RTZ HOPE Support Group Program Facilitators

Alishia Anderson (she/her/hers)

Alishia has always looked at life with a glass half – full perspective. But, when she lost her first-born son DJ at 28-weeks’ gestation (1.18.16) it rocked her to her core. Through her grief journey she has grown spiritually, discovered her purpose, and has become a better wife, [rainbow/golden] mama, pregnancy loss advocate, and mentor to other baby loss families who’ve unfortunately been dealt the same tragic plight of loss. Alishia learned early after her loss that sharing her story helped her heal. Two years into her healing journey she self-published her book “Still Here: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph After Stillbirth” to help eradicate what she coins the 3S’s of baby loss: silence, secrecy, and shame. 

Alishia enjoys writing, singing, traveling, making memories, spending quality time with her family and friends,  and connecting with baby loss families at various points of their grief/healing journey. She resides in Southern California with her husband Derrek and two earth side sons, #boymom. 

Anita Bubany (she/her/hers)

Anita has benefited greatly from the support provided by RTZ HOPE and wants to honor her journey by giving back to others in similar situations. After experiencing the loss of her twin daughters in 2020 and a miscarriage in 2021, she has found ways to bring purpose to her pain by being present with others who have endured the death of their babies. Anita continues to learn how to parent her living children after multiple losses, while incorporating ways to honor her children that have gone before her.

Anita has 15 years of experience working with various non-profits and providing services for underprivileged populations and those on the margins. She holds a BA and MA in Religious Studies. She currently resides near Washington DC, where she enjoys homeschooling her children, hiking, and exploring the outdoors. She and her husband Brent have four living children, Rudy, Augustinos, and Elena, and are the bereaving parents of identical twin daughters, Mary Rose and Elizabeth Leia, and Lucia-Francisco.

Jill Kottmeier, MS, BSN, RN, CPLC (she/her/hers)

Jill has been a nurse for 25 years and has been, working at Northwest Community Hospital (NCH) in Chicago since 1997.  She worked for 17 years as a labor & delivery nurse, focusing her care on those families experiencing a loss. In 2015 she transitioned to the role of Perinatal Palliative & Bereavement Care Coordinator, so she could focus her career solely on supporting and advocating for families on the continuum of loss. In this role, she has supported countless families through the loss of their baby, ran monthly support groups, and planned biannual memorial services for grieving families to honor their children. Jill has served as the chair of the Alliance of Perinatal Bereavement and Palliative Care Facilitators of Northern Illinois from 2016-2022. Recently, Jill’s role transitioned to be the Director of Wellbeing and Bereavement Services at NCH. Jill understands that grief is not a onetime event but rather a lifelong journey that families integrate into their lives. Because of her passion for the bereaved, Jill recently graduated with her Master’s Degree in Thanatology, the study of death, dying, and bereavement.

Emily Marlowe, LCSW (she/her/hers)

Emily is a licensed clinical social worker in Louisville, KY, who specializes in trauma therapy and mindfulness meditation. She brings both professional and lived-experience knowledge to the RTZ community.

In 2021, she and her husband were thrilled to bring their first child Xavier Thomas into the world. But after receiving a fatal diagnosis at 20 weeks gestation, they made the heartbreaking choice to terminate the pregnancy. At the time, abortion was still legal in Kentucky, but there were many state-mandated obstacles which added trauma to the already devastating loss of their son. 

Emily found RTZ Hope through social media, and joined a support group specific to terminations for medical reasons. Finding this community of people who ‘get it’ has been the most healing part of her grief journey, and she is excited to give back by being a part of the RTZ team.

