Speakers

A grief counselor, trainer, consultant, and author, Robert has presented several hundred evening, daylong, and multi-day bereavement workshops and keynote addresses across the United States and Canada. His guest faculty positions have included Harvard University Medical School Cape Cod Seminars, Smith College School of Social Work Continuing Education programs, and Dalhousie University School of Social Work in Halifax, Canada. He also maintains a grief counseling, consulting, and training practice called Consulting for the Journey. Library Journal cited Rob’s book, The Journey Through Grief and Loss: Helping Yourself and Your Child When Grief Is Shared, published by St. Martin’s Press, as one of the four best books for grieving adults preparing for difficult conversations about death with their children. ("In this tender and compassionate book, social worker and bereavement specialist Zucker helps parents and children explore their grief with practical advice for the ongoing journey to healing." -Library Journal).

Joanne Cacciatore is an Associate Professor in the SSW at ASU. Her area of research and practice is traumatic grief. She founded the MISS Foundation, an international NGO that aids families whose children are dying or have died, in 1996. She also started the first restorative community for traumatic grief, Selah Carefarm, located in northern Arizona where grievers from around the world come for counseling in a natural setting, helping take care of more than 40 animals rescued from abuse, homelessness, and torture. She teaches a course on restorative spaces at the carefarm, featured in Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry's docuseries, The Me You Can't See, on AppleTV and served as a member of their mental health advisory team for the series.

Lee Harms was born and raised in Port Townsend Washington. He is a retired Army Chaplain with combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He first served in the United States Army for six years as a Hebrew Linguist, and then for another seventeen years as an Army Chaplain. He received a D.Min. from Erskine Theological Seminary, a Master’s degree from the Baltimore Hebrew University (Judaic Studies), and a Bachelor’s degree from BYU. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, and the Hebrew Course at the Defense Language Institute. Dr. Harms was the Distinguished Honor Graduate from the Army’s Chaplain Advanced Course. He completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and has worked as a supervisory Hospital Chaplain (Chaplain Senior Clinician). He has experience in Combat Ministry, Post Traumatic Healing and Growth, Hospital Ministry, Jewish History, and Hebrew Studies. He is married to the former Heidi Harper of Olympia, Washington. They have seven children and two grandchildren.