By LINN ANN HUNTINGTON
Special to Hays Post
The Healing Hearts Grief Support Group will have a special guest speaker at its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18.
The meeting will be in the new Hays Senior Center location inside the Schmidt Community Center, 2510 Canterbury Dr. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. Attendees are asked to use the south entrance. The meeting is free and open to the public.
Kenneth Windholz, a clinical psychiatrist, will speak on the topic “Visitation Dreams.” Windholz teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the Psychology Department at Fort Hays State University. He has authored book chapters and articles on neuropsychology. He has served as the president of the Kansas Association of Masters in Psychology, president of Directors for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Kansas, and serves as the faculty sponsor for NAMI on the FHSU campus.
Dr. Kate McGonigal, the Healing Hearts group facilitator, said Windholz’s appearance is a celebration of the “new beginning” for Healing Hearts. It did not meet while the Senior Center was relocating to its new home. The group will continue meeting at 6:30 the third Thursday night of each month in its new home, she said.
Healing Hearts is a grief support group for adults who have lost a loved one. McGonigal said, “We want anyone who is experiencing grief to join us for one meeting, or for however meetings they wish, as they navigate the road to coping with the death of someone they loved. We focus on healing and coping from close personal losses.”
McGonigal is an associate professor of sociology at Fort Hays State University, where she has taught since 2004. She teaches the Death & Dying class at FHSU, with an emphasis on caregivers and caregiving.
More information about the Healing Hearts group is available by contacting her at [email protected].