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Alexis Sandagato: Teens and Grief

Posted on November 30, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

The latest National Alliance for Grieving Children conference brought together Alexis Sandagato and Dr. Heidi Horsley. Sandagato is a teenager who’s a junior in high school and doing a three-year research project on the impacts of parental death and how that affects children. She lost her father when she was two years old, and has spent her childhood without her father. What helped her heal was having a supportive family and professional help. If you feel you need it, don’t be afraid of what anyone else will say or think. Children need support, and to know that other kids have […]

Julie Lockhart: Helping Kids After Parent Loss

Posted on November 28, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

While at the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley connected with Julie Lockhart, who operates a non-profit in southern Oregon called Winter Spring. This organization helps parents tend to their children after a parent loss. Father loss comes with a host of issues. Kids who lose a father lose a sense of their identity. The remaining parent or guardians don’t know how to deal with that kind of grief. Lockhart recommends honesty and openness to what your child is experiencing. Children grieve in doses, and often try to protect the remaining parent. Kids often don’t show their […]

Donna Shuurman: Never Too Late to Heal

Posted on November 27, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Meeting at the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Dr. Gloria Horsley and Donna Shuurman meet to talk about healing after a loss. Schuurman is the executive director of The Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon, and lost a sister before she was born. Shuurman worked in bereavement for 15 years, and never knew why she was drawn to the work. Years later, she found out that her parents (18 and 19 at the time) had a child who was a girl. She died five days after birth. Every June, her mother would get depressed and her father would say, “It’s about […]

Kaela Vance: Helping Kids Cope with Loss

Posted on November 26, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

Dr. Heidi Horsley talks with Kaela Vance at the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference. Vance is getting ready to work with an organization, as well as build her own organization, in Columbus, Ohio that help kids cope with loss. When she was seven years old, her mom died of ovarian cancer. As the eldest of three siblings, that loss inspired her to do this work. Dr. Horsley relates, having been inspired by her brother’s death. As a grieving child, Vance recommends that parents look for a program to help children heal. Vance joined Stepping Stones, which offered day camps […]

Sheila Munafo Kanoza: The Importance of Listening

Posted on November 25, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

Dr. Heidi Hosley is at the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, where she connected with Sheila Munafo Kanoza. Kanoza was widowed 22 years ago after her husband died following his cancer battle of ten years. She had three children, and couldn’t imagine how she could move on. She prayed for God to take her, and eventually asked what she was supposed to do with her life. She got the message that she was supposed to join a bereavement center, although she had no idea what that was at the time. She looked it up, and found that to be […]

Kayko Tamaki: Helping Grieving Teens

Posted on November 24, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Kayko Tamaki and Dr. Gloria Horsley connect at the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference. She works at Hospice of the East Bay, working with families in grief. There’s the Bridge Program that works with teens, kids, and their families. She says the most challenging group is the teens. They have so much happening and so much going on already. There are sports, school, friends, and big changes. Finding a group that works for them can be tough. However, Tamaki is looking to create engaging programs meeting teens where they are. Finding what holds their interest and what they relate […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]