New Moderator Joins Grief Healing Discussion Groups

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mary Friedel-Hunt, MA, LCSW to assist me in administering and moderating our online Grief Healing Discussion Groups, beginning this week. Many have come to know Mary through her loving presence on our site these last three years, ever since she came to us as a new member following the death of her beloved husband Bill on March 27, 2010. As a skilled and accomplished psychotherapist intimately familiar with the challenges of care giving, loss, grief and transition, Mary is uniquely qualified to serve in this capacity, and I am thrilled that she is willing to take on this new role, as henceforth she is officially designated as a Counselor and Administrator on our Discussion Groups site. Please join me in welcoming Mary to her new position.

Below, Mary shares her thoughts:

Mary with her beloved Golden, Bentley

I am honored and humbled to be asked to take on a new role with the Grief Healing Discussion Groups. Having been a member here for almost three years, I have walked through (and will continue to walk through) my own grief, even as I have shared many of your journeys, especially those who participate in the spousal loss forum. Like you, I know grief well and have seen it not only as a source of deep pain but also a transformative agent in my life.

I am honored to work with and support Marty in the role of counselor/moderator. I have a long professional background in the mental health field working with a general population, many of whom were grieving losses of many kinds. I am also painfully yet gratefully familiar with personal loss and grief, most especially from having lost my beloved husband Bill just over three years ago, and having endured many other significant losses as well, including our first Golden Retriever Buffy in 2000 and five of my closest and dearest friends, both my parents, and others whom I love. Being a member of the Discussion Groups with everyone there and with Marty at the helm has taught me much about loss and grief, and it has informed my practice as a therapist as well.

In addition to my more than 37 years of experience doing psychotherapy with children and adolescents in residential treatment and with adults in my private practice, I have recently returned to my practice with a focus on bereavement counseling. In keeping with that, I have joined the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Over the past two years I have completed the course work needed to be certified in thanatology (CT), and will apply for and take the final exam in November 2014.

My profile with the Grief Healing Discussion Groups includes a more thorough presentation of my credentials and experience. In addition, I invite you to visit my private practice website, Personal Growth and Grief Support Center as well as my Facebook page. My private practice is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where I share our home with our Golden Retriever Bentley, a registered therapy dog with Pet Partners. As a moderator, I hope to use my own experience with significant loss, my skills as a therapist, and my compassion for the bereaved to help ease their way through grief.

Related Articles and Resources:

• Personal Growth and Grief Support Center
• The Empty Chair
• The Fire Circle of Healing
• The Labyrinth of Grief

© by Marty Tousley, CNS-BC, FT, DCC

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