Open to Hope Articles

Articles Home

Are You Laughing With the Sinners or Crying With the Saints This Valentine’s Day?

Posted on February 5, 2017 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

Billy Joel likes laughing with the sinners. Me? I’m still deciding whether to join him. OK, I’ll admit that during grade school, going for brownie points with the good nuns kept me crying with the saints more than laughing with the sinners. And, come Feb. 14, I demonstrated complete loyalty by rejecting every other saint. Why waste time with second-rate saints when St. Valentine himself was purported to have the highest success rate in making the love connection? Ah, Valentine’s Day. Who could forget decorating those big cardboard boxes with white paper doilies and pink and red hearts? Who […]

Coping With Pregnancy Loss

Posted on February 5, 2017 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Dr. Heidi Horsley has experienced miscarriages in her life, making this episode of The Grief Relief Show particularly close to her heart. Along with her mother and co-host, Dr. Gloria Horsley, they talk with Chandrama Anderson, MFT, and author of No U-Turn at Mercy Street: A Memoir and Resource Guide for Grieving Parents. Dr. David Adamson, MD, the Director of Fertility Physicians of Northern California and clinical professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine also joins the show along with LCSW, Beth Jaeger-Skigen. A miscarriage loss is often disenfranchised, and that’s especially true in regards to the father as well […]

Who Am I Now that My Sisters Passed Away?

Posted on February 4, 2017 - by Judy Lipson

Who am I now that my sisters passed away? Not an easy question to answer. My life has evolved through many unpredicted punches, most powerfully by the loss of my treasured sisters Margie and Jane in their young adulthood. As I plow through my cobwebs and entanglements, searching for the core of the authentic middle girl sandwiched between Margie and Jane, I have lost my path numerous times and desperately needed to navigate the direction back home to myself. My independent streak allowed me to attend overnight camp for eight weeks at age nine, step on a big bus for […]

Valentines Day After the Loss of a Child

Posted on February 1, 2017 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

How can you heal after the loss of a child? This is the hot topic on a special webinar of the Open to Hope Foundation, featuring Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interviewing Dr. Bob Baugher. He teaches grief and loss at Highline Community College, is an author at Open to Hope, and has also authored a number of books on grief, loss, and particularly child loss. Healing can be especially troubling on holidays, including Valentine’s Day. Deconstructing “behind the scenes” can help immensely. For example, Valentine’s Day is always associated with hearts, so asking yourself “Who do I hold in […]

You May Be Wandering, But You May Not Be Lost

Posted on January 31, 2017 - by Paul Coleman

In the aftermath of some great loss, we tend to move through our days as a wanderer in an unfamiliar place. Everything looks the same and yet–somehow it feels so different. How do we move on? When will life start to feel any semblance of normality? We go through the motions, placing one foot in front of the other, knowing we must trudge forward but–to where? To what life? In this phase, our close friends yearn for us to somehow re-boot our system and take life on with renewed purpose. And that seems unimaginable to us But it is precisely […]

A Candy Heart: When ‘Celebrating’ Doesn’t Seem Right

Posted on January 29, 2017 - by Neal Raisman

Valentine’s Day. Another day to feel my loss more deeply? Why do these celebrations continue to come up to remind me of my loss? To have others enjoy when I don’t seem to rise to the occasion. To send a Valentine’s Day card when I have lost my son? Can I celebrate the day and not betray his memory? Not cause extra grieving for for me. For him? Perhaps if we define the word celebrate, that might give me some answer. So what does it mean? Some of its meaning is to rejoice, to commemorate, to mark an event. What can […]

Healing After Miscarriage and Infertility

Posted on January 29, 2017 - by Kira Copperman

From Healing the Grieving Heart radio, November 20, 2008 Listen to radio show archive: MP3 Link Kira Copperman is a social worker and the President of KBC Consulting, a healthcare consulting firm that specializes in helping medical professionals improve their frontline customer service. Prior to KBC Consulting, she was the practice manager for a large fertility center in Manhattan entitled Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York. I 20006, she was honored by RESOLVE, the national infertility support organization, with “The Friend of RESOLVE” award because of her dedication and commitment to the organization. Her experience with patients dealing with the […]

The Rose Bush: A Sign From Dad

Posted on January 25, 2017 - by Lisa Khuraibet

As we approach February, I look out my kitchen window and see something that has caught my eye. It is a rose bush in bloom. This bush has been blooming throughout the winter. I first noticed it around Christmas time. Hmmm, peculiar. It’s never bloomed in the past. Yes, I live in Las Vegas but it has definitely been cold here – some nights, dipping down into the thirties. So, what is up with this crazy rose bush? To me, it is a sign. A sign that my father is looking down and pleased with my life. You see, he […]

Traumatic Grief May Interfere with Memory

Posted on January 25, 2017 - by Gloria Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley with the Open to Hope Foundation talks with Robert Zucker about traumatic grief, healing, and his own bereavement process. As a grief counselor and the author of The Journey Through Grief and Loss: Helping Yourself and Your Child When Grief is Shared, Zucker knows all too well how difficult bereavement can be. Every loss situation and everything we grieve for has a traumatic component according to Zucker. There’s no such thing as a grief that’s more traumatic than another. Deaths that are predictable are also traumatizing. There’s no use in comparing grief. Everyone has had a loss. […]

Creating a Legacy Video

Posted on January 21, 2017 - by Heidi Horsley

Documentary photographer Todd Hochberg talks about Moments Held, Legacy Work, which is an organization that connects families with documentarians like himself to capture the most poignant moments of life. Hochberg’s legacy videos are a popular option when a family knows that a loved one will pass soon, often from a terminal illness. For all the photos we take, sometimes on a daily basis, legacy photos are different. They capture the sheer joy of moments and showcase your loved one in their truest form. For Hochberg, it’s a way to blend his passions and skills with a means of service. Legacy […]