ABOUT MAUREEN

Maureen Pollard

A Registered Social Worker, Maureen Pollard obtained a Bachelor of Social Work degree in 1992 and has been working in the field of social work with families and children for more than thirty-four years. She obtained a Master of Social Work degree in 2011, a Teacher/Trainer of Adults certificate in 2013 and a Culturally Inclusive Educator certificate in 2019. Maureen obtained a certificate in Music Integrated Therapy in 2022. Maureen is a member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, the Ontario Association of Social Workers, Bereavement Ontario Network, Hospice and Palliative Care Ontario and the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.

Grief & Loss

Maureen is a Compassionate Bereavement Care Provider, offering support for those who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death, child death, suicide loss, homicide loss and sudden traumatic death. Through individual and group services, she helps individuals adapt to life after a tragic loss. Maureen is also certified to provide bereavement care education for health care professionals through Resolve through Sharing (RTS) Bereavement Services, to help caregivers support families at the time of perinatal death.

Trauma, Burnout & Resilience

Maureen works with professionals to build resilience so they can thrive despite high-stress, trauma-exposed work, as well as supporting recovery from exposure to trauma. She is a certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist, registered with the Green Cross Academy of Traumatology. Maureen is trained to provide the Accelerated Recovery Program for Compassion Fatigue, EMDR and Traumatic Incident Reduction. Maureen is trained in Critical Incident Debriefing for groups and individuals. In counselling, she draws strategies from CBT, ACT, DBT, narrative therapy, internal family systems model, mindful self-compassion, and solution focused therapy as well as elements of play and expressive arts.

Write to Heal Trauma and Grief

Maureen has developed a creative and gently guided therapeutic writing and songwriting program designed to support people in the integration of their experiences with trauma and grief using expressive writing as a tool for healing and resilience. Available in individual sessions or group workshops, this experience helps make writing accessible even for those who have been feeling blocked.

Educator and Speaker

Maureen is a dynamic presenter, developing and delivering custom seminars and experiential workshops to audiences of professionals, as well as volunteers and community members on topics including grief education and interventions, suicide prevention, intervention and postvention, trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, and resilience recovery, organizational resilience, conflict resolution and problem solving, and therapeutic writing for grief, trauma, and wellness.

Maureen is the author of The Twentieth Year: A Memoir of Miscarriage, Best Interests: a Novel, What I Wish for You, a book of affirmations, Self-Preservation: A Survival Guide for a Career In Trauma-Exposed Environments, In Angel's Wake, a novel and Heart Work: The Transformative Power of Story and Song: A Memoir and Guide.

Maureen is a songwriter. Maureen co-wrote the songs I Hope You Stay (World Suicide Prevention Day 2020), One Breath at a Time (International Survivor of Suicide Loss Day 2020), and I’m No Hero (First Responder Day 2021) with Murray Foster of the Toronto Songwriting School. She co-wrote the songs Stone Angels (Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day 2021), and Another Soul (Overdose Awareness Day 2022) with Matt Kowalyk and John Sharkey of K-Shark Audio. She co-wrote the song Cold Comforts (Warm Dry Socks) (Overdose Awareness Day 2022) with Murray Foster and Matt Kowalyk. In 2025, Maureen recorded Songs to Breathe and Die to, a collection of 6 songs about life, death and grief, with award-winning producer Jim Bryson of Fixed Hinge Studio.