Mental Health Speaker
In - Person or Virtual
For Minnesota Schools, Workplaces and Communities
Jennifer Apley—Minnesota therapist and mental health speaker who provides professional presentations tailored to the needs of your organization, school, business, or audience. Her presentations focus on increasing awareness, reducing stigma, and fostering compassionate conversations around grief, suicide prevention, and emotional wellness.
Jen speaks from both a professional and deeply personal lens—having lost her 16-year-old son to suicide, she brings authenticity, vulnerability, and heart to every conversation. This dual perspective allows her to connect meaningfully with audiences and offer insight that goes beyond textbooks or training.
Through trauma-informed education and real-life storytelling, Jen equips communities with practical tools, emotional understanding, and the connection needed to support healing, resilience, and long-term mental health awareness.
From Awareness to Action —
Jen’s Mental Health Presentations Prepare and Support All Minnesotans
Jen’s Available Mental Health Presentations Include:
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 1
Grief & Suicide Loss: The Clinical Importance of Witnessing in Bereavement Care
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This presentation explores the clinical importance of "witnessing" in bereavement care, with a particular focus on suicide loss. Grief work centers on witnessing — being fully present to the magnitude of another person's loss without attempting to lessen, reframe, or "silver-line" their pain.
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Jen examines the isolation that often accompanies grief and the potential consequences when loss is not adequately witnessed and supported. She explores the unique complexities of bereavement following suicide loss and offers practical tools for effectively witnessing and supporting grieving individuals. The presentation also addresses trauma-informed considerations and the importance of language when working with those affected by loss.
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Currently tailored for professionals working in long-term care and hospice settings, this presentation highlights how suicide loss can remain active for decades and may be reactivated at the end of life. Special attention is given to the experiences of older adults, who may have encountered greater stigma surrounding suicide and had limited access to mental health resources throughout their lives.
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This presentation can be adapted to meet the specific needs, roles, and populations of your organization.
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 2
Navigating Grief After Suicide: Support for Bereaved Parents and Loved Ones
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This presentation explores the unique and often complex experience of grieving a suicide loss. Drawing from both professional practice at Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling PLLC and Jen's lived experience as a bereaved mother, it offers a compassionate, trauma-informed approach to understanding and navigating life after suicide loss.
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Jen discusses the emotional complexities that often accompany suicide bereavement, including guilt, shame, blame, relief, and trauma. Grounded in contemporary grief theory and postvention frameworks, the presentation provides practical language and perspectives that help reduce stigma while honoring the reality of grief. Central themes include the importance of witnessing grief rather than attempting to fix it, understanding the layered nature of suicide loss, and recognizing that individuals, couples, and families may grieve in very different ways.
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Designed primarily for bereaved parents, family members, and loved ones, this presentation offers practical tools, compassionate insights, and meaningful guidance for navigating grief after suicide. While the focus is on suicide bereavement, many of the concepts explored—including witnessing, trauma-informed support, family grief dynamics, and the realities of living with profound loss—are relevant to a wide range of bereavement experiences. Professionals, caregivers, and support providers may also find value in gaining a deeper understanding of the lived experience of suicide loss and the unique challenges faced by those left behind.
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This presentation can be adapted to meet the specific needs, roles, and populations of your organization.
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 3
Love Never Dies – Finding Connection After Death - A Guided Reflection and Discussion Resource
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This guided worksheet and discussion resource explores the many ways people maintain a connection with a loved one after death. Drawing from both her professional expertise as a grief therapist and her personal lived experience with profound loss, Jen offers a compassionate framework for reflecting on continuing bonds and the enduring nature of love after loss.
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Jen invites participants to consider the different ways connection may be experienced, whether through memories, dreams, rituals, meaningful objects, places, values carried forward, or moments that feel unexpectedly significant. The resource emphasizes that there is no "right" way to remain connected and that each person's experience is unique. Participants are encouraged to explore what brings comfort, meaning, and a sense of ongoing relationship with their loved one.
