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Cindy Meek: Grief Support Comes in Many Forms

Posted on November 23, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

While attending the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Heidi Horsley talks to Cindy Meek about Amanda the Panda, a grief support group. She’s the program coordinator in West Point, Iowa. The organization offers a free year of grief support to anyone who’s experienced a loss. There are camps, family nights, and other events offering peer to peer support. The whole family is welcome, and Meek says the biggest step to healing is realizing you’re not alone. Others have been in your situation, and there’s great power in healing and reaching out. Secondly, know that grief is something that […]

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Kelli Tucker: Helping People After the Death of a Loved One

Posted on November 22, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

At the latest National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Kelli Tucker talks with Dr. Gloria Horsley about how to help those who are bereaved. Tucker works with Roberta’s House in Baltimore, the only grief center in the city. She got a job offer via email from Roberta’s House, interviewed, and was hired as the volunteer coordinator. She’s had plenty of losses herself, including her brother who was killed by a drunk driver. He was a police officer working on New Year’s Eve when he was struck and killed. Years before that, her mother died of breast cancer. She considers the […]

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Ashley Maderr: Death of a Father

Posted on November 21, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

At the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley talked with Ashley Maderr, who lost her father. Together with her mother and sister, Maderr now serves the bereaved. Located in California, Maderr was 20 years old when her father died. As an adult child, it can often be a disenfranchised loss that isn’t recognized. It was one of the toughest things she’s been through. As a daughter, she didn’t realize how much she needed her dad until he was gone. Going through dating and being an older sister, it was critical to have a male perspective. At 20 […]

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Darcey Fairchild: Nature-Based Grief Programs for Teens

Posted on November 20, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

At the conference for the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Dr. Heidi Horsley talked with Darcey Fairchild who works with TAPS, an organization which serves military families. She began her work just over two years ago in Montana. It was a means of incorporating her love for nature-based programming and her background in social work. Nature based programming can be very helpful for children in grief. As a native Montanan, Fairchild found peace in the natural world and uses it as a way to regulate her emotions. There’s something incredible about spending the day in front of a mountain or […]

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Jordan Miraglia: Helping Children through the Grieving Process

Posted on November 20, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

During the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Heidi Horsley interviewed Jordan Miraglia of Hands of Hope, an expert in helping children with grief. Miraglia is a bereavement coordinator and former student of Dr. Horsley’s. She works with the only palliative care organization in North Carolina. Partnering with a hospice organization, Miraglia works with grieving children in hospice and palliative care. She manages a bereavement camp twice per year, which is child-centered and family focused, helping the entire family unit. It is very tough to be the grieving parent of a grieving child. She recommends parents to help their […]

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Chuck Overton: Spiritual Journey

Posted on November 19, 2015 - by Neil Chethik

The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference brings together Chuck Overton and Neil Chethik from Open to Hope. Overton is one of the spiritual directors at a care center in Tennessee. As a chaplain, he finds that the biggest concern for those on a spiritual journey going through a loss is feeling abandoned by God. Sometimes they feel abandoned by their spiritual community. They feel isolated from the pastor, members of their church, and even their friends and family. The long-term continued support can fade away after a short amount of time. That’s when difficulty really occurs. This […]

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Pregnancy Losses Challenge Mother’s Resolve

Posted on November 19, 2015 - by Debbie Haine Vijayvergiya

Since I was a young girl, the only thing that I was 100% certain of was that one day I would get married and become a mom. At the age of 30, I got the married part down and before I knew it, we were ready to get working on making me a mom. I had never been given any reason to believe that the whole process of becoming a mother would be remotely difficult, on any level. After a few months of trying with no such luck, I invested in a fertility monitor.  I was fortunate enough to get […]

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Holiday Candle Lighting and Cooking

Posted on November 18, 2015 - by Alan Pedersen

The Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends, Alan Pedersen, joins Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley during a special holiday edition of The Open to Hope show. He offers advice for bereavement throughout the holidays, which is often the toughest time of year no matter how long ago the loss was. A video segment from the Midpensula Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is featured, and the National Candle Lighting event is highlighted. Registered dietician and cookbook author Katie Morford also joins the program to offer tips and recipes for easy and healthy holiday cooking. She penned The Best Lunch Box Ever […]

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Assemble Your Holiday Survival Kit Now!

Posted on November 17, 2015 - by Harriet Hodgson

  It’s here again—the time to assemble my Holiday Survival Kit. I do this every year, well before Thanksgiving, because my deceased daughter was born on this day, and it’s difficult for me. Almost nine years have elapsed since she died, and as the years passed, the contents of my kit changed. What’s in this year’s kit? Special plans. My husband is disabled and I’m his primary caregiver. Our plans have to be detailed and I have to consider things like lead-time and wheelchair van parking. I try to plan fun activities, such as a funny movie, seeing holiday lights, […]

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Then and Now: The Roller Coaster of Being ‘Thankful’

Posted on November 16, 2015 - by Michelle Jarvie

THEN (2008) “Michelle? Are you there?” It was a good question. As the basket passes with blank cards – a tradition in our family for Thanksgiving – my arm seizes, refusing to lift itself and accept the basket. I know what is coming, and so the logical and emotional sides of my brain slip on their boxing gloves. I’m expected to write what I’m thankful for, throw the card back in the basket, and hear it read at the dinner table. I understand the importance of carrying on this tradition; I do, even though my beloved husband died just three […]

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