center, a non-profit, volunteer-sustained organization that provides programs and an environment designed to provide complementary therapy services and programs for people with life-threatening illness. He oversaw community relations & outreach, program & services development, and funding sustainability.
Thorpe’s career includes experience in for-profit business planning, marketing, and advertising executive with strong strategic, media ,and communications planning background. Throughout his career, he has built strong non-profit expertise through experiences with various organizations focused on social services, arts, education, youth, and elderly. This includes the development and monitoring of organization guidelines and governance, organization expansion, community relationship building, site visits, and marketing planning.
Thorpe’s career includes experience in for-profit business planning, marketing, and advertising executive with strong strategic, media ,and communications planning background. Throughout his career, he has built strong non-profit expertise through experiences with various organizations focused on social services, arts, education, youth, and elderly. This includes the development and monitoring of organization guidelines and governance, organization expansion, community relationship building, site visits, and marketing planning.
Florence Wright - Chair
Florence Wright, Florence Wright, MSW, LICSW, APHSW-C, is a clinical social worker and palliative care specialist who joined the MCDES Board of Directors in 2015 and is the current MCDES Chair. Florence earned her master's degree at the University of Saint Thomas/Saint Catherine University School of Social Work and completed the post-graduate Palliative Care Clinical Social Work Fellowship Program at MHealth. She enjoys teaching and regularly provides education to patients and families, medical staff, community members, and has presented at the state and national level. Florence’s clinical interests include coping with an illness, healthcare associated trauma, and medical ethics.
