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Talking with Children About Grief

Posted on September 4, 2015 - by Linda Goldman

Linda Goldman discusses how to talk to children about grief with Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. Goldman authored Great Answers to Difficult Questions about Death for parents, and a children’s book called Children Also Grieve. As an expert in grieving and children, Goldman says the books are important for parents and professionals alike. How do you answer children’s questions? The reality is that a child’s question is a mirror to their soul and inner self. For example, one child asked, “What do you think heaven is?” By asking the same question back, […]

Daniel Shemwell: Stigma After Loss

Posted on September 3, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Together with Daniel Shemwell, Dr. Gloria Horsley discusses stigma surrounding some deaths. It exists on a continuum, explains Shemwell who’s currently a graduate student at Purdue University. It can occur in many ways, from socially avoiding the topic and ignoring it to outwardly and overtly shunning a person who’s going through a loss. Shemwell mentions a favorite book, The Reminder of Death, where the small reminders of death are seen as a trigger for a stigma. These triggers are avoided because they can remind people of death, and it’s important to note that triggers can be a person, too. An […]

Art Therapy Can Help in Healing from Grief

Posted on September 3, 2015 - by Nancy Gershman, LMSW

Artist and photographer Nancy Gershman, of Art for Your Sake, joins Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference to talk about art therapy as part of the grieving process. Gershman is a friend of The Open to Hope foundation and specializes in working with those who have lost a loved one and want to explore their grief journey using an artistic lens. She calls herself a “memory artist” and the moment she enters a room that hosts memories of a loved one, she can start picking out aspects that would make for a good […]

Anne M. Carson: Writing Poems about Death of Beloved

Posted on September 2, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Anne M. Carson, a poet from Australia, at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. Carson lost her husband, which is what directed her latest work. However, she was a poet before this loss. In Australia, it’s a ten year apprenticeship to release a book of poetry, which Carson had already completed before her husband’s death. Her latest work, which she reads to Dr. Horsley, focuses on bereavement, her husband’s illness, and the fact that Western societies aren’t very “good” at grieving. Carson’s book of poetry, Removing the Kimono, features a middle section dedicated […]

Forgiveness in Grief

Posted on September 2, 2015 - by Maria Kubitz

I visited my 95-year old grandmother recently. She lives over 300 miles from me, so I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. As we sat catching up, she mentioned that she had been having more and more thoughts about times earlier in life when, in her words, she did things that “were not very nice”. The example she gave me was when, as a frustrated young mother, she spanked my father out of anger during potty training that wasn’t going too smoothly. Recalling the memory brought her to tears. Knowing my father was coming to stay […]

Lara Krawchuk: Grieving for Dad

Posted on September 1, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley discusses grieving for dad with Lara Krawchuk, a clinical social worker in Pennsylvania. She lost her father, paternal grandmother, and was handling becoming a new mother all at once. As a specialist in oncology therapy and an adjunct professor in the grief and loss field, Krawchuk is a strong believer in discovering meaning in grief. She points out that her father died too young and simply at the wrong time. Having two children is difficult enough without losing a grandparent, but she realized she saw hope in her children’s faces every day. Today, she knows her father […]

Pursuit of ‘Answers’ May Be Way to Avoid Feelings

Posted on September 1, 2015 - by Annie Marler

When someone dies suddenly or in unexpected circumstances, you will be overcome by the sort of grief that seems consuming (with all of the complicating bedfellows of anger, disbelief, guilt) and you’re going to face the hardest questions to answer. How did it happen? And why did it happen? Since my best friend died, I have found myself searching for answers to these questions and when the darkness descends in me, I fear my only chance for peace is locked within the secrets of her death. I was able (no, doggedly persistent, in all honesty) to “break” into my friend’s […]

‘Isn’t Mom Done Being Dead Yet?’

Posted on August 30, 2015 - by Lauren Muscarella

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.” That’s what my mom always said. I’d holler back, “Well, one right and one wrong don’t make a right either, MMMommm.” Whenever she said that, I had no idea what she was talking about. I took it as a sign of weakness like she was advocating I be a doormat. I was sensitive to the idea that woman are nurturing pushovers, only. We’re constantly bombarded with the idea that women are people pleasers. We see articles saying women use the word “just” more than men, and that we apologize when someone bumps into us, […]

Brianne Overton: Helping Teens Grieve

Posted on August 30, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

Brianne Overton tells Dr. Heidi Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference that teens really don’t have a voice when it comes to grief. Since they’re in between children and adults, many adults think they’ll grieve similarly to their more mature peers, but that isn’t the case. Teens are in a demographic of their own and they do grieve differently. Plus, in the Digital Era, more and more teens look online for support and have developed their own methods (which is why the phrase “funeral selfie” is a reality). Adults might think teens aren’t grieving because […]

Pastor Ron Ritter: Telling Your Story After the Death of a Loved One

Posted on August 29, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

During the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley interviewed Pastor Ron Ritter about storytelling after a loved one’s death. Pastor Ritter holds an MD and Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Drexel University in Philadelphia and completed his seminary training at Concordia Theological Seminary in Illinois. Ordained a pastor within the Lutheran Church in Missouri Synod in 1970, he’s a Baltimore native and served in the US Marine Corps Reserve for five years in the 1960s. His military career includes serving as the Navy Chaplain for an additional six years after reserve duty. During this […]