Janet Childs

Janet was born on an army base in Pittsburg, CA. She graduated in 1974 with a BA in a special major Nursing & English at San Jose State University. At that time, she fell in love with poetry – Denise Levertov, Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda.

In 1976, at the age of 24, Janet and Mary Anne Kelly founded The Centre for Living with Dying in Santa Clara, CA. Today, CFLWD is a comprehensive grief counseling program that serves people facing grief, crisis, serious illness and death. The Centre provides crisis intervention, group and individual counseling and education. CFLWD is now a part of Bill Wilson Center which serves youth and families facing homelessness.

Janet received her Master’s and Doctorate through the Universal Church of the Master, an ecumenical spiritual community. Soon after the tragedy of September 11th, Janet met John Fox when they both served on a grief panel. Since that time, they have been friends. Janet is co-faculty in the 3-year Poetic Medicine training program. She is an original board member of IPM.