I have become a dancing social worker, after careers as a professional dancer and a Social Work professor. When I accompanied two of my adult children and my best friend through their illness and deaths, I learned that our toughest challenges call us out to discover our better selves. When facing such challenges as grief, loss, illness and death of a loved one, we become who we truly are. As an author, keynote speaker and performance artist I share how art-based tools have helped me and can help others get through life’s toughest challenges. Currently I direct the Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players, an InterPlay-based improvisational performance troupe I founded in 2006. We assist arts and human service organizations in achieving their noble purposes. The group has developed programs to address Ending the Stigma of Mental Illness, the Art of Grieving, Changing the Race Dance.