Friday Presenters

Kelli Anderson

Kelli Houghton Anderson is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Trauma-Informed Therapist based in Utah. She has spent decades supporting individuals and families through trauma, loss, and significant life transitions, drawing from both professional expertise and lived experience. Kelli is the author of Walk with Me: A Trauma Therapist’s Journey—Transforming Trauma into Hope & Healing, where she shares insights and tools for recovery and emotional resilience. Having walked her own path of healing, she brings a compassionate, relatable perspective to her speaking and teaching. Kelli is married to her husband, Wayne, and together they have eight children and two grandchildren, and she finds her greatest renewal in time with her family.

Akasha Balkman

Akasha Balkman, LCSW, is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in bereavement and palliative care. Following the unexpected loss of her youngest son, Carson, she has dedicated her career to supporting individuals and families through grief. She cofounded Mourning Light Collective, a nonprofit helping Latter-day Saints journey through loss with compassion, community, and shared faith. She has a strong background in hospital palliative care and trauma-informed therapy. By weaving together professional expertise, personal faith, and Indigenous perspectives, Akasha offers a holistic approach to healing and bereavement care.

Becky Beck

Becky has lived most of her life in the Salt Lake Valley and is married to her high school sweetheart, Kevin. Together they have eight children and six grandchildren. Their youngest son, Kevin Jr., was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 while Becky was 20 weeks pregnant, and although his time on earth was brief, his life profoundly shaped her faith in Jesus Christ, perspective on grief, and desire to help others heal.

Becky is a Grief and Wellness Educator and a Certified Creation Coach with a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in business leadership and management. She serves as Secretary of the Executive Board for Share Parents of Utah, is the creator of the What Matters app, which provides support and resources for those who grieve, and is the author of two books: Too Perfect for This Life and Finding Joy in the Grief Cycle. She enjoys teaching seminary, homemaking, reading, and planning family adventures.

Melissa Carlton

Melissa Carlton is a bereaved mother and grief educator whose work is deeply shaped by the losses of her daughters Abigail and Molly. She is the co-founder of Mourning Light Collective, a faith-centered community supporting families navigating life after loss, and the owner of Linen and Grace Art, a faith-based art shop. Through her personal journey and professional experience, Melissa offers compassionate insight into navigating child loss, continuing bonds, and finding hope after tragedy. She speaks from the heart as a mother, educator, and believer, walking alongside others learning how to live after profound loss.

Jason Clawson

Jason Clawson did not choose grief, but grief chose him. He has experienced the loss of his wife to colon cancer, the death of his mother to cancer (leukemia), and the loss of his son through an 18-week gestational loss. Today, Jason is married to Kirsten, who also knows loss deeply, having lost her husband and two brothers to the same cancer (leukemia). Together they are raising their three children: Maisie (age 3), Cooper (age 13), and Elder Boston Clawson (age 19, currently serving in Seattle). It is not the miracle they prayed for, but it is the miracle God gave them.
Out of his personal loss and lived grief journey, Jason created The Hope Kit, a resource inspired by the loss of his wife and designed to offer tangible support, comfort, and connection to those navigating grief. Jason and Kirsten also created the Instagram grief support community Light After Grief, where he and Kirsten share their story, reflections, and encouragement to give back and support others walking through life after loss. They believe healing is not meant to be carried alone and that we heal by paying it forward, turning pain into connection, and helping others feel less alone.

Professionally, Jason Clawson is a licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor with over 18 years of experience specializing in grief and bereavement. He is the owner and Clinical Director of Havenstone Counseling, where he works with individuals, children, teens, and families navigating all forms of loss. Grounded in both clinical training and lived experience, Jason’s approach is compassionate, practical, and deeply respectful of the personal and sacred nature of grief. He believes the opposite of grief is connection and that healing happens when we walk together.

Gerrit Dirkmaat

Gerrit Dirkmaat is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. He has a PhD in history and worked as a historian on the Joseph Smith Papers project. Five years ago, his youngest brother died suddenly of an undiagnosed illness, leaving two children under the age of two.

Genny and Zachary Frederickson

Zachary and Genevieve met as high school students in their hometown of Salem, Oregon. After spending a few years in Eugene, where Genevieve earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon’s Family and Human Services program and Zachary completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science, the family returned to their hometown to raise their four children surrounded by family.

After witnessing the traumatic death of Zachary’s younger brother during a family trip in 2002, the couple began a long journey of grief and recovery that instilled a passion for helping others navigate that path. Along the way, they have shared many other grief experiences including the loss of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and most recently Zachary’s mom to pancreatic cancer. They have learned that each loss is unique and requires different support and care.

As Self-Reliance Specialists in their stake, they facilitate a grief and loss support program co-authored by Genevieve. Through this they are involved in the sacred work of grieving with family, friends, and neighbors, sharing their experiences to foster hope and connection for those walking the difficult path of grief and loss.

Carrie Moore

Carrie Moore is currently a master’s degree intern providing clinical mental health counseling for clients at Mountain View Family Therapy in Riverton. She is also the co-founder and director of The Bradley Center for Grieving Children and Families, a non-profit grief support and education program. She started The Bradley Center with a friend in 2011 after their husbands were killed in a corporate plane crash when their children were young.  She is a veteran journalist and a board-certified Interfaith Chaplain, and she recently retired from teaching journalism and managing the student newsroom at BYU. She enjoys spending time with her three children and eight grandchildren along with hiking, biking, traveling, and playing an occasional round of golf.

Mitch Simkins

Mitch Simkins has grieved with and walked alongside many women over the last 20 years as they’ve struggled through the loss of their spouses. These experiences, along with his compassion for the resulting struggle in dealing with finances alone, fuel his desire to serve widows. His mission is to offer practical guidance and genuine hope for anyone at the junction of grief and money. He hosts a podcast called Wins for Widows, where he welcomes like-minded professionals across the globe who are committed to the same cause: helping others find answers to the question, “What now?” Mitch is real about what fears and confusion widows face during this tender time. Shaped by experience and empathy, his stories, both his own and those of others, are meant to help women find clarity, hope, resilience, and peace.

Robbie Taggart

Robbie Taggart is an Associate Teaching Professor in Ancient Scripture at BYU. He is interested in the intersections of literature, belief, and the human experience. Before coming to BYU, he taught in Seminaries and Institutes for 17 years. He received a BA in English Literature, an MA in Comparative Studies with an emphasis in Comparative Religious Literature, and a PhD in Theological Leadership. Having witnessed the myriad ways anguish and joy intermingle in the mortal experience, he believes that darkness is often the birthplace of light.

Susan Walton

Dr. Susan Balcom Walton of the BYU—Idaho Communication department faculty lost her husband of 43 years, Mark, during the first year of the COVID pandemic, and found herself quarantined alone in her home, hundreds of miles away from her children and grandchildren. Eager to maintain connections and learn to navigate her new life as a single woman, Sister Walton began reaching out to a group of widows to set up Zoom and phone conversations to hear about their experiences and what advice they'd offer. Sister Walton's presentation, Lunch with the Widows: What I Learned About Living After My Husband Died, is based on her learnings from those wise and generous women and will be published as a book by Cedar Fort Publishing in April 2026. Now retired from teaching, Sister Walton is the executive director of an academic nonprofit. She is married to Dr. George Scheff, and she and her late husband, Mark Walton, are the parents of three daughters and eight grandchildren.