NACG Board of Directors

The story of why I chose NAGC starts with my mom dying when I was 15 years old. My hometown did not have a children’s bereavement center, and for so many years, even after I sought professional and familial support, I felt alone in my grief. I knew that grieving kids needed more support. As a young professional, I began to volunteer with organizations for grieving children and decided to leave the law in order to pursue this passion. As the Executive Director of The Uplift Center for Grieving Children in Philadelphia, my job is my passion as we help provide free grief support to the children in the City of Philadelphia.

My life was transformed in a MA in Counseling Psychology program that emphasized personal storytelling and grief work as a primary means to healing and growth. Though my mind and heart were primed for the work ahead, I could not have predicted a career in youth and family bereavement support. Through a friend and a good bit of luck, though, I was hired as a program coordinator in a Seattle-based hospice grief support program during my final year of grad school. After almost four years in that role, I transitioned to the Eluna Network (formerly The Moyer Foundation) to oversee the national Camp Erin network.

When I joined TMF’s staff, I became a member of NAGC and attended my first Symposium in Orland, FL, in 2012. I was new on the job and had no idea the amazing community I was (literally) about to dance my way into. NAGC educational offerings and my relationships with NAGC members around the country have elevated my work and provided me with a smart, caring, fun, and growing crew of colleagues – a necessity to sustain each of us in this field. I am a better human and provider because of NAGC. My gratitude is BIG! I am honored give back and help with the work of creating welcoming, relevant spaces for learning, connection, and best practices development for supporting our communities. We are better together!

Brennan Wood
NAGC Board Secretary
Executive Director, The Dougy Center
(Portland, OR)

I had no idea the impacts of childhood bereavement before I came to work for the Center for Grieving Children in Portland Maine over ten years ago. Now I realize that was a direct result of our cultures difficulty talking about grief and supporting those who our grieving. When I thought about the children and families I had served over the years, almost all had been grieving. I had lacked the knowledge and skills to truly help. These are the same skills and knowledge—deep listening, respect for others experience and the trust that people can heal when they have the support they need—that can and must be applied in all our work alongside others for healing and change. That is why I am a part of the NAGC.

Tina Barrett, EdD
NAGC Immediate Past Board President
Executive Director, Tamarack Grief Resource Center
(Missoula, MT)

Tashel Bordere, PhD, FT
Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science and State Extension Specialist
University of Missouri-Columbia (Columbia, MO)

My work in the field of children’s grief has been and continues to be inspired by my own family. I have seen what children’s grief looks like, what happens when there is no support and how isolating it can be. Before the age of 8, my 5 year old cousin and my aunt both died within a year of one another. I grew up alongside my cousins and while dealing with my own grief, I watched them try to deal with theirs while no outside support in the language spoken at home was available.

While in graduate school, I was able to tour Bo’s Place, a grief and bereavement center in Houston, here I knew that grief and bereavement work would be a part of me. Years later, I am fortunate to be a staff member at Bo’s Place and it has been through our work that I became introduced to the NAGC. I firmly believe that no child should have to grieve alone and the NAGC provides a network for all those working towards that goal.

I have seen the maladaptaions that have emerged in adults because of the lack of resources tha were not available when they sustained a loss as a child. All children must have an opportunity to grieve since grieving is part of the process of living. I am particularly cognizant of the losses to children from racial and ethnic communities. Our moral compass must guide us in assuring that there are safe places for healthy grieving to happen.

Allison Gilbert
Author, Speaker

The month I turned 7, three days after Christmas, my Dad died of a heart attack in the early morning hours. It was very sudden, he had not been ill, and my Mom and eight siblings and I, after the shock wore off, were devastated.

I remember sitting on the stairs with my 8 year old sister, giggling and playing, confused by all the commotion in the house. We had no understanding of what had happened, and the adults around us (being stoic, Irish Catholics), thought it best to not dwell on his absence, but to just keep on going. It wasn't that we weren't allowed to talk about him, I think we all just did not want to upset our Mom, so I don't recollect there being much conversation about him over the years.

As I got older, I heard more about him from relatives, and my brothers and sisters started to share stories, funny, sad, and touching. I started to get a picture of who he was to them.

I felt like I did not know my Dad at all, and that void did much to shape who I was to become, in ways both positive and negative. It was when I became a teenager that I felt the pain of his absence most acutely. I know it greatly impacted all my brothers and sisters as well.

For years, until I was about 12 or 13, I would slip away every weekday evening at 6 pm, and run to the train station right behind our house, because I was sure my Dad was going home to another family every night... In talking with my siblings as adults, I recognize that we all have very different recollections of our childhood, and how our grief took us all in different directions.

I was 22 when my Mother was dying of cancer, and had the gift of caring for her in her last months. In my early 30s I became a hospice nurse. I felt like I had ended up in the best place possible. I knew something of what these families were going through, and believed I could help them at the worst times in their lives. I had found my purpose, my passion.

About 4 years ago, through my work with VITAS, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the NAGC... what an incredible organization. Here was what had been missing when my family and I were younger. Here was a group of individuals and organizations from around the country, committed to providing hope and healing for bereaved teens and children across the country.

I am so proud to be a Board member of the NAGC, and salute the important work they do and their dedication to kids who need to understand and work through their grief, so that they can live the best life possible. I am hopeful that my participation will advance the mission and promote awareness of the wonder that is the NAGC.

I’ve been in the death-care profession for over 50 years. Knowing now that 1 out of 5 children in North America are grieving based upon the loss of someone that is very close and significant in their lives, I am hopeful that I’m able to better connect those in my profession with regard to how very important it is to have the appropriate conversation with children’s parents. It is critical to understand the importance of reaching out to bereavement counselors in their communities as well as supporting the wonderful efforts of NAGC.

I believe the world is driven by unresolved grief. Serving on the Board of Trustees of the National Alliance for Grieving Children provides me the opportunity to be of service and work towards our vision of ensuring that no child grieves alone. This will only be accomplished through education and advocacy on behalf of all grieving children and teens. I know of no organization like the NAGC working so hard and so effectively to create a world where children coping with loss grow up emotionally healthy and able to lead meaningful and productive lives. These children will be the next generation of healers for bereaved youth.

Jim Santucci, CPA
Executive Director
Kara (Palo Alto, CA)

Blair Thompson, MDiv
Managing Director
Children’s Bereavement Center (San Antonio, TX)