MyMichigan Provides Grief Training to Early Head Start

MyMichigan Health
Photo Release

For Immediate Release
Feb. 6, 2025

MyMichigan Provides Grief Training to Early Head Start

ALMA, Mich. – Michelle Lucchesi, M.A., L.L.P., therapist and liaison, Psychiatric Partial Hospitalization Program at MyMichigan Medical Center Alma presented a program on grief to the Early Head Start staff at the Farwell Mid Michigan Community Action Agency in January. Thirty staff members participated in a 90-minute training session focused on understanding the nature of grief and exploring tools to encourage healthy grieving, which they can apply both in their own lives and with their clients.

“We are grateful to Michelle for sharing her wisdom and resources on the delicate and difficult topic of grief. Michelle introduced us to a new way to understand the grief cycle and offered suggestions for ways to honor and cope with loss in whatever way it shows up in our lives,” said Emily Willoughby, L.M.S.W., mental health manager, Early Head Start. “Aside from the practical takeaways, the workshop did not have the traditional feel of training; rather, it felt like a safe and open space for staff to be vulnerable and human while also learning skills for personal and professional use.”  

Pictured: Michelle Lucchesi, M.A., L.L.P. (standing, left) and Emily Willoughby, L.M.S.W. (standing, right) with Early Head Start staff members.

MyMichigan Health, a non-profit health system headquartered in Midland, Michigan, is a leader in providing award-winning, high-quality care to the 26-counties it serves. With Medical Centers in Alma, Alpena, Clare, Gladwin, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, Saginaw*, Sault Ste. Marie, Standish*, Tawas* and West Branch, MyMichigan also has affiliations with Medical Centers in St. Ignace* and Mackinac Island.* MyMichigan Health provides a full continuum of care across a wide array of settings, including urgent care centers, home health, virtual care, as well as medical offices in more than 80 specialties and subspecialties including cardiology, family medicine, hematology/oncology, neurosciences, orthopedics, pediatrics, vascular surgery, and more. MyMichigan Health demonstrates its commitment to the future of medicine by partnering with leading institutions to offer medical education programs that train medical students, physicians, nurse practitioner and physician assistant students, nursing students and other clinical experts for our region. Recognized by Forbes in 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of ‘America’s Best Employers by State,’ MyMichigan is a major employer in all of the areas it serves. In fact, its more than 13,800 employees, volunteers, health care providers and other personnel work together to create healthy communities through solutions designed to meet the ever-changing needs of the more than one million residents in the health system’s 26 counties served. In fiscal year 2023, MyMichigan Health provided more than $128 million in community benefits, as well as supported its patients and families with new equipment, services and programs with funds raised by the MyMichigan Health Foundation, MyMichigan Medical Center Saginaw Foundation, MyMichigan Medical Center Tawas Foundation, and Field Neurosciences Institute. 

^{*Not affiliated with the University of Michigan Health System.}

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Media Contact

Millie Jezior, APR

Public Relations Manager

MyMichigan Health

Phone (989) 839-3351

millie.jezior@mymichigan.org

www.mymichigan.org/newsroom