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Molly Gandour: A documentary called Peanut Gallery

Posted on August 5, 2015 - by Molly Gandour

Molly Gandour created Peanut Gallery, a documentary that addressed her sister’s death and the silence that ensued. Only recently did Gandour and her parents begin talking about the death. She shares her story with Dr. Heidi Horsley during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. Her sister died when Gandour was ten, and it wasn’t until she was an adult that the subject was breached. She returned to India to start this conversation. “It really captures how difficult it is to have these conversations,” says Dr. Horsley. Gandour’s sister had leukemia for as long as she can remember, […]

Saints and Ordinary People: We All Live by Faith

Posted on August 4, 2015 - by Charles W. Sidoti

“The beauty of belief in the Communion of Saints is that it serves to remind us of our basic connectedness to one another as human beings, a spiritual connection that transcends death.” Life can be very lonely at times. It is also true, however, that we are never really alone. Something common to many religions is that they have certain men and women whose lives of faith stand out in such a way that they serve as examples for others. Some religions call them saints, while other religions do not, but most have their great men and women whose lives […]

Using the Pain of Grief as a Catalyst for Personal Growth

Posted on August 4, 2015 - by Maria Kubitz

We all have defining moments. In fact, our lives are filled with them. I would describe these moments as stepping though a portal of experience that reshapes the world you live in. Once you’ve been through one of these portals, you can never return to the world you once knew; you can never un-learn what you now know. The question becomes, what do you do with this new knowledge? Some of these portals are pleasurable and filled with awe and wonder. They could be like the freedom of getting your driver’s license or living on your own for the first […]

Purposeful Tears

Posted on August 4, 2015 - by Bart Sumner

I spent two of my weekends this July presenting and speaking at national conferences for grieving parents, grandparents, and siblings. Needless to say, during these weekends I encountered more than a few people who were battling tears. It seems like an obvious statement to say that people who had lost dear members of their family would be crying from time to time. In fact, one of the most important elements of these conferences is to provide a safe haven for grieving families to cry amongst their own; people who understand the tragic roads they find themselves on. Everyone who is […]

Summer Memories of my Father

Posted on August 3, 2015 - by Michael Nunley

Summer always comes with the memory of my father, Col. Billy F. Nunley’s funeral. The funeral service was on July 2nd and that made the fireworks and military tributes of July 4th a painful echo of the ceremony performed by the Air Force Honor Guard. The sky was a clear blue, the kind of day that sometimes prompted my father to say, “Good day to fly.” The slow drive up to the gravesite took us past flags and flowers, ribbons and wreathes, all in red, white, and blue. The young Air Force men and women carried out their duty flawlessly. […]

Stephanie Rose: Response of Men After Miscarriage

Posted on August 3, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

Stephanie Rose talks with Dr. Heidi Horsley about how men handle a miscarriage, an often unspoken trauma. A doctoral student at Purdue University, Rose is studying how men respond following a miscarriage. Dr. Horsley has had two miscarriages, and recalls it seeming like her own experience—her husband’s lack of support due to society’s minimized importance of the experience for him. Rose says that’s common. “Unfortunately, when people talk to the man…they’re saying ‘how is your wife?’” Men, of course, can experience a variety of emotions during this time but it’s brushed under the rug. The focus is usually on the […]

Hospice and Healing with Anne Baker

Posted on August 1, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley interviewed Anne Baker at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. Baker experienced two significant losses in her life, but moved forward and became a hospice volunteer. Now, she helps others on their death and grief journey. When she was seven, her mother died suddenly. Just three years later, her younger sister died. Baker recalls that at that time, there was no support for someone in her situation and she didn’t know how to look for or access resources. It was then, as a child, that she decided she wanted to dedicate her life to […]

Living in the In-Between Time

Posted on July 28, 2015 - by Charles W. Sidoti

There is a classic psychological question you may be familiar with that is related to our ability to wait on God: ”If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?” When we pray the words of the Serenity Prayer, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,” we present God with three requests: 1) The first request is for the ability to accept the things that we cannot change. Here we […]

Don Lipstein: Losing a Soldier Son to Suicide

Posted on July 27, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

In this episode of The Open to Hope Radio show, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interview Don Lipstein, who is a Peer Mentor Support and Training Coordinator for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors of Military Loss (TAPS). Lipstein began working with TAPS in the summer of 2012, shortly after the suicide death of his son, Joshua. Today, he’s key in providing support and hope for other military family members who are in the early stages of their grief. Lipstein says TAPS aided him in pinpointing hope during the darkest of days. Lipstein notes that Joshua served two terms in […]

Gail Rubin: Death Cafe

Posted on July 26, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Gail Rubin is the owner of Death Cafe and author of the book A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die. “My motto is, ‘talking about sex won’t make you pregnant and talking about funerals won’t make you dead’,” she says, which is why she specializes on using a light touch and tone even on serious subjects. She loves using humor, because laughing causes the body to release endorphins, which helps us relax. That’s exactly the state a person should be in when making such serious decisions like funeral and death planning. She recently spoke with […]