Rob Reider

Rob is a musician, father, husband, and Executive Director/Co-Founder of SAD DADS CLUB. He currently lives in Falmouth, Maine with his wife, Tehilah, and their rainbow baby, now 5-year old son, Dallas. Rob and Tehilah’s daughter and forever firstborn, Lila, was delivered stillborn at 38 weeks. Rob co-founded SAD DADS CLUB alongside Jay (Bella’s dad) and Chris (Izzy’s dad) as a way for fathers to connect and support one another through the unique complexities of infant and child loss from the father’s perspective. The now-global community has nurtured a space for men to be vulnerable and expressive with one another. SAD DADS CLUB is working to redefine masculinity and showcase the strength, power, and benefits of being emotionally in touch and expressive in healthy ways.

Jessica Van Wyen (she/her/hers)

Jessica became involved with RTZ HOPE when she participated in a virtual support group for Ending a Wanted Pregnancy in late 2021. After multiple IVF attempts over a seven year period, she was overjoyed to conceive her first child in late 2020. Unfortunately, after serious fetal health complications were discovered late in the pregnancy, Jessica and her husband made the difficult choice to say goodbye to their beautiful son Jacob at 26 weeks gestation. The RTZ HOPE support group helped Jessica find community and hope as she navigated the early grieving process in the months following her loss. After her own group participation, she trained to facilitate future support groups and has been a facilitator with RTZ HOPE since mid-2022. She is grateful to have the opportunity as a facilitator to offer support and compassion to others who have been changed forever by loss.

Jessica lives with her husband Justin and their two mischievous pups in Lancaster, PA. Their fertility journey ended in early 2023 with the decision to accept a Childless Not by Choice future. She is pursuing a reimagined life with new purpose and joy. When she isn’t working or advocating for the TFMR community, she enjoys reading, traveling, attending concerts and theater productions, and exploring the beautiful outdoors in Pennsylvania.

Ryan Rose Weaver (she/her/hers)

Ryan Rose Weaver is a writer, educator and consultant based in the NYC metro area. After beginning her career as a journalist, stringing for major newspapers and editing travel books, went on to get her M.Ed and to design community-building and educational materials for the likes of foreign and U.S. state governments; startups like Yelp, Readworks and Tinkergarten; and a wide variety of public, private and charter schools. She has taught classes in writing, cooking and gardening to hundreds of children and adults across NYC. She continues to be passionate about creating inclusive spaces for growth that help people foster a deeper connection to themselves, their voices, their communities, and their history. After losing her daughter, Saule, at 21 weeks gestation, while parenting her living child, Neil, she found a community of kindred spirits with RTZ Hope that has helped her move from surviving to thriving. When she’s not teaching online, you’ll find her penning entries for her semi-regular newsletter on reclaiming creativity after loss here, posting photos of her garden on Instagram here, or stocking up on kimchi at H Mart.

Betsy Winter, Director of Community Support (she/her/hers)

Betsy has over 20 years of non-profit programming and executive leadership experience. She has been working alongside organization founder, Kiley Hanish, since 2018. Her role is central to the mission of RTZ in providing trauma-informed, holistic, and inclusive support and resources for bereaved parents. In 2015 she experienced the devastating terminal diagnosis and eventual death of her daughter, Eliza, and has since made helping people find emotional healing, meaning, and connection through community, services, and the embodied experience of grief and love central to her life’s work. She is also a Mind Body Coach who specializes in pregnancy and infant loss, grief, trauma, origin healing, life transitions, and somatic parts work. Betsy lives in Olympia, WA with her husband and two living children, Bennett and Wren. To learn more please visit her website.

Leah Mele-Bazaz

Leah Mele-Bazaz is a wife, mother, teacher, and writer. When Leah gave birth to her stillborn daughter, Laila, she didn't know how to handle this type of grief. She went through depression and isolation and had trouble finding ways to show she was a mother. She started writing her memoir days after she came home from the hospital without her baby and kept a daily journal documenting her grief. With encouragement from her writing mentor, she turned her observations and experiences into a manuscript; Laila: Held for a Moment is forthcoming with Kat Biggie Press (October 2022).

Leah graduated from Drexel University with an MFA in Creative Writing, where she works as an English adjunct faculty member. She loves volunteering for RTZ HOPE and teaching writing classes for bereaved families.