Featured Speakers
Featured Speakers
During the seminar, you will have the opportunity to hear from national experts in grief, trauma, health and wellness and more. Below is a list of the speakers and presenters who will be in attendance.
Make sure to also download the TAPS Events app. Recommended session schedules for different grief programming and speaker information are all built into the easy-to-navigate app.
Kim Burditt, MSW
Kim has been with TAPS since January 2013, when she joined the Survivor Care Team to provide outreach to military suicide loss survivors. Kim is currently the Senior Manager of Programs and Trainings for TAPS Suicide Postvention, where she is responsible for the programming, planning, content development, and execution of a wide range of events, retreats, trainings and reunions, including TAPS’ annual suicide survivor seminar. Kim is a certified ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) Trainer, has a B.S. in communications and a master's degree in social work. Prior to TAPS she provided older adult suicide prevention trainings around the state of Massachusetts. After the suicide death of her only sibling, USMC veteran Jon Hoffman, in 2010, Kim’s heart is in caring for and walking alongside all loss survivors and those who care for them, especially those touched by suicide.
Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie Carroll is the President and Founder of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the leading national Military Service Organization providing comfort, care, and resources to all those grieving the death of a military loved one. Ms. Carroll founded TAPS following the death of her husband in an Army plane crash. She is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer, and she has served in the White House under three Presidents.
Frank Campbell, PhD, LCSW, CT
Dr. Frank Campbell is the Executive Director Emeritus of the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, where he is developing the first National Training Center for Suicidology. He is also Senior Consultant for Campbell and Associates Consulting where he consults with communities on Active Postvention efforts and Forensic Suicidology cases. During his more than thirty years of working with those bereaved by suicide he introduced his Active Postvention Model (APM) in 1997 it is most commonly known as the LOSS Team (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors). His work with survivors and victims of trauma has been featured in three discovery channel documentaries, multiple professional journals, and several book chapters. Frank has been a consultant to TAPS for years, beginning with the very first National Military Suicide Survivor Seminar in 2009.
General Martin E. Dempsey, U.S. Army (Ret)
General Dempsey retired as the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September 2015, after previously serving as the Army’s 37th Chief of Staff. Past assignments have taken him and his family across the globe during both peace and war from platoon leader to combatant commander. He is a 1974 graduate of the United States Military Academy and a career armor officer. General Dempsey’s awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star with “V” Device and Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Action Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. In addition to his Master's degree in English, he holds Masters' degrees in Military Arts and National Security Studies. Dempsey now brings his extensive leadership qualities to the Chairmanship of USA Basketball. Elected to the post by the board of directors, Dempsey will lead USA Basketball through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. General Dempsey and his high school sweetheart, Deanie, have three children who each have served in the U.S. Army. They have nine wonderful grandchildren. General Dempsey is a member of the TAPS Board of Directors.
Jill Harrington-LaMorie, DSW, LCSW
Dr. Harrington-LaMorie is in private practice in the greater Washington, D.C., area, where she works as an adjunct professor, grief educator, trainer, writer, and consultant. She is the creator and lead Editor of a new, novel, and creative grief and loss textbook, published by Routledge, entitled Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of the Loss. The book is the first of its kind to explore theories, concepts, creative practices as well as lived stories from the bereaved using modern-day superhero narratives. Dr. Harrington is also a surviving spouse, TAPS volunteer, and proud parent of two adult children.
Erin Jacobson
Erin serves as the Director of Adult Programs for TAPS. Within the past decade, Erin has built transformative programming within the retreat and seminar programs with an emphasis in women's empowerment, art, mindfulness and nature based healing. At the heart of her workshops and programs is the desire to create spaces where survivors can feel safe to explore the difficult questions surrounding identity and purpose after loss. Erin resides in the Pacific Northwest and is the surviving partner of Army Ranger Corporal Jason Kessler. Along with a degree in counseling, her educational background includes nonprofit leadership, religious studies and art history.
