Kathy Nussbaum has worked with children and families dealing with end-of-life issues and loss since 1989. She discovered her love for this work in Eugene, Oregon when she began working as a hospice nurse. "I love helping families come together to talk about difficult things at the end of life and to find peace with each other, with God, and with their situation. I found that I could make a huge difference in the death experience for both patients and families."

When Kathy’s dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her children were young and she realized that hospice offered very little support for children trying to understand and cope with terminal illness and death. In 1995, after the death of her father, Kathy was inspired to start a camp and a year-round grief support program for children, adolescents, and their parents, called Courageous Kids. She returned to school, completing a master's degree in Psychology with a focus of children's grief. It was then that she wrote Preparing the Children: Information and Ideas for Families Facing Terminal Illness and Death. The second edition was published in 2012.

Over the years, Kathy has volunteered for several disaster relief organizations (Medical Teams International, American Red Cross) and has travelled to national and international disasters to help teach about coping with loss.

Kathy lived in Kodiak, Alaska for 21 years. During this time, she helped start Hospice of Kodiak and became the first palliative care nurse practitioner in the Kodiak community. She has taught many classes about children's grief and end-of-life care, and she continues to have a passion for this work. Just recently Kathy and her husband moved to Anderson Island, Washington, where she plans to continue working in the field of hospice and palliative care.