Presenter: Darcie Sims, Ph.D
Darcie D. Sims, Ph.D., CHT, CT,
GMS is a bereaved parent and child, a grief management specialist,
a nationally certified thanatologist, a certified pastoral bereavement
specialist, and a licensed psychotherapist and hypnotherapist.
She is the author of Why Are the Casseroles Always Tuna?, Footsteps
Through the Valley, Touchstones and If I Could Just See Hope.
She co-authored A Place For Me: A Healing Journey for Grieving
Kids, Footsteps Through Grief, The Other Side of Grief and Finding
Your Way Through Grief with her daughter, Alicia Sims Franklin.
She also wrote and produced the videos Handling the Holidays and
What Color is Dead: Death From A Child’s View as well as
authored numerous chapters in professional books and textbooks.
Darcie is featured in the award-winning video series “Good
Grief” produced by Iowa Public Television and has been featured
in several other videos as well.
She is an internationally recognized speaker and
was Coping Editor for Bereavement magazine for 15 years. She is
now an editor for Grief Digest. She served on the national board
of directors for The Compassionate Friends, the national board
of directors for the Association of Death Education and Counseling
and the board of trustees for the National Catholic Ministry to
the Bereaved. Darcie received The Compassionate Friends Professional
Award in 1999. She co-chaired the 1991,1996 and 2005 World Gathering
on Bereavement, and keynoted at all 4 World Gatherings.
Darcie is president and co-founder of GRIEF, Inc.
a grief consulting business and the Director of the American Grief
Academy in Seattle, Washington. She is a Diplomate in the American
Psychotherapy Association, a Certified Diplomate in Clinical Hypnotherapy
and is listed in Who’s Who in America, The World Who's Who
of Women and The International Who's Who of Professional and Business
Women.
Presenter: Matt Williams, PC
Matt Williams is currently the Spiritual Director
and Adult Program Coordinator for Cornerstone of Hope Bereavement
Center, in Independence, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. He
is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the State of Ohio, is
Certified in Thanatology and in Grief Counseling and is also an
Ordained Minister with the Church of God, whose national office
is in Anderson, Indiana. He has nearly 20 years of experience
in Bereavement Care/Grief therapy, crisis intervention, hospice
and pastoral ministry.
His passion is working with those who are grieving
by leading support groups and providing one to one grief therapy/counseling
services. Although, he has the professional qualifications that
assist him he helping others, it is the deaths of his sister,
Barbara, and his father, Lee, that fuels his passions for helping
others cope with the death of a loved one. It is his love and
passion for companioning the grieving, his personal life experiences
and training that helps confirm his life’s call every day.
He fells extremely fortunate to do what he loves to do. Matt also
enjoys counseling with men & women who are either married
or who are about to be married and small group ministry development.
Matt is a frequent speaker and presenter to various
organizations around the Cleveland area, doing seminars/presentations
to groups of all kinds on grief, stress management and other topics.
He also enjoys assisting churches in developing a bereavement
care ministry within their parishes and helping them in their
ongoing ministry training needs. Matt has written several articles
for various kinds of publications and is currently writing his
first book on comfort.
