Andrea Warnick (She/Her) - MA, RN, RP, Co-Founder

Andrea brings decades of experience supporting people navigating serious illness, death, and grief, informed by her early work as an oncology nurse and her ongoing practice as a Registered Psychotherapist, educator, and advocate. Her work spans end-of-life care, support for children, youth, and adults, and education for professionals who often engage in this work with limited support and in isolation.

With a foundation in nursing and a master’s degree in thanatology, Andrea brings a rare blend of medical and psychosocial expertise to her work. She is a skilled public speaker, known for addressing death and grief with clarity and compassion, helping people feel safe, grounded, and less alone in difficult conversations.

Advocacy has long been central to Andrea’s work. She founded BC Children’s Hospital’s Balding for Dollars, raising funds and awareness for children with cancer, and the Tsunami Tender Sprout Home Initiative, which supported the rebuilding of a Sri Lankan orphanage after the 2004 tsunami. She developed and co-teaches the five day Certificate Program in Children’s Grief and Bereavement through SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health, and served as lead content developer for Canadian Virtual Hospice’s KidsGrief.ca and KidsGrief for Educators. In 2016, she co-founded KidsGrief Q&A with Canadian Virtual Hospice, a free, monthly public webinar series for families and professionals supporting grieving children.

Andrea is sought internationally for her teaching on supporting grief across the lifespan. Her teachings on children’s grief honours children’s rights and equips audiences with the tools to move away from attempts at protection through silence and exclusion to protection through preparation, honesty and compassionate connection. Outside of work, Andrea shares her life with her wife and two daughters, along with two cats and a dog, and at times a litter of foster kittens.