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Facilitator - Prescott, AZ Heidi’s education and professional background are in the human services field, working with individuals with disabilities and with their families. After her son, Liam, died in 2002, she became aware of the lack of formal support services available to bereaved families, which could address child loss in a meaningful way. Heidi soon found the MISS Foundation’s Prescott support group as well as its website forums, which provided a safe and much needed outlet for her grief. “When parents suddenly find themselves on this difficult road of grief for their child, they need the support of others who can speak their language and listen with care to the stories that honor their child’s memory; both the happy and the sad, the sweet and the unimaginable. MISS provides that support, helping to soothe some of the feelings of emptiness and isolation that bereaved families often live with from day to day”. Heidi first attended MISS’ annual bereavement conference in 2003 and was inspired to reach out to other bereaved parents as they had extended support to her. She began volunteering with MISS later that year, providing peer support and facilitating its Prescott support group. “Even as I become more ‘seasoned’ in my grief, volunteering with MISS remains important to me—perhaps now in a more altruistic way—but also because it is my way of honoring Liam’s memory and the memory of all the children whose lives continue to have meaning.” Heidi also has 2 living children, 19 and 15 who have been involved with the “KISS” program (Kids in Sympathy and Support) at previous MISS’ conferences. |
