15+ Years of End of Life, Palliative Care, and Grief Support
From Care Aide to Palliative Care Social Worker to Grief Counsellor. One thing has stayed constant: Supporting People Through Loss.
Meaningful Counselling
My grief changed everything and showed me what was really important. Now I help people hit by grief to find what is
meaningful to them.
I'm especially passionate about supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks because I understand how grief can feel even more isolating when your experience isn't reflected or understood in mainstream spaces. Everyone deserves to be seen without having to explain who you are.
How It Started
In 2009, I became a Care Aide and started supporting a woman at the end of her life. I didn't know she would become the first of thousands who would share their life story with me. Between medications and meals, she talked about falling in love, living with illness, mistakes and regrets, and her biggest dreams.
Learning About Grief
While completing my Master of Social Work degree, I learned about Dr. Alan Wolfelt's Grief Companioning Model. I then continued my training with the Grief Recovery Institute and the Center for Prolonged Grief. Everything came together as I worked as a Palliative Care Social Worker with Fraser Health and then a Grief Counsellor with a local hospice society.
My Personal Grief
When I lost my friend to brain cancer, I didn't know how to react. I couldn't focus on work and started clenching my jaw at night. I was emotionally numb and couldn't cry at his memorial. I thought something was wrong with me and questioned if I was grieving properly.
Six months later, I got a message that my Grandma had a medical emergency and I needed to say goodbye. And then the tears came. I cried like I had never cried in my life and felt the physical pain of my heart being ripped apart. My grief didn't fit into the 5 stage grief model and time wasn't going to heal how I felt.
And then I got support that met me in the messiness of grief. We moved at my pace, removed any expectations of "getting over it", while exploring what I was really feeling. Through this process, I discovered what truly mattered to me: authentic connection, being present and honouring the people I lost.
I got a clearer sense of how I wanted to move forward in life. This shift became the foundation for how I approach my work: meeting each person's story with openness, embracing vulnerability as strength, and allowing space for grief that doesn't follow a set timeline or experience.
Eliezer Moreno, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker #13793
Education and Certifications
Central Okanagan Hospice Training, 2017
Master of Social Work, University of British Columbia, 2018
Registered Social Worker, 2018, #13793
Grief Recovery Specialist, 2018
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Individuals, 2018
Motivational Interviewing Foundations, 2021
Complicated Grief Therapy, 2021
Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy, 2022
Emotionally-Focused Family Therapy, 2023
Continued workshops through the Hospice Foundation of America