Session: Love Lives On Closing
Jennifer Keeling
As Senior Coordinator of TAPS Suicide Prevention & Postvention, Jennifer coordinates postvention projects like the TAPS National Military Suicide Survivor Seminar, Home Hase Intensive Clinical Programs, and psychological autopsies. Since losing her husband of 17 years, 1SG Ronald Keeling in 2009, Jennifer has had a desire to support and care for all loss survivors by walking alongside them on their grief journeys.
Don Lipstein
Don Lipstein is the surviving father of Navy MA2 Joshua Lipstein, who died by suicide in 2011 while serving on active duty for five years in the U.S. Navy. Josh was 23 and the eldest of Don's three children. Don reached out to TAPS almost immediately after Joshua's suicide and was able to find hope and healing through the connections he made. He joined the TAPS team in 2012 as part of the Peer Mentor Team overseeing suicide survivor connections, recruitment, and training. Since 2016, Don has reached out to fathers and male survivors in his role with the Survivor Care Team, where he offers support by sharing his experiences and offering care, strength, and hope.
Andy McNiel, MA
Andy is the Senior Advisor of Youth Programs for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Andy is an author and trainer on topics related to grief, bereavement, and end-of-life. He has been an advocate for healthy children, teenagers, and families throughout his career. He brings his dedication and expertise to TAPS, where he oversees, develops, and facilitates programming for young military survivors. He is co-founder and executive partner of The Satori Group, LLC, a national education, management, and consulting company that provides education, content development, training, and consultation in grief and loss. His leadership has guided the National Alliance for Grieving Children, the Amelia Center at Children's of Alabama, and Hospice of Martin and St. Lucie in South Florida. Andy is a trainer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; a member of the International Workgroup on Death, Dying, and Bereavement; and he previously served on the Board of Directors for the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Andy holds an M.A. in counseling and a B.A. in religion.
Melinda Moore, Ph.D.
Dr. Melinda Moore is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. She is in private practice in Lexington, Kentucky, and routinely trains clinicians in suicide-focused treatment. Dr. Moore serves on the board of the American Association of Suicidology as the chair of the Clinical Division and is the co-lead of the National Action Alliance’s Faith Communities Task Force. She recently published The Suicide Funeral: Honoring their Memory, Comforting their Survivors (Wipf & Stock) with her co-author Rabbi Dan Robert. She conducts suicide bereavement research at Eastern Kentucky University with an emphasis on Posttraumatic Growth (www.posttraumaticgrowth.com). She received her Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America.
Kim Ruocco, MSW
Kim Ruocco develops comprehensive, peer-based programs that offer comfort and care to all those who are grieving the loss of a service member to suicide. Kim also provides suicide prevention education and is an internationally renowned speaker, providing trainings to both military and civilian audiences. Kim is a military widow; her husband, Marine Major John Ruocco, was a decorated Marine Cobra helicopter pilot who died by suicide in 2005 while preparing for a second Iraq combat deployment. She holds a bachelor's degree in Human Services and a master's degree in Clinical Social Work.
Carla Stumpf Patton, EDD, LMHC, NCC, FT, CCTP
Dr. Stumpf Patton serves as the Senior Director of Suicide Prevention & Postvention Programs at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), where she oversees programs and services provided to military community members and families after a suicide loss. She is a suicidologist and subject matter expert in the areas of grief, trauma, and suicide prevention, intervention, and Postvention, is a registered ASIST trainer in suicide first aid, and is trained in Psychological Autopsy Investigations and Crisis Response Planning. Dr. Stumpf Patton holds a B.S. in Psychology, an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Guidance Counseling, and a Doctorate of Education in Counseling Psychology. Her dissertation research focused on military families bereaved by suicide, and was a key contributor in the development of the TAPS Suicide Prevention Model™. Dr. Stumpf Patton is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a Certified Fellow Thanatologist, a National Certified Counselor, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, a Florida Qualified Supervisor, and a counseling educator in higher academia. She is the surviving spouse of Sergeant Richard Stumpf, an Active Duty U.S. Marine Corps Drill Instructor and Gulf War Era Combat Veteran who died by suicide in 1994, several days before their only child was born. She is remarried to a retired U.S. Marine, who was also a suicide survivor widower, with whom she shares five children.