Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio

Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio is a family therapist, health and wellness executive, and author who has been helping individuals, families, businesses, and community organizations achieve health and success for more than 25 years. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP), and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Ken earned his B.A. in biopsychology at Cornell University and Master of Social Work (MSW) at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He completed a three year post-graduate program in family therapy at The Multicultural Family Institute, Highland Park, New Jersey, where he now serves on the board of directors. Ken also serves on the board of directors of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence. Ken has led monthly pet loss groups since 2002. He is a lifelong animal companion enthusiast, having shared his home with dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, cockatiels, finches, chinchillas, guinea pigs, turtles, mice, one horse, and one rat. A special rat, indeed, Nero sat on Ken’s shoulder eating peanuts while Ken studied late into the evenings at college. Ken is the author of two previous books. Making Love, Playing Power: Men, Women, & the Rewards of Intimate Justice, published in 2008, helps readers recognize misuse of power as the source of most relationship problems. Making Love, Playing Power provides step-by-step guidance that helps readers make mutual respect, fairness, and love the foundation of their intimate partnerships. Transformative Family Therapy: Just Families in a Just Society , a family therapy textbook written by Ken and two coauthors, was published in 2007. Ken has also authored several articles and book chapters. Ken has spoken at corporations, universities, community centers, schools, and hospitals. He has made presentations at professional conferences across the United States and in Canada, including The Annual Psychotherapy Networker Symposium (Washington, DC), The Annual Culture Conference of The Multicultural Family Institute and Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), The Annual Conference of the American Orthopsychiatric Association (Toronto, ON), and The Annual Conference of The American Family Therapy Academy (Vancouver, BC). Ken has been interviewed and quoted by Human Resource Executive, Smart Money, Fox Business News, Reuters, and other media. As Vice President, Health and Wellness, at Prudential, Ken leads the team that delivers behavioral health services to employees and organizational leaders. Ken is a father and husband who lives with his family in Palmer, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey.

Nancy Saxton-Lopez

Nancy Saxton-Lopez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), psychotherapist, speaker, trainer, coach and management consultant. She has over 25 years of experience in the business arena working in hospital systems and as a behavioral health consultant. Nancy also has maintained a private psychotherapy practice for over 20 years, offering expertise in bereavement, adolescent issues, depression, anxiety, relationships, eating disorders and crisis intervention.

Nancy is a Senior Partner with Clinical Services Management, P.C. (CSM), a behavioral health consulting and management corporation serving healthcare, residential and governmental agencies. She manages Employee Assistance Programs in multiple hospital systems and business organizations. She was the former Program Manager of Acute Services of Behavioral Health for Morristown Memorial Hospital. She has developed crisis intervention services and programs for several leading hospitals in northern New Jersey. She helped develop a Short-Term Assessment and Treatment (STAT) model of extended crisis services that has been used as a model in psychiatric screening centers and emergency services. She also was instrumental in developing a trauma and bereavement response program in the Emergency Department at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Nancy is a graduate of New York University School of Social Work and has a Certificate in Family Therapy from the New Jersey Center for Family Studies. She holds a Diplomate in Social Work and is a member of The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.

Nancy initiated the Companion Animal Loss Support Group at St. Hubert’s Giralda, a humane welfare and educational organization located in Madison, New Jersey, on April 3, 1990. She launched the group in memory of her dog, Tashi. Nancy lives with her husband, daughter, a passel of Pugs, and a paraplegic Frenchie in Ridgewood, NJ.

Advance Praise for
The Pet Loss Companion

“St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center is proud to offer free pet loss support as part of its programmatic efforts, with Nancy Saxton-Lopez at the helm for over 20 years. Together Ken and Nancy continue to provide this valuable service at our center twice monthly and they’ve expanded their reach by sharing their professional training and direct pet loss counseling expertise with the completion of The Pet Loss Companion. Their compassion for both pets and the people who love them is palpable in this concise, easy-to-read guide which offers understanding, solace, and hope to anyone struggling with the loss of a cherished animal companion, no matter the circumstances. The loss of a companion animal is a unique, yet not unique, grieving process not always well understood by others. This book connects and thereby supports people at a time of what can be isolating grief, providing a life raft or light to navigate the process. It’s also a helpful tool—whether as a gift or for personal awareness—for those looking for some guidance in supporting family and friends coping with pet loss.”

– Heather Cammisa, President & CEO, St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, Madison, New Jersey

“What a gift Ken and Nancy’s book is to those of us who have cherished and lost a pet companion. They get it, and as such, gently and skillfully help to ease the treacherous journey that loss is. This gem explores the terrain of loss and grief and the vast love that surrounds the experience. Readers will be warmed, saddened, and delighted by the examples and tools that are provided to ease the necessary grief process. The experience of reading this little book leaves me feeling much gratitude for my pet companions and these authors who so beautifully convey the huge role they play in our lives.”

– Lynn Parker, Ph.D., LCSW, Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver