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Vicki Panagotacos: Gaining Traction in the Second Year

Posted on July 23, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

The author of the book Gaining Traction, Dr. Vicki Panagotacos, spoke with Dr. Gloria Horsley during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. In addition to operating her own therapy practice, Dr. Panagotacos is a researcher and committed to sharing suggestions on coping with grief—particularly beyond that tough first year. Many times the second year “ended up being tougher than the first year,” she explains, which was discovered after working with several patients in grief. Oftentimes, the “goal” is to get to that first year mark, but then what? It can be challenging to look beyond. Things like […]

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Ed Salisbury: Helping Men find Hope after Loss

Posted on July 22, 2015 - by Gloria Horsley

“Brother Ed,” a Texas native, welcomed Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. When asked what advice he had for men who were in grief, Salisbury says, “First and foremost, schedule time to be still. Pause. Reboot. When I get into my car, every time I sit in my car, fasten my seatbelt, I close my eyes and I take three deep breaths.” Particularly in the US, it’s expected that people—and especially men—have to do it all. They’re constantly moving, and in that movement they try to forget the negative. However, it can fester. […]

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The Compassionate Friends; People Helping People through Bereavement

Posted on July 21, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interviewed married couple Michele Muro and Babe-Anthony Muro on The Open to Hope Foundation show, in collaboration with The Compassionate Friends. The Muros lost daughter/stepdaughter Lori in an automobile collision while she was serving in the military. Gloria and Heidi also interview Arnie and Varda Wendorf, who also lost their daughter Lauren in a car accident. Following the loss of Lauren, the Wendorfs teamed up with The Compassionate Friends to become co-leaders for the Staten Island New York chapter. Michele says her daughter was just 24 when she died, and the family “was at a […]

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10 Artistic Activities to Help With Grief

Posted on July 21, 2015 - by Michelle Jarvie

The catacombs of my thoughts, as I grieved the loss of my husband, were painful and all-encompassing…if I didn’t distract myself. A comment, picture, motorcycle, or even a happy memory could throw me into a spiral that consumed my world for hours. One day, I got a package in the mail from my friend Jessica. Inside, I pulled out three envelopes, each one thicker than the last. I was quite puzzled as I found the first one held half a dozen colorful squares of construction paper. Each was a different size, but approximately a three-inch square. The next envelope held […]

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Richard Sightings

Posted on July 20, 2015 - by Basia Mosinski

Soon after my beloved son Richard died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism at age 46 in September of 2014, my family and I began experiencing what we call ‘Richard Sightings’. For us, a ‘sighting’ is a coincidence or synchronicity that reminds us of him or causes us to feel his presence. Richard was my only child. His death was my worst nightmare. It hasn’t been easy to move from my worst fear, heart-break, pain, suffering, and anger, to feelings of love, support and connection. Twenty years prior, I experienced another sudden tragedy when my stepson Logan was killed in a […]

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At My Father’s Desk: Dementia’s Silent Toll

Posted on July 20, 2015 - by Larry Patten

Grief can elbow its way into life long before death. This I remember . . . I visit my parents’ home. Only Mom lives there now. Because of dementia, Dad has resided in a memory care facility for nearly three months. He sleeps often. Awake he can be silent. Alert, he will often express himself in the third person, or engage in various—and disturbing—hallucinations. Dementia is awful. Dad’s in his golden years. Mom, too. Nothing glitters. Grief lurks. In my Dad’s office at home, I sit at his desk. One task on this visit has become sorting through my father’s […]

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Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley: Finding Hope After Loss

Posted on July 19, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Drs. Gloria Horsley and Heidi Horsley talked with one another during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference. This mother and daughter are leaders of The Open to Hope Foundation, and their personal experience has driven them to dedicate their life to grief counseling. Gloria lost her son, who was also Heidi’s brother, in an automobile accident. Scott died in 1983 at just 17 years old, along with his cousin. Gloria notes that she was a therapist at that time, although she didn’t specialize in grief therapy. “During that process of grieving together,” Gloria says she and Heidi […]

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The Far Territories of Grief

Posted on July 19, 2015 - by Mark Liebenow

I lay you down in the resting place. As for me, I will let my hair grow matted, put on a lion skin, and roam the steppe. — Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VIII In the early days of grief, it felt like I had been thrown into the far territories of human existence. No one knew what to say or do about my wife’s sudden death in her forties.  I found myself in an abandoned, wood-plank house in skeletal backbone mountains. Sorrow was the bare window through which I looked. All light had narrowed to this. Every morning the harsh light of […]

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Brittany Trauthwein: Continuing Bonds

Posted on July 19, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

The Open to Hope Foundation radio show was the first outreach strategy, and continues to be a fantastic means of support for those who have lost a loved one. In the “Continuing Bonds” episode, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley talk with Brittany Trauthwein, MA, a specialist in end of life, grief and loss. Trauthwein has conducted extensive research, kick-started by her own loss of several family members. She focuses on how people continue to build and strengthen bonds after a loss, with a special emphasis on adult children who have lost a parent. It’s possible to continue that parent-child relationship, […]

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Lisa Irish: Spirituality and Grief

Posted on July 18, 2015 - by Lisa Irish

In this enlightening episode of the Open to Hope Foundation show, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley discuss loss and hope with Lisa Irish. When Irish was only two years old, her mother was paralyzed in a car accident, which drastically altered Irish’s childhood. Her father died when she was 11 and, in her 20s, her mother passed away. Irish says she learned from an early age to see life through a “lens of loss” and has found it to be a great teacher. Today, Irish is a chaplain and serves as a bereavement coordinator at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. People […]

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