INTERNATIONAL FAMILY GRIEF CONSULTATION 2020

Dr. Doka is a Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America. A prolific author, Dr. Doka has authored or edited over 40 books and over 100 articles and book chapters. Dr. Doka is editor of both Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying and Journeys: A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement.

Dr. Doka was elected President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling in 1993. In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as chair from 1997-1999. ADEC presented him with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Death Education in 1998. In 2000 Scott and White presented him an award for Outstanding Contributions to Thanatology and Hospice. His Alma Mater Concordia College presented him with their first Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is a recipient of the Caring Hands Award as well as the Dr. Robert Fulton CDEB Founder’s Award. Both ADEC and IWG honored him with Lifetime Achievement Awards. In 2006, Dr. Doka was grandfathered in as a Mental Health Counselor under NY State’s first licensure of counselors.

Plenary Session: Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrow

Dr. Mary L.S. Vachon is currently a Registered Psychotherapist in private practice; an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and Clinical Consultant at Wellspring, of which she is a co-founder. Dr. Vachon is also a nurse, sociologist, author and cancer survivor who has given over 1,600 lectures around the world on issues related to occupational stress, cancer, bereavement, survivorship, spirituality and compassion. She has authored over 200 publications including the chapter on “The Emotional Care of the Dying Person” for the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine and has written the chapters on occupational stress in oncology, supportive and palliative care specialists in several leading international textbooks for physicians, nurses and other health professionals.

Dr. Vachon is the recipient of many awards including: the Mara Morgenson Flaherty Lectureship of the Oncology Nursing Society for Excellence in Psychosocial Oncology in 1985; the Carmelita Lawlor Lectureship in Community Palliative Care, University of Toronto, 1995; the Dorothy Ley Award for Excellence in Palliative Care received from the Ontario Palliative Care Association in 1997; an Alumnae Achievement Award from Massachusetts General Hospital Nurses’ Alumnae Association, 1998; the National Hospice and Palliative Care, Distinguished Researcher Award, 2001; the Lifetime Achievement Award of The International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 2008; and the Herman Feifel Award of the International Workgroup in Death, Dying and Bereavement, 2018, for outstanding contributions to the field of thanatology.

Plenary Session: Attachment, Empathy and Compassion in the Care of the Bereaved

Ms. Ishii is a family therapist and a trainer specializing in loss and grief in Japan. She received her Master of Science degree in Marital and Family Therapy from Butler University, USA. She is an approved supervisor and a fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). She is also a member of International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG) and a core member of Japan Disaster Grief Support (JDGS) Project. Some of her publication include Ambiguous Loss and Family Resilience: A new approach to disaster support (2019, in Japanese), Trauma and Ambiguous Loss: The lingering presence of the physically absent that can be found in Traumatic Stress and Long-Term Recovery: Coping with disasters and other negative life events (2015, in English), The Language of Grief in Today’s Japan (1996, in English) and Psychological First Aid Training After Japan’s Triple Disaster (2013, in English).

Plenary Session: Ambiguous Loss and Family Resilience

Fr. Ramon is a Filipino Jesuit priest. He has a doctorate in Ignatian spirituality from the University of London, UK. He is currently a lecturer and resource person at Loyola School of Theology (Ataneo de Manila University). Fr. Ramon is a very experienced retreat director and offers spiritual direction and formation to Jesuits, religious and lay persons. He sees dealing with loss and grieving as a necessary process in spiritual direction, counseling and formation work. He is author of several books on Ignatian spirituality. His third book "Wood for the Fire" encompasses prayer exercises to help readers process their grief experiences for a deeper healing.

Plenary Session: Loss, Grief, Healing and Faith