Discussion topics include:
Signs and meaningful coincidences
Carrying a loved one's influence into daily life
Guided imagery for comfort and connection
Numbness and the non-linear nature of grief
Making space for both joy and sorrow
Throughout, the focus remains on honoring the relationship rather than adhering to any particular spiritual, religious, or philosophical belief system.
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Designed for bereaved individuals, support groups, grief programs, and community discussions. Professionals and caregivers may also find the resource valuable for deepening their understanding of continuing bonds and the diverse ways people carry love forward after death.
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A hands-on reflective activity can be incorporated at the conclusion of the discussion, giving participants an opportunity to explore how love, joy, and grief can coexist.
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The resource can be adapted to meet the specific needs, setting, and population of your organization.
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 4
Journey of Love - One Family’s Story of Mental Health, Suicide Loss, Connection & Hope
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In this deeply personal presentation, Jen shares the story of her son's mental health journey and death by suicide. While the outcome is not the one any parent, family, or community would hope for, Jen's message is ultimately one of hope, connection, and empowerment.
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Drawing from both her lived experience as a bereaved mother and her professional expertise as a mental health clinician, Jen weaves education throughout her family's story. Participants gain a deeper understanding of:
The realities of mental health struggles
Common signs of emotional distress
The ongoing impact of stigma
Barriers that can prevent individuals and families from seeking support
The importance of connection and compassionate presence
Jen also explores how communities, organizations, professionals, families, and individuals can create meaningful connections with people who are hurting and foster environments where conversations about mental health can happen openly and without judgment.
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At its heart, Journey of Love is a story about the love that sustains us, connects us, and calls us to care for one another. Audiences leave with a greater understanding of mental health, a renewed commitment to breaking down stigma, and the reassurance that no one has to face life's challenges alone.
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While Jen's son's story ended in tragedy, the message of this presentation is that hope remains, help matters, and other stories can have different endings.
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This presentation can be adapted for:
Community groups
Schools
Faith communities
Healthcare organizations
Professional audiences
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 5
The Power of Words: How Language Shapes Care, Connection, and Clinical Outcomes
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This presentation explores the profound impact that language has in clinical and therapeutic settings. Drawing on both evidence-based research and personal lived experience, the session examines how our words—and our silences—can either stigmatize and exclude or foster trust, psychological safety, and healing.
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Participants learn to:
Identify and move beyond stigmatizing labels: Recognize common healthcare language that may unintentionally alienate patients.
Apply person-centered communication: Develop strategies for meaningful engagement across mental health, aging, disability, and trauma care.
Prioritize impact over intention: Understand that communication is filtered through the listener's lived experience, and learn the value of repair and humility over perfection.
Embrace presence: Explore the role of silence, tone, and nonverbal cues in supporting meaningful therapeutic relationships and navigating grief.
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The discussion emphasizes that while we may not always find the "perfect" words, leading with curiosity, humility, and genuine presence ensures that every person we encounter feels seen, heard, and valued.
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This presentation is applicable to healthcare professionals, clinicians, social workers, caregivers, and other professionals whose work involves supporting people through mental health, aging, disability, trauma, grief, or other life challenges.
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This presentation can be adapted to meet the specific needs, roles, and populations of your organization.
Apis Mental Health & Grief Counseling Presentations
Topic # 6
Marriage After Loss
Coming Soon!
Empowering Communities Through Mental Health Education
From understanding to action—fostering awareness, compassion, and connection.
Speaking Engagements and Mental Health Presentation Inquiries-
If you are interested in hosting Jen as a professional mental health speaker at your organization, event, or community gathering, please reach out to discuss your goals, presentation topics, availability, and fees.
Speaking fees vary based on event type, audience size, and location. Nonprofit discounts are available. If you don't see a presentation topic that fits your needs, feel free to reach out to discuss whether an existing presentation may be a good fit for your audience.