Gilly (pronounced Jilly), brings nearly three decades of experience in education, counseling, community work and volunteer management in schools and hospice to her position. She has spent her career working with children, teachers and mental health professionals in a variety of settings, including school leadership and JSSA Hospice. Gilly joined CaringMatters as a Good Grief Club volunteer facilitator in 2013, and was hired as the Director of Children's Bereavement Services in 2016.  She now holds the title, Senior Director of Children's Bereavement Services. In this role, Gilly directs the Good Grief Club Program - a peer support program for grieving students across grades K-12. Forty-two Good Grief Clubs were facilitated in schools in Montgomery County in the 2018-2019 school year. She advises schools after the death of a school community member and is a grief resource for families, school principals and counselors, pediatricians, social workers and other allied professionals. Gilly also facilitates groups as needed for grieving parents and teachers after a school community loss. 

 

Gilly has presented on children’s grief to holistic health providers, art educators, mental health professionals, school counselors, and physicians. She also connects many individuals and organizations needing support with grief resources. Using her experience in grief support, Gilly created and coordinates a community program for grieving children and their families called Bringing Books of Comfort. She was also quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on children orphaned by COVID-19, "A Toll of Coronavirus in New York is a New Group of Orphans." Read the article HERE. 

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A recent Washington Post column featured CaringMatters and Gilly's important work providing guidance to mental health professionals as they support grieving children and families during the pandemic. Read the Washington Post column HERE. 

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Gilly has a degree in education from The University of Cambridge, UK and a post-graduate certificate in counseling from the National UK Youth Agency. Originally from London, Gilly, her husband and 3 sons came to live in the USA in 2001.

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Contact Gilly at gillyc@caringmatters.org, 301-869-4673, ext. 108 or 301-990-8904 (direct).