Experience, it is said, is the best teacher. That truism is especially evident at the Holy Family University Newtown campus, where Dr. Diane Menago, Licensed Psychologist, heads the PsyD Program. In short, she’s training the next generation of counseling psychologists, giving them not only the book knowledge but also her personal insight into a difficult human experience: grief.

Menago has been a faculty member with Holy Family University for the past 12 years, becoming the doctoral program training director when it launched in 2017 and taking over as program director in 2020.

The call for this kind of training comes not just from within the university’s scholastic setting but in a greater context as well — in Bucks County and beyond.

U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick — co-chair of the bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force — recently noted publicly his commitment to “…work across the aisle to expand access to treatment, raise awareness, and find solutions to prevent and treat substance use disorder,” among other mental health issues.

The Holy Family coursework has a solid underpinning and, in Menago, a leader who knows personally the value of what it provides.

Social Justice

The Newtown curriculum is rooted in a framework of social justice.

That orientation, Diane Menago says, provides the “…ability to empower our students to see everybody they’re working with from a 360-degree holistic, contextual view. From there, they provide voices to marginalized groups to enable those difficult but important conversations.”

A Personal Journey with Grief

The introspection resulting from affirmation of all subsets of modern life is something Menago has benefited from herself.

She suffered a personal significant loss with the suicide of her partner.

“Having had that experience and really trying to navigate my way back from that made me grateful that I was a psychologist. I knew what I needed to do in terms of treatment.”

The loss not only informed her academic methodology, it heightened her awareness of the repercussions on family and friends who are bereaved by suicide.

“There’s a stigma to the loss itself,” she said. “In fact, there’s a stigma attached to even talking about that kind of loss.”

And, she realized in a new way that if, as a professional, she had difficulties navigating this reality, how much harder it must be for someone without trained insights.

Formally Breaking Stigmas

She collaborated with colleagues and presented her thinking — a sharpened sense of compassion in the Holy Family curriculum of future psychologists — to the university at large.

The response was a positive endorsement.

“There’s a way of thinking about suicide that really resonated with me,” Menago said. “And it’s this: post-vention is prevention. Meaning the actions taken after such a devastating loss can help prevent another one.

“Family members or close friends who lose someone to suicide are at a higher risk for suicide themselves.

“These grieving individuals are struggling with complicated grief and may fall into despair themselves. 

“The cycle can repeat itself, so it is important to provide some form of sensitivity and guidance through it. 

“And that’s what we’re trying to instill in our program.”

Best Practices

The widespread after-effects of a suicide go far beyond friends and family. Menago has layered into the program best practices for psychologists on how to navigate the event of a patient dying by suicide. The feelings of guilt, shame, and grief can be just as devastating, even in a professional relationship.

“I’m in a position with my students where I demonstrate that yes, this can happen to you. I am very honest about it. I break that stigma and I am very truthful about my experience.

“And I think they get a lot out of it.”

More on Holy Family University’s Doctor of Psychology program is online.