Blog

She received the Canadian Association of Teacher Education (2021) thesis and dissertation award for her work’s contribution to teacher education. Using her skills and expertise for service, she created and led numerous Grief and Writing Through Grief workshops for educators and bereavement support centers across North America. Apart from being an educator, she is a writer at heart and has released two books based on her doctoral dissertation: Life: To Be Given Back Again to Whence It Came and the companion stories The Revelations of Eapen.

Links:

Book 1: “Life: To Be Given Back Again to Whence It Came” – A dissection of prolonged grief, cultural grief illiteracy, the healing power of rituals and communal grieving, and an analysis of the impact of expressive storytelling on bereavement can be viewed here: http://www.diopress.com/life

Book 2: “The Revelations of Eapen” – The author’s intimate exploration of eastern and western cultural interactions with the phenomenon of grief before, during, and after her father’s death can be viewed here: http://www.diopress.com/revelations-of-eapen

Academic Article: “Braiding western and eastern cultural rituals in bereavement: An autoethnography of healing the pain of prolonged grief” – https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2021.1983158

His research, advocacy, and consultation have resulted in the development of first- time music therapy programs in hospices throughout the nation, thereby creating many new music therapy positions. He is the author of the text, Hospice and Palliative Care Music Therapy: A Guide to Program Development and Clinical Care, and his research has been published in a wide variety of scholarly journals. He also wrote a chapter titled, Music and Grief Work with Children and Adolescents, in a book titled Creative Interventions with Traumatized Children, edited by Cathy A. Malchiodi. Dr. Hilliard has provided keynote addresses for healthcare conferences and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences worldwide.