Joanne Steen, MS, NCC

Joanne Steen is an author, instructor and speaker on grief, loss, and resilience, with a specialty in military and line-of-duty losses. She is a board-certified counselor, military widow, and the founder of Grief Solutions, a training company on grief and resilience. A skilled instructor, Joanne has worked with more than forty diverse organizations. Her clients have included the U.S. Department of Defense, the Canadian Armed Forces, and a host of federal, corporate, and non-profit organizations.

Joanne has authored two self-help grief books: We Regret To Inform You. A Survival Guide for Gold Star Parents and Those Who Support Them. (Central Recovery Press, 2019), an authoritative guide for the Gold Star parents of America’s fallen service members. And with Regina Asaro, Joanne coauthored Military Widow: A Survival Guide (Naval Institute Press, 2006) which earned them the Distinguished Authors of the Year Award from the United States Naval Institute.

Joanne possesses an insider’s understanding of the military. She has more than twenty years of experience as a military instructor, the latter ten in the area of casualty assistance. Joanne is also the Gold Star widow of LT Ken Steen, USN, a Navy pilot who was killed in line of duty. At the time of his death, Joanne was a senior instructor with the Department of the Navy, spending time in the classroom with leaders of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps and NATO allies. In her first career, Joanne spent ten years in engineering with Johnson & Johnson and General Motors.

Joanne holds a MSEd in counseling from Old Dominion University and a BS in engineering from Rutgers University. She was named an alumni fellow by Old Dominion University, Darden College of Education in 2009 for her contributions to the counseling field in the area of military loss. Joanne and her husband Tom live in Virginia with a couple of rescued dogs and cats.