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Dorenzer Thomas: Roberta’s House, Faith, Music and Grief

Posted on May 21, 2016 - by Jessica Tyner Mehta

Dr. Gloria Horsley connects with Dorenzer Thomas of to talk about how faith and music can be integral to the healing process. She’s the Youth Coordinator of Programming and works closely with children and families who are bereaved. Located in Baltimore, Roberta’s House is the only such grief center in the area. Thomas also holds an office in her church, and she’s chairman of the church council. She says spirituality is essential, and the bible is used at times in Roberta’s House. However, everyone needs someone to talk to when going through a loss. If you have faith in […]

Jamie Yetter: Families and Organ Donation

Posted on May 20, 2016 - by Gloria Horsley

The family services coordinator with the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA), Jamie Yetter, sat down with Dr. Gloria Horsley to discuss organ donation. Families and organ donation is a tricky subject. As a chaplain, Yetter gets referrals from hospitals about someone who potentially is an organ donor. Yetter goes on-site to see if the patient really is a potential donor. She then works with the physician and medical team to find out the plan of action. Most importantly, when appropriate, she begins to support and accompany the family through end of life care and organ donation. Her role was […]

Managing A Death Anniversary

Posted on May 19, 2016 - by Susan Kaden

After losing my husband to brain cancer last year, I was often warned about the one-year anniversary of losing a loved one. The Death Anniversary. I was no stranger to this feeling; I had lost my father when I was a kid and my mother passed away the year before last… except this time was different. This time it wasn’t just me I had to worry about, but how my kids would handle it too. As the day approached I experienced many different emotions, as did those around me. After coping with the day, I now have some wisdom to […]

Mother’s Day Memories

Posted on May 17, 2016 - by Carla J Vagnini

Let me just start by saying it was a wonderful Mother’s Day surprise to see that the Open to Hope Foundation wanted me to write articles for them! It made getting up at 4am today to catch my 5am bus all worth it. My Mother’s Day was not one of the best, and therefore I told my husband I officially claim a “do-over”. You see, my husband and I were serving wine at a winery in Northern Virginia. It was a beautiful day, after what seemed like weeks of rain, and the winery had a great Mother’s Day event planned. […]

Young Adults Coping with Grief

Posted on May 16, 2016 - by Beryl Kaminsky

Counselor in Houston, and author of Mending the Broken Heart: After Your Child Dies Beryl Kaminsky, shares with the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) how young adults can help heal themselves on a grief journey. She works with those dealing with loss and grief, and especially death and dying. Being in your late teens to early 30s and dealing with grief is juxtaposition. This is usually when you’re focusing on yourself, having fun, and starting a family. However, losing a loved one during this time turns everything upside down. This can cause great uncertainty, but grief can also […]

Learning to Allow in the Face of Tragic Loss

Posted on May 14, 2016 - by Gabrielle Doucet

Paralytic Loss. That was me at ground zero after losing my adult son Drew in the spring of 2011 to suicide. I was so unprepared for what followed, that my mind just sort of stopped, and everything I knew with certainty was simply washed right out of my brain. The reality is that suicide is horrific, unspeakable Loss at its heart. What I have discovered is this: loss is loss – there are no measuring sticks to tell you which loss is greater than another. Loss has no “tragedy meter”. It is unique to each person, and it cannot be […]

Eternity is Real and Death is a Myth

Posted on May 13, 2016 - by Sheri Perl

“It is very beautiful over there.” Thomas Edison, on his deathbed, describing a vision he was having. “Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow!” Steve Jobs, on his deathbed, last words uttered. Yes, losing a child is a terrible thing. Attending your own child’s funeral has to be the most devastating, surreal and painful event you could ever live through and yet, somehow we have, and some of us more than once! What’s worse is that we now get to go through the rest of our physical lives without them here to share the events and milestones of a lifetime, but, […]

National Alliance for Grieving Children Helps Kids with Grief

Posted on May 12, 2016 - by Pamela Gabbay

Executive Director of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children, Dr. Donna Schuurman, talks with the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) about resources for children facing a loss. She’s joined by Pamela Gabbay, part of the National Alliance for Grieving Children. The two work closely with children who have experienced loss through death. They provide national resources and connect those looking for information with those who need information. Gabbay serves on the board of the Alliance, and works at the Morning Star Center in Palm Desert, California. The National Alliance is a membership organization which can be accessed by […]

Spring—A Haunted Season

Posted on May 11, 2016 - by Greg Adams

We are all haunted by the dead, and that reality, like so many others, is both challenge and comfort. Autumn with its Halloween, falling leaves, frosty air and increasingly bare branches is usually thought of as the season of haunting, but we grieving people know that spring has ghosts of its own. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the end of the school year are especially fertile times for visits from our dead, be they grandparents, parents, children or others. It’s a crowded time of year. “Dead and gone” is the common phrase, but we know better. In many ways, it’s […]

A Daughter Remembers Her Father’s Creative Legacy

Posted on May 9, 2016 - by Katherine Relf-Canas

My father, Geoff Relf, a longtime San Diego advertising and communications figure passed away July 28, 2015, at 85, after battling cancer, surviving his wife, Connie by five years. The couple met at the University of Washington and moved to San Diego in 1956, then to La Jolla in 1959, where they raised four children: Terrie, Robin, Kirk, and Katherine. He was born in Tacoma, Washington, the son of Henry Clark Relf, an international lumber broker and De Lonto May Kirk, who met at the University of Washington. He was fond of sharing stories of his precocious childhood endeavors and […]