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.
Audri Beugelsdijk
As the Vice President for TAPS Survivor Services, Audri oversees immediate and long-term survivor outreach, support, and resource and program development. She holds a Masters in Psychology and has advanced training in death, dying and bereavement through the Center for Loss & Life Transition and the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Through her dedication, Audri, a Navy veteran herself, honors the life of her first husband, CTRSN Jason Springer, USN.
Frank Campbell, PhD, LCSW, CT
Dr. Frank Campbell is the former Executive Director of the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center and the Crisis Center Foundation in Louisiana. He is currently the Senior Consultant for Campbell and Associates Consulting, where he works with communities on forensic suicidology cases. It was due to his more than 20 years of working with those bereaved by suicide that he introduced his Active Postvention Model (APM), most commonly known as the LOSS Team (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors). The model has now been replicated in countries as diverse as Australia, Singapore, Northern Ireland, Canada, and America. His work with survivors and victims of trauma has been featured in three Discovery Channel documentaries. Dr. Campbell received the Louis Dublin award at the 2010 American Association of Suicidology Conference. He is a past president of AAS and received the Roger J. Tierney Award for service. He was named Social Worker of the Year in Louisiana and was the first John W. Barton Fellow selected in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie Carroll is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer, the surviving spouse of Brigadier General Tom Carroll, a former staffer in the Reagan and Bush White Houses, and 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 C-12 plane crash on November 12, 1992.
Rev. Carla Cheatham, MA, MDiv, PhD, TRT
Rev. Dr. Cheatham began her career in psychosocial services with an MA in Psychology, certification in trauma therapy, PhD in Health & Kinesiology, and MDiv before working 10 years as an interfaith healthcare chaplain and bereavement coordinator. Carla is a national keynote speaker and consultant focusing on emotionally intelligent and resilient professionals and organizations, member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) Trauma-Informed End-of-Life Care Work Group, former Chair of NHPCO’s Ethics Advisory Council, and Assistant Professor for University of Maryland’s MS in Palliative Care. She publishes books and videos about healthy leadership and organizations, resilience, communication, boundaries, trauma-informed care, posttraumatic growth, grief, service recovery, emotionally competent professionals and teams, and more.
Blake Holbrook
Blake served in the United States Army Infantry from 2002 to 2005. With the 2nd Infantry Division, Blake was stationed on the DMZ between North and South Korea from 2003 to 2004. With the 1st Cavalry Division, he was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom and was stationed in Baghdad from 2004 to 2005. In his service, Blake was the recipient of the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, Paratrooper Wings, National Defense Ribbon, and the Iraq Campaign Medal. Coming home from war, Blake was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury and had many challenges transitioning to civilian life. After stints in three VA Psychiatric Wards and substance abuse rehabilitation, he found purpose in helping other veterans. He graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelors in English and Social Work. While in school, Blake worked for the university developing programs for veterans across the seven Texas State campuses. He moved on to supervise the Travis State Jail Veterans Dorm, a 13-week program for incarcerated veterans from across the state of Texas that educates participants about PTSD, substance abuse, and life skills. As the founder of VetRecOutdoors, Blake combines his previous work with his passion for the outdoors.
Session: Navigating Grief with Nature's Help
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 is a co-founder and an executive partner with The Satori Group, LLC, a national education, management, and consulting company focused in the area of grief and loss. He is the former CEO of The National Alliance for Grieving Children, Executive Director of The Amelia Center at Children’s of Alabama, and Director of Counseling Services for Hospice of Martin and St. Lucie (now Treasure Health) in South Florida. He is a trainer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He is the co-author of Understanding and Supporting Bereaved Children: A Practical Guide for Professionals.