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Improv artist Marc Herson on Vision Quests for Mourners

Posted on November 28, 2014 - by Nancy Gershman, LMSW

Fasting on water, chanting his heart out and beating a drum for 4 solitary days in a pine valley opened a door to the afterlife for Marc Hershon. This and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with Hershon about his vision quest – a Renaissance man who performs and teaches improv; hosts and produces Succotash, the Comedy Podcast; draws an award-winning, weekly cartoon for California’s Half Moon Bay Review and names ubiquitous products (like Swiffer, Dasani and BlackBerry) as Creative Director for Lexicon Branding. The show must go on (then off) Conversations with fathers, now dead, are less awkward No one calls you by your given name in the afterlife Beating a drum goes well with confessing as loud as you can Make friends […]

The Thankful Day: Remembering My Loved Ones

Posted on November 27, 2014 - by Harriet Hodgson

I live in Minnesota, the land of more than 10,000 lakes, spectacular fall colors, and breathtaking spring times. As soon as the fall leaves start to turn yellow and orange and red, I start to prepare myself for Thanksgiving. It is a difficult holiday for me, and just thinking about Thanksgiving can make my body tense. This is a holiday filled with happy and sad memories. My deceased parents were married on Thanksgiving, so I think of them. Our elder daughter was born on Thanksgiving. The year she was born Thanksgiving was on the 23rd of the month. Ironically, she […]

One Solstice: A Family Ritual of Love, Remembrance, and Hope

Posted on November 27, 2014 - by Elaine Mansfield

My son Anthony arrived from California around three a.m. After a few hours’ sleep, he woke up groggy-eyed, made a pot of coffee, and took a run. He didn’t have much to say, so I let my words rest. My sons and I have been through big changes since their dad, my husband Vic, died eighteen months ago. Holidays have been difficult, but our first Christmas felt disastrous. This year, I hoped to make more space for grief, openly acknowledge what we’d lost, and soothe our sorrow. After lunch, Anthony told me about his California life, and I talked about […]

A Bereavement Group – For Mothers Only

Posted on November 26, 2014 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

Six years ago this January, I shared a cup of tea with a grieving friend following the sudden loss of her son. I had an understanding of how she felt because I had lost a daughter a few years previously. While we sipped our tea I asked my friend what she thought about me starting a no-cost bereavement group for mothers who have lost children. As a practicing certified group psychotherapist for 34 years, I felt there was a need for this kind of specialty group and I was called to do it. My friend said to count her in […]

Mourning Mother

Posted on November 25, 2014 - by Cheryl Espinosa-Jones

Exactly a month after my mother’s death, I’ve boarded a plane for Toronto, Canada to train with the cancer center there in their protocol, CALM (Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully). It’s hard to leave home right now. I stick close to my wife and become easily overcome by the many details of living. On the other hand, I’m going somewhere that my grief will be, I assume, accepted, and where I will have space to appreciate that my mother died prepared, facing death squarely with her eyes open, just as this program teaches us to facilitate. What a gift she […]

What No One Ever Told Me About Grief

Posted on November 24, 2014 - by Susan Casey

Last Valentine’s—that rose-scented, chocolate-infused day, God reached a hand down, scooped my brother’s soul in his Godly palm without asking if we were ready, if Rocky was ready, to transition from this world into the next. He was plucked from our lives without any warning at all, leaving a jagged hole in our wholeness, sending tremors through our family while hairline cracks mushroomed through our “ROCK” solid foundation. The past nine months have crawled by in a blurry, non-linear haze. I’d attach wheels to the next three, hitch them together like freight train cars, and shove them over a cliff […]

She Called Me Sweetie

Posted on November 17, 2014 - by Alicia Coppola

There wasn’t one definitive phone call that I could point to and say that this was the moment when I knew to I had to go home and visit her. There were a few conversations with various people, my mother, brother, my Uncle Charles* (not by blood, nor was She, just my parents dear friend’s. She, my Aunt, was my mother’s College roommate. They’d been best friends for 53 years. No small feat.) In these phone calls all I heard within me was the faint whisper, echoing from long ago. What I heard was “Go.” It was the same whisper […]

Never Give Up

Posted on November 16, 2014 - by John Pete

When things are bad and don’t seem to be getting better, don’t give up hope. There is always a better way if you are willing to keep looking until you find it. ~John Pete ❂ ❂ ❂

Creating a New Reality After a Child-Loss

Posted on November 16, 2014 - by Monica Jones

Grief has many lessons. One of them is the opportunity to re-create ourselves from scratch because it has the power to take what we are, what we thought we were meant to be, to a far-away place. A place that we felt we would never be able to go. We are stuck with a new reality, a reality that we don’t like. When I lost my son, for a while I fought that reality. I fought the dark place where my identity, my plans that would never be fulfilled, and all my dreams had been taken away from me. I […]

Activities to help Children Process Grief: Interview with Dr. Natalie Carlos

Posted on November 15, 2014 - by Gloria Horsley

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Dr. Natalie Carlos, who works in the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, about her work with children and grief. Natalie got into this field after being motivated and inspired by her own personal experience. Natalie’s mom died after a two-year battle with cancer when Natalie was just nine years old. After that, Natalie realized how long and difficult the process of grieving is. That motivated her to go into the field of psychology and work with others who are grieving or going through a traumatic event like […]