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Do you want to read stories of others who have been where you are? Are you looking for bereavement help, and advice? Look no further. We offer over 7,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.

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The Awakening: A Widow-to-Be in Five Scenes

Posted on April 16, 2020 - by Ginny Grulke

SCENE I I awoke with a start; I had been buried in a dream, but a sound reached in and pulled me out abruptly. Was it a thump? Raising up on my elbows, I glanced at the clock. 2:34 AM. Very dark outside, a cloudy night with no moon. The blue glow of the digital clock gave the room an eerie tint. It is not unusual to hear noises in the night when you live in the country. Wind knocking over trash cans, tree branches falling on a roof, a, raccoon upsetting a planter. Occasionally a horse kicking the side […]

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How Severe Grief Affects Marriage, and Ways to Recover

Posted on April 16, 2020 - by Ralph Macey

“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us.” — Helen Keller Facing the death of a dear one is too difficult to believe and the pain is unbearable to any person. The effect of grief will be devastating if one of your beloved friends or family members has passed away. No matter how much time you spend to forget this shock, their death is difficult to deal with. Many experts say that grief is a part of life. But it can be said also that it is […]

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Death From Drug Overdose and Survival Support During Covid-19

Posted on April 13, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

On today’s Facebook Live, we discussed dealing with the grief associated with losing a loved one to a drug overdose. However, we  also extended that to other areas, including those impacted by drug and alcohol addiction who may have also died from suicide, impaired driving, murder, accident, or organ failure. Each year, tens of thousands die from drug overdoses while thousands more die from related situations. The loved ones left behind must address their grief, which has become even more difficult in the wake of COVID-19. The Epidemic Before the Pandemic Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were dealing with […]

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Learning to Interpret Your COVID-19 Dreams

Posted on April 11, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

Today, our Open to Hope podcast featured Carla Blowey, a certified Dream Work Facilitator who works with the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work alongside its founder, Jeremy Taylor. She is the author of “Dreaming Kevin: The Path to Healing.” Carla presents dream programs for individuals, groups and national bereavement organizations on-site and online. COVID-19 Dreams My daughter and co-host, Heidi, shared her own experience with COVID-19 and the accompanying dreams of a dark cloud or entity chasing her in her dreams both before and over the course of having the virus. This may be similar to what others are experiencing […]

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Honoring Death Unrelated to COVID-19

Posted on April 11, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

Are you feeling alone and unacknowledged in your grief, especially when it involves honoring a death that is unrelated to COVID-19? It’s understandable given the intense focus on COVID-19 and the rising number of deaths from the virus. However, the reality is that loved ones are still dying due to other medical conditions, accidents, and more. We asked Dr. William G. (Bill) Hoy Clinical Professor of Medical Humanities at Baylor University to join us for a recent podcast to discuss the topic of honoring death unrelated to COVID-19. Bill is a major author and leading expert in bereavement and pastoral […]

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Why Grievers Must Be Extra Cautious During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Posted on April 10, 2020 - by Peggy Bell

Losing a spouse brings on so much grief. You feel torn apart, depressed, and sometimes unattached from the people around you. Just getting through the day can sometimes be an enormous task in itself. And while dealing with all of this, you now have something else to deal with: the Coronavirus or Covid-19. Believe it or not, this actually is another form of grief. This disease is a horrible one. It does not discriminate based on age, gender, or social status. And it certainly doesn’t discriminate based on marital status. Most of us are not able to go to work, […]

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When You Don’t Get to Say Goodbye

Posted on April 9, 2020 - by Jill Smoot

During this world pandemic, I identified with a woman on a national newscast interview. She said the hardest thing about her mothers death was that her mom died alone, and she didn’t even get to tell her goodbye. Sudden death is extremely hard.  I know. Our oldest son died unexpectedly some years ago. He died alone. There was not any gathering around a hospital bed with family nearby. There were no sweet farewells, no parting last words.  Just a phone call one hot August day telling me Aaron had died. All the things you wish you had said, all the […]

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Mercy, Comfort and Hope During the Pandemic

Posted on April 7, 2020 - by Ann Schiebert

I don’t know about you, but when I watched the USS Mercy and the USS Comfort docking at ports on the West and East coasts, my breath was captured by the images of help and assistance coming to all of us who need medical care while the Coronavirus invades our country. There were the two hospital ships, gleaming white, with scores of medical staff waiting on the decks in expectation of arriving patients. As I watched the dockings, I thought about the genius of the names: Mercy and Comfort. Just thinking about mercy and comfort provided calm. Then I remembered […]

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Afghanistan to the U.S.: A Military Mom Coping with COVID-19

Posted on April 6, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

Which would be more anxiety producing: having a son driving a Humvee for the army in Afghanistan or testing positive for the coronavirus? On today’s Facebook Live discussion, my daughter, Dr. Heidi Horsey, and I discuss her thoughts on her son’s deployment and her recent struggle with COVID-19. The Similarities Although Heidi seems more differences between being a military parent and struggling with COVID-19, but there is a similar sense of anxiety and fear as well as the need for peer support. The support may be different in terms of physical contact and connection with other military parents while COVID-19 […]

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Socially Present Grief in a Time of Physical Distance

Posted on April 6, 2020 - by Dr. Beth Hewett

Three weeks ago, a beloved deacon in the church suddenly died. His death occurred on a Tuesday morning, so the church was reliant on word of mouth and funeral notices on its website for spreading the news. Even so, the parish ministers were certain the visitations and funeral would be full, and they planned accordingly: three visitation periods and a full funeral Mass in the large church. Then, on Friday before the Saturday funeral, statewide decisions regarding the need for physical distance because of the COVID-19 virus were released. Immediately, the visitation structure was drastically changed, and the deacon’s funeral […]

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