Mila Ruiz Tecala

Mila Ruiz Tecala was a licensed clinical social worker and a recognized international authority on grief counseling. She spent her thirty-year career seeking to understand the grieving processes that take place as a result of individual and catastrophic events. She served at the Georgetown University Hospital's Lombardi Center, as a consultant to the United States Peace Corps starting in 1984, and in private practice. After September 11th, she worked as a grief counselor with the employees of American Airlines. Ms. Tecala served on the editorial advisory board of Social Work Today, lectured around the country and abroad, and was named the Social Worker of the Year in 2000 by the National Association of Social Workers.

Ms. Tecala was a graduate of the School of Social Work of the University of Michigan, and she lived and practiced in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She passed away on June 24, 2016.