Janet Severance Celebrates 30 Years
Pathways grief counselor Janet Severance is celebrating 30 years of supporting Northern Colorado families in grief and loss counseling.
Janet earned a master’s degree in social work from Colorado State University in 1991 and took her first job at Pathways, which was then Hospice of Larimer County. She has been serving our community ever since. Janet has worked with us in social work and bereavement and grew with us as we built a dedicated Grief and Loss Counseling Center and Children’s Healing Garden.
Clients come to Pathways’ Grief and Loss Counseling Center because of a death or serious illness in their family. Janet has worked with people of all ages over her career and facilitated retreats and support groups, but she developed a specialty in providing grief counseling for children, helping them cope with death and loss through play, talk, Sand Tray and other creative therapies.
Working in grief counseling gives an opportunity to build relationships with clients, and that’s where she sees her biggest successes.
“It’s so beautiful when there are these opportunities for grief support that this relationship has been established and they love coming here,” Janet said. “They sense they belong here and that this is a place for them where they are understood and cared about.”
Janet said the work has been an incredible opportunity to witness the growth and the resilience of people of all ages. Janet has also seen a lot of growth at Pathways over the past three decades. She developed her specialty working with children simply as the need arose, but she and other grief support staff have also worked with local school districts, businesses and organizations in grief-related training and support groups.
While the work environment has changed over the years — growing from an organization of about 20 to the organization it is today — Janet says the mission has always been the guiding force for herself and the organization.
“The mission and what we are here to do matter. It is important. I have never faltered.”
She credits her colleagues with helping her stay with Pathways over the years.
“This program is all about the team,” Janet said. “We wouldn’t be able to do the type of work that’s been done here without that. The job is too demanding and difficult to do that in isolation. We carry the load together.”