Ingrid Pires

Ingrid Pires didn’t set out to be an expert on grief. The child of Norwegian-born parents, she grew up in sunny California with a rich, bi-cultural childhood that included significant time spent in Norway’s beautiful nature and healthy lifestyle . . . all life-affirming. Grief had its own agenda when at 28 she lost her toddler Ian to meningitis. In finding her way back to joy, she learned to talk comfortably about death, dying, and grief, earning a master’s degree in psychology and providing grief support in hospice settings. A recipient of the Isabel P. Ruiz Humanitarian Award in 2015 for the impact of her work in SLO County, she helps people negotiate devastating loss and find a renewed joy in life. She has recently turned a talent for writing into a weekly blog and has begun writing a book about grief from her own perspective.