Open to Hope Articles

Articles Home

A Young Widower’s Marathon, Part 1: Cancer and its Aftermath

Posted on April 2, 2017 - by Michelle Jarvie

The night of April 21, 2016, I opened my email and saw the following subject: “My dentist, Melanie, gave me your name as a fellow griever…” I thought back to my last cleaning and kind dentist who always remembered and asked about my journey. As I clicked on Andy Guice’s name and began to read his message, unveiling the heartbreak of cancer and young widowhood, I most recognized the plea to not feel alone. I stayed up late that night, meditating on his words and what I could offer in return. I was 23 when my husband was killed on […]

Open to Hope Television Wins Prestigious WAVE Award

Posted on March 21, 2017 - by Gloria Horsley

We are pleased to announce that our Open to Hope television show Returning to Work After Loss has won a 2017 Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE). Through Public Access and its dedicated team of volunteers, we have been able to produce shows that help people find hope after loss and give a voice to grief and recovery. We started hosting Open to Hope radio programs ten years ago, but could not link into television. Producers were not interested in grief and loss even though our mission is really about hope and healing. Thus, we were excited in 2013 when we […]

5 Tips to Cope With Grief After Divorce

Posted on March 17, 2017 - by Maile Proctor

When you lose a spouse, there’s an inevitable grieving period which is accompanied by a roller coaster of emotions. When you think of this grieving process, you probably associate it with loss due to illness or tragedy, but what about divorce? When partners divorce, there’s still a grieving process that goes along with the split. Divorcees need their friends and a support network just as much as a widower. There’s still sadness, anger, denial, confusion and strong emotions. Here, we’ll look at the similarities and differences between the two types of loss so you’re better equipped to deal with your […]

Seven Years Later, the Grief Lingers

Posted on March 9, 2017 - by Brandi Reyna

7 years seems like such a long time, yet it also seems like such a small amount of time as well. 7 years full of birthdays, holidays, weddings, birth of nieces and nephews, beginnings and endings of friendships, and cross country moves. March 9th is the 7th anniversary of my beloved Greg being with Jesus. I wish I could say that loss gets easier as time passes. Truthfully, the grief just gets different. Life goes on and I have just learned to live without Greg being physically present in my life. I have a full time job and a part […]

Family First at Facebook: Company Offers Groundbreaking Bereavement Policy

Posted on March 8, 2017 - by Gloria Horsley

The world watched Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg deal with her own grief process when she lost her husband in May 2015. Like anyone who loses a loved one, she needed time to be with her family and go through the healing process. It’s a human need that more companies are finally starting to understand doesn’t just fix itself overnight. And, Facebook is a company that is setting a precedent with its new bereavement policy just as Netflix did with its parental leave policy. A Heart for Workers Yes, it turns out that organizations really do have a heart when it […]

What Can We Do to Bring Joy to the Journey?

Posted on March 7, 2017 - by Elizabeth Horwin

This is the fourth article written for the Open To Hope foundation and online community based on concepts, research and experiences shared in, LOVE NEVER DIES, by Elizabeth Horwin. WHAT CAN WE DO? The first article in this series focused on the concept of What is Life, the second on the concept of What is Death and the third on What are our Beliefs. This last article focuses on what can we do going forward in our lives to resonate with the vibrations of love and peace, to have joyful experiences during our journey on planet earth. During our experiences […]

Is Stigma a Part of Your Grief?

Posted on March 1, 2017 - by Gabrielle Doucet

Societal stigma. Here is a topic associated with loss that few of us think about and even fewer of us talk about. By definition, stigma is an idea, condition or issue that the community (or even the nation-at-large) has targeted as disgraceful or reproachable. Because stigma exists around us in every aspect of life, the impact of it can follow us into our personal loss. Stigma can occur to survivors when our loved one’s existence has crossed the lines of what society thinks is permissible and acceptable. Our loved ones likely felt it when they were living, and we are […]

Healing Tears: No Apologies for Crying

Posted on March 1, 2017 - by Jill Smoot

I remember the first year of our son’s passing. How I vacillated between feeling numb, wooden, dry-eyed, to days when all I could do was cry. So many times I never knew what I might do. I had never been someone who normally cried in front of people, and yet I found myself doing just that. But then, fresh in my grief, nothing was normal. I was on new ground, I had never traveled before, and if there were rules of conduct somewhere, I could not find them. There are no schools to equip you for gut-searing grief. Tears were […]

How to Turn Grief into Positive Action

Posted on February 28, 2017 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley with the Open to Hope Foundation discuss continuing bonds and closure after loss. At 17 years old, Heidi’s brother Scott was killed in a car accident. Everyone told her and her mother that they would “get over it” eventually and find closure. Know that closure isn’t for love accounts—it’s for bank accounts. You can and should get over the suffering, but getting over the loss can feel like erasing someone from your life. Instead, you can transform your grief into actions that can positively change the world. The mother-daughter team created the Open to Hope […]

The Grief of Things: Owning and Letting Go

Posted on February 26, 2017 - by Greg Adams

Let’s acknowledge this obvious fact from the start: people are not things. The house burns down, every item within is lost, but our family survives unhurt. We’ll take that every time. The car is totaled but our loved ones walk away. Eternally grateful as we replace the car. We go into the water and wallet, keys, and phone (!) are lost, but no lives. A near miss and a story with a good ending. People are not things and they matter more than (any) things. But things do matter. I’m reminded how much things matter, and what a challenge that […]