Open to Hope Articles

Articles Home

Revolutionary Act: Choosing Love When Death is All Around

Posted on August 8, 2016 - by Cheryl Espinosa-Jones

The past few months, I’ve been struck dumb, collapsed by the weight of what Francis Weller calls the “sorrows of the world.” The best I could do most of the time was share stories other people were writing. I managed a brief comment on Good Grief, my radio show, after 49 people were killed at the Pulse club in Orlando and then silence captured me. What could I say to the unfolding of too many events to absorb, all of them pointing to the tremendous capacity of human beings to go cold and violent? After the Pulse massacre, I flashed […]

Tom Demaria: Grief in the Classroom

Posted on August 5, 2016 - by Gloria Horsley

How can teachers and staff help children in school who are grieving? That’s the question Dr. Gloria Horsley has for Dr. Tom Demaria. The work of grief begins in schools and should always start in the classroom. He began working with superintendents, school boards, and school psychologists to come up with principles everyone can follow in the classroom. If you wait until a child gets symptoms of trauma, it can be too late. A lot of teachers don’t know what to say or how to say it. Talking about death isn’t easy for anyone, and many teachers aren’t prepared. Teachers […]

Annette Childs: Journey from Loss to Healing

Posted on August 1, 2016 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Psychologist Dr. Annette Childs, author of Will You Dance?, talks with the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and shares tips for journeying from grief to healing. Grief and loss are short words that have the power to bring even the strongest people to their knees. Dr. Childs began to see grief as faceless visitors with intense strength. Today, she helps hundreds of families each year who are suffering from a loss. Watching this unfold for so many is what inspired Dr. Childs to write her book, which is a companion to grievers around the world. It tells the […]

Joe Primo: Supporting Grieving Kids

Posted on July 29, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

You can help kids who are bereaved. Dr. Gloria Horsley talks with Joe Primo of Good Grief. He provides programs to kids, teens, and young adults who’ve lost a parent or sibling. There are also groups for parents who have undergone a child loss. They work with 150 communities throughout New Jersey and raise awareness while advocating for the whole child. There are thousands of bereaved children in the northeast, and they need facts, honesty, and support after a loss. Caring adults who support them and talk openly is critical. Kids need to be able to express themselves freely without […]

Grace Christ: Comparing Sudden and Anticipated Loss

Posted on July 28, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

Dr. Heidi Horsley interviews Dr. Grace Christ about sudden loss vs. anticipated loss for the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Both professors at the Columbia University School of Social Work, the two Drs. know each other—and their work—quite well. Dr. Christ also works with the New York Fire Department and is the director of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network. She’s the author of two books about grief and counseling. As Dr. Horsley’s mentor, they’ve worked together since the 9/11 tragedy. Working with families who experience anticipated loss is very different than working with sudden loss. An […]

The Shocking Truth About Elisabeth-Kubler Ross’s 5 Stages of Grief

Posted on July 27, 2016 - by Gemini Adams

We are universally connected in our grief and suffering regarding the end of life. There’s no escaping the fact that 56.5 million people die each year — 2.5 million in the USA alone — that’s 6,500 individuals departing daily. Yet, as founders of The Grief Recovery Institute, John James and Russell Friedman note, “We are ill-prepared to deal with death. We receive more education about simple first aid than we do about loss, death, divorce and emotional loss.” And sometimes the education we do receive is rather confusing. Typically, when it comes to understanding this painful aspect of the human […]

Grieving Children: How We Can Help Them

Posted on July 26, 2016 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

The Executive Director of the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Andy McNiel, joins Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley to talk about the organization and how to help bereaved children. Understanding that grief is an integral, personal and transitional part of life is critical. McNiel says understanding how grief impacts kids is key. There used to be a belief that children didn’t grieve because 1) they weren’t old enough and 2) many children hide their grief in order to protect their parents. In the past few decades, it’s been “discovered” that kids are capable of grief. Alan Pedersen, the Executive Director […]

Spider in the Candle Jar

Posted on July 24, 2016 - by Sarah Kravits

I keep a yoga mat rolled out in a small room in my house. In front of it I have a candle in a jar, with a sticker on the bottom that identifies the fragrance as “inner peace.” I light it when I practice because the flame helps me focus, and I also figure that a little extra inner peace could not be a bad idea. The other day as I came to the mat, I struck a match and lit the candle as I always do, and stood up to begin. Bending forward I noticed something out of the […]

Kathleen Gilbert: Couples Coping with Child Loss

Posted on July 20, 2016 - by Gloria Horsley

Dr. Kathleen Gilbert, an Associate Professor at Indiana University, talks with Dr. Gloria Horsley at an Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference. How can couples cope with the loss of a child? Partners can have very different reactions, explains Dr. Gilbert. Men and women in general tend to have different approaches to life and death. Couples who go through this traumatic experience can grow closer—or farther apart. Men will “do the man’s job” of buying caskets, making the arrangements, and basically manage the world around their wives. Women are given permission to be the emotional griever. Women are […]

Tiffany Papageorge: Transformation Comes When We Feel the Loss

Posted on July 19, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

During the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Heidi Horsley connected with Tiffany Papageorge to discuss her book, My Yellow Balloon: A Book About Loss. It’s a book about any kind of loss, using metaphors to take you through the process of loss. It was initially written as a high school project for class. Her teacher adored it so much she tried to publish it. That didn’t happen, but the story followed Papageorge through the years. Now it’s been published, and focuses on the transformation that comes when we feel our way through grief rather than push it aside. […]