Meet Dr. Joanne Cacciatore / M.I.S.S. Foundation

Dr.Joanne Cacciatore specializes in counseling those affected by traumatic losses, most often the death of a child. She is Board Certified in Bereavement Trauma by the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management. She is also Board Certified through the American Psychotherapy Association. Her therapeutic interventions include Mindfulness Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Logotherapy, and various post traumatic stress therapies, such as Repeated Exposure Therapy. She is an Assistant Professor and researcher at Arizona State University.

As the founder of the Center for Loss and Trauma/MISS Foundation, she is an advocate of “green” mental health care and holds memberships in: the American Psychotherapy Association, the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the National Center for Crisis Management. She is regarded as an expert in traumatic loss and child death in families, and has been counseling and aiding individuals and families since 1996. She spearheaded and now directs the Certificate of Trauma and Bereavement graduate program and is a faculty affiliate in the Family Communication Consortium at ASU.

Dr. Cacciatore is an acclaimed public speaker and provides expert consulting services in the area of traumatic loss. Her research has been published in peer reviewed journals such as Death Studies, Omega Journal of Death and Dying, Birth, Social Work and Healthcare, Social Work, and Families in Society.

Dr. Cacciatore received her Doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her Masters degree and Bachelor's degree in psychology from Arizona State University. Her work has been featured in major media sources such as People and Newsweek magazines, the New York Times, Boston Globe, CNN, National Public Radio, and the Los Angeles Times. She received the prestigious Hon Kachina Award in 2007, and the Sr Teresa Compassionate Care Award in 2008. She is a mother to five children, now mostly grown, she notes “four who walk and one who soars”. On a personal note, she has been a vegetarian since 1976 and enjoys hiking, reading, surfing, and rock climbing.

Her life changed profoundly in 1994 when her infant daughter, Cheyenne, died.