Centering Compassion Series | Supporting Staff and Volunteers in Challenging Times

Join us for a meaningful session in our Centering Compassion Series, focused on Supporting Staff and Volunteers in Challenging Times. Executive Directors from four childhood bereavement organizations across the country will come together to share how they lead with compassion, transparency, and adaptability. Whether you’re supervising staff, coordinating volunteers, or shaping organizational culture, this panel offers honest reflection and practical ideas for supporting your team with empathy and intention—sustaining those who make the mission possible every day.

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Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

Centering Compassion Series:

• Mourning in Conflict: Navigating Ethical and Value Clashes in Bereavement
• Light on the Dark Side of the Street: Living Well in a Loss and Trauma World
• Holding Space for Ourselves: Cultivating Self-Compassion in Grief Support Work
• This webinar – Supporting Staff and Volunteers in Challenging Times

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Tina Barrett is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Tamarack Grief Resource Center in Montana. A licensed counselor, Barrett’s commitment to excellence in grief and trauma care is matched by her profound commitment to healthy organizations and setting teams up for success. Weaving stories from over 30 years of experiences as an Executive Director, Board Member, staff member, supervisor, supervisee, and volunteer, she is committed to strengths-oriented care and healthy, effective workplaces. Dr. Barrett’s workshops pull from her work in schools, hospitals, private practice, group homes, treatment centers, and nonprofits and the clients and colleagues she’s had the honor of working alongside. She serves on the Leadership Team for Project Tomorrow Montana, the Presidents’ Circle for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG), and the Advisory Board for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Barrett received the Community Educator Award from the Association for Death Educators and Counselors (ADEC) in 2019. She is delighted and honored to be a part of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief.

Deirdra Flavin, MSc, CFRE, (moderator) is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG), a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the needs of children who are grieving and providing education and resources to those who support them. With over twenty years of experience in nonprofit leadership, marketing, and development, Deirdra’s career has centered on advancing social impact and fostering meaningful connections within communities. Deirdra joined the NACG in 2019 as the National Marketing and Development Director, and her work is focused on driving organizational growth, enhancing organizational recognition, and fostering collaboration, which has resulted in increased resources and support for the organization’s programs and initiatives. Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, Deirdra held senior roles in marketing and sales, where she gained extensive experience in strategic planning, relationship management, and achieving measurable results. Her ability to translate corporate strategies into mission-driven successes has defined her work in the nonprofit world, where she blends business acumen with a deep commitment to creating meaningful change. A native of Cork, Ireland, Deirdra holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters Degree in Marketing Management from University College Cork. In 2021, she earned her Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) credential. Deirdra resides in Virginia with her husband and three children.

Annette R. March-Grier, RN., C.F.S.P., is a native Baltimorean, and Vice President of a family business; March Funeral Homes located in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia. She is a registered nurse, a mortician and the visionary of Roberta’s House Inc., a non-profit Family Grief Support Center founded in 2007, by the March family in honor of their matriarch, Julia Roberta March. Annette is the President, and has lead the way for grief education and support for grieving children and families in Baltimore for more than 38 years. A teacher, counselor, trainer and leader, with her compassionate staff, provides a safe place for children and adults to heal and recover from the death of someone close. Roberta’s House provides trauma informed care and addresses grief as a public health service through education and over 15 peer support programs. Children, adults, and families suffering the loss or death of a loved one receive support and a safe place to heal and recover. To date Roberta’s House has provided support services to more than 10,000 children and adults and trained over 800 community volunteers that support their programs. Roberta’s House conducts grief support programs for individuals of all ages and types of death losses as well as professional workshops for the community. It is the first bereavement center to be founded by African Americans in the U.S. to address the inequities for people of color with grief and mental health resources. In January of 2021, March-Grier fundraised and successfully completed the construction of the first bereavement center in Baltimore Maryland to serve children and families. The center is located on the same landmark that her parents operated the funeral home from 1957-1980. The 22,000 square foot facility is a state of the art bereavement center that is one of a kind in the US to provide bereavement care and counseling for the underserved and people of color.

Annette is a recipient of numerous awards and achievements. She received the National Caring Award in October, 2016 which includes her induction into the Caring Hall of Fame located in the Frederick Douglas Museum on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. In addition, she was selected by CNN, the world leader in news, as one of the top ten CNN heroes, 2014 for changing the world.

Debbie Meyer, MNM, has an extensive background in leading nonprofits as the present executive director of Erin’s House for Grieving Children for the past 17 years. Debbie is a proud board member and current board president for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG).

Debbie is an adjunct lecturer in nonprofit courses for Huntington University, Purdue University, and Arizona State University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Indiana Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from the University of Central Florida. In her spare time, she loves to read, travel, shop, and cheer on Notre Dame football with her family.

Fun facts:

• Erin’s House and Debbie are a featured chapter in American Spirit by Taya Kyle and Jim DeFelice, 2019 – Pages 164-172.
• Debbie was also the marketing director for a winning Indianapolis 500 race car driver, Eddie Cheever.
• Erin’s House was recently featured in the Peacock documentary “Here Come the Irish” with Coach Marcus Freeman, in August 2024.

Brennan Wood has served as the Executive Director of Dougy Center: The National Grief Center for Children & Families based in Portland, Oregon since 2015, where she has been on staff in various roles since 2004. Brennan’s professional background and expertise are grounded in fundraising, strategic planning, organizational development, and capacity building. She is the author of, A Kids Book About Grief and is a member of the National Advisory Council for the COVID Collaborative as well as the Advisory Council for Hidden Pain. She was the 2020 Light-a-Fire Award Extraordinary Executive Director and a 2022 Women of Influence Award recipient. Brennan is passionate about Dougy Center’s mission to provide grief support, resources, training, and community response to children, teens, young adults, and their families who are grieving before and after a death, and those who support them. Brennan walked through the doors of Dougy Center for the first time in 1987 when her mother, Doris, died three days after she had turned 12-years-old. Her experience in a peer support group at Dougy Center shaped her life and she has strived to provide the same opportunity that she had to other children and families who are grieving in her community, across the country, and around the world ever since. Under Brennan’s leadership, Oregon Business named Dougy Center as a “Best Nonprofit to Work For” for the past six years, and local CEOs voted Dougy Center as a “Most Admired Company” for the past four. Since becoming Executive Director, Brennan has championed Dougy Center’s commitment to equity and inclusion and has brought innovative partnerships, programs, and resources to the field of childhood bereavement. Brennan is committed to making the world a more grief-informed place where we all can acknowledge grief as a natural and normal response to loss that is interwoven into a sociocultural context.