Navigating the Season: Finding Peace Amidst Grief
Navigating the Season
Finding Peace Amidst Grief
Presented by Mary Fetchet, LCSW and Virginia Dwyer-Aoyama, LCSW
Wednesday, December 11th - 7:00pm EST
Grief is always painful, but sometimes with all the activity and expectations of the holiday season, it can feel more intense and difficult to manage.
VOICES is offering a virtual workshop to explore and discuss our personal experiences of loss this holiday season. The presentation will consider what makes the holidays difficult and ways of coping with the pain of grief. Participants will learn strategies to continue on the journey of hope and healing during the holiday season.
About the Presenters
Virginia Dwyer-Aoyama, LCSW
Virginia Dwyer-Aoyama, a licensed clinical social worker, joined the Voices staff in October 2021. She has over 30 years of experience providing individual, family and group therapy. Her particular focus includes loss and bereavement, trauma, substance abuse and addiction, and individual and family developmental issues.
She has worked with various social service agencies over the years providing counselling services and community workshops. For the past 10 years, Virginia developed and organized a weekly reading program for children with special needs and volunteered in a local soup kitchen and food pantry. Virginia has always been passionate about meeting people’s concrete needs for housing, education, and nutrition.
Virginia is a Chicago native and enjoys hiking, walking along the beach, and lively conversation.
Mary Fetchet, LCSW
Mary Fetchet is the Founding Director and President of Voices Center for Resilience (VOICES), formerly Voices of September 111th, an organization she co-founded following the death of her 24 year old son Brad in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Her unique background as a mother of a victim along with 30 years of expertise as a clinical social worker, influenced VOICES creation of a new paradigm in providing long-term support services that promote mental health care and resilience.
Using social work practices, she developed a wide array of innovative programs that provide continuity of care and promote resilience in the lives of those impacted. VOICES has served tens-of-thousands of victims’ families, survivors, responders, and families of those who have died of 9/11-related illnesses.
Ms. Fetchet is equally committed to leveraging VOICES over two decades of expertise to assist communities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from other tragedies. Working collaboratively with public-private partnerships in the United States and abroad, she shares lessons learned, provides training and conducts research. More recently she is creating VOICES Community Preparedness Training, A Victim-Centered Approach to Prepare for, Respond to, and Recover from Tragedy, a two-day training for community stakeholders that will be launched in September, 2023.
A strong advocate for victims’ rights and mental health care for victims’ families, responders and survivors, Ms. Fetchet provides a unique perspective on the long-term needs of those impacted by tragedy. As an advocate for public policy reforms to make the country safer, she was instrumental in advocating for the establishment of the 9/11 Commission which led to sweeping government intelligence reforms and testified on five occasions before the United States Congress and the 9/11 Commission. Ms. Fetchet has served on dozens of advisory boards including the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, INVICTM, the Family Steering Committee for the Establishment of the 9/11 Commission, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Ms. Fetchet is a co-author of several publications based on research findings from, “Investigating the Long-term Impact of Bereavement due to Terrorism.” As a pioneer in preparing communities, she led the creation of Preparing for After: How to Help Victims of Mass Violence and VOICES of Experience: Helping Communities Heal After Traumatic Events.
A 1994 graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW), Ms. Fetchet has received numerous awards for her work, including the induction into the Hall of Fame at Columbia University School of Social Work, ABC News Person of the Year, and NBC News Making a Difference.