Speaker BIO - Physical and Mental Loss
Event Speaker: Dr. Liza Barros-Lane
Dr. Liza Barros-Lane, Ph.D., MSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Houston-Downtown, where she explores how traumatic grief reshapes identity, family, and community. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Young Widowhood Project, an organization dedicated to supporting people navigating premature spousal loss.
Widowed at 36 after the sudden death of her husband, Dr. Brent Lane, she brings both lived experience and scholarly expertise to her work. Dr. Barros-Lane names the difficult realities of grief, the disorientation, the unraveling of identity, and the challenges of parenting and rebuilding in the wake of loss, while also highlighting the uneven and deeply human ways that meaning and connection can take shape.
Her research on traumatic loss and young widowhood has been published in leading journals, including Death Studies, OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying, and the Journal of Loss and Trauma. She has also presented nationally and internationally, with recent talks at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and the Association for Death Education and Counseling.
Her writing has also appeared in The Conversation, HuffPost, and the Houston Chronicle, with pieces translated and syndicated across Latin America and Europe, including in BBC News Mundo.
Event Speaker: Timothy Coulter
Timothy Coulter is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Houston-Downtown and a Master of Education in Counseling from the University of Houston. Before becoming a therapist, he spent many years as a banker providing financial solutions to couples and individuals from all walks of life. In addition to financial counseling, he has worked with teenagers, young adults, couples, groups, cancer patients, and individuals in many areas including anxiety, depression, sexual identity, leading a purpose-driven life, career development, substance abuse, anger management, smoking cessation, grief, motivation, and mindfulness. He’s worked in many environments, including colleges, high schools, residential treatment facilities, private practice, and cancer centers, doing both traditional counseling and meditation.
Physical and Mental Loss
Tuesday, November 3rd
12:30–2:00 p.m.
in Buffalo BayouRoom
(next to Starbucks)
Register Today