about us

Jennifer came on board as the Outreach and Event Coordinator in the summer of 2018. Her passion and energy helped increase New Hope’s Reach and impact, leading to her taking on the position of interim, and then full Executive Director in January 2020.  This year, 2023, marks Jennifer’s fifth year as a New Hope team member. During this time, New Hope has extended its reach, serving more grievers with greater capacity by creating new loss-specific grief groups and new programs and reaching grievers in more geographic locations.  She was quick to recognize the impact of COVID and the burden of loss it created which demanded new and different kinds of peer groups and the use of Zoom technology to reach those who were not able to attend in person sessions.  She participates in the National Alliance for Children’s Grief online learning and webinars and other training. Jennifer sits on the following councils: Northville Community Cares, Ascension Community Health Advisory Committee, Community Mental Health Associations through St. Mary Mercy Hospital’s Let’s Continue the Conversation Committee.  She collaborates with either Wayne Western School Districts. She is a trained facilitator for The Leader in Me school programs.  She developed and led training for The Seven Habit of Highly Successful Families for Marine Elementary School. Additionally, Hegira Health invited her to present at the Focus on Zero suicide prevention conference, moderating their celebrity panel. Like other staff and volunteers, she received Trauma Information Training and QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Crisis Training. 

Jen spends part of her time training other organizations’ team members on how to support those in grief. She is also helping to create and implement curriculum to support grieving students based on their developmental stages. She has seen firsthand those who have come through out program in turn create a safe environment for new grievers and positively influence the way our society responds to grief.