Joan Hummel, LCSW, licensed clinical social worker, holds a master’s in social work from Eastern Washington University where she trained at the Spokane AIDS Network and Hospice of Spokane. She was drawn to the conversational nature of hospice – to the idea that hard things are made easier by giving voice to them. After moving to Denver, Joan spent six months as a hospice volunteer and nearly a year as a hospice field social worker before turning her attention to bereavement support. Since 1995, she has worked as a grief counselor for several Denver area hospice programs.
Joan practices a client-centered approach that recognizes each person’s unique style and set of life circumstances. Though loss is universal, our responses to loss are myriad and highly individual, and Joan combines creative counseling modalities with emerging neuroscience and centering practices for calming the often-overtaxed grieving nervous system.
Grieving forces us to slow down, and it can be a time of great questioning and meaning making. Joan aims to provide a safe space that honors the shape that takes for each client. She considers it a profound honor to be a support when people are making the time to stop, look inward, and give voice to their experiences after a major loss.
Joan enjoys walking, hiking, visiting national parks, seeing live music, participating in poetry salons with friends, and contemplating what a weed-free garden would look like. She counts herself most fortunate to have a young adult son who is a musician, a boyfriend who actually knows how to garden, and a cat who tolerates Joan’s lack of litterbox maintenance.