Kat Hurley, LCSW

Good Grief!
There are over 40 types of grief, and most people experience many in a lifetime.
It isn’t possible to make it to adulthood without loss.
But no one prepares us to handle it.
We know how to feel when you are expecting a baby – but not what the emotions will be when expecting a death. That’s what I’m here for. Consider me your personal grief guide, specializing in bereavement, anticipatory grief, end of life, medical crisis and life transitions counseling.

I fell in love with grief work at Trader Joe’s. I was a professional dancer for 17 years before becoming a therapist, and I loved every second of it. In my mid-thirties, my body begged me to find a new career. While figuring out what direction to go for graduate school, I worked at Trader Joe’s.
My boss asked me if I would take the flowers left at the end of the day and donate them to the new hospice facility down the street. When I first heard the word hospice, I imagined the stink of urine and despair. “Sounds awful,” I thought. “No thanks.”
When he told me they were giving tours of the new facility and that I could take one while on the clock after I dropped off the flowers, I weighed my options: 1) freezing my butt off stocking fish in the freezer, OR 2) take a tour of this hospice place. I went on the tour.
Without hyperbole, that choice changed my life. I got to meet families who had used the hospice, and it was nothing like I thought – not dark and depressing with everyone using hushed tones and wearing black with lots of hand wringing and tearing of Kleenex. Instead…
It was “Love, Actually.”
Remember that movie? There is an opening montage of people saying hello and goodbye at the airport, back when you could do that. Everyone focused on love. The little fights, daily injuries of intimate relationships, and ups and downs were all forgotten in service of what mattered most: the love, the people, and the relationships.
Hospice was like that. The families talked about healing and coming together to participate in facilitated conversations to help say words like “Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you. I love you.” I signed up on the spot to become a family support volunteer.
I learned from the therapist working at the grief center about post-traumatic growth, meaning-making, and continuing bonds. I wanted to do more, so I volunteered as a facilitator for adult and adolescent bereavement groups.
I was hooked and attended Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service, which included an advanced year of Palliative Care Fellowship.
Credentials, Training and Experience
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Advanced Grief Recovery Method Specialist, and Certified Advanced Palliative and Hospice Social Worker. After my master’s degree, I pursued a second fellowship in palliative care at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY.
I was a faculty preceptor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Columbia University School of Medicine. Topics included breaking bad news, interdisciplinary communication, Ready4Residency, de-escalating highly emotional interactions, bioethics, and the Objective Structured Clinical Exams.
At Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service, I guest lectured on grief, loss, palliative care, social work, and improvisation for health care professionals. I love presenting, and some of my favorite topics include Modern Grief Education, Children’s Grief, Talking to Children About Death, Palliative Care, Hospice, Meaning Making from Loss, Boundaries, Burnout, and Trauma Stewardship.
I authored a chapter on De-escalating Highly Emotional or Potentially Violent Situations in the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Care Social Work, 2nd Edition.