The Open to Hope Community

The Open to Hope Community Leader is here to answer questions, provide support, and maintain a healthy, positive environment at opentohope.com. This is the next line.

Articles:

Dakota Winds: Planting Seeds of Hope

Thank you for the opportunity to share my experience with the IPPC (Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care) retreat led by Deborah Dokken, your guest on Thursday. I am the parent of Dakota, an adorable “old soul” who was diagnosed with cancer at two and died one week before he turned five. That was ten years ago. In those ten years, our family has turned our pain into a passion to help others who also find themselves suffering the loss of a loved one. When Dakota died, my husband wanted to buy our two year old son, Dylan, a gift to […]

How to Respond to the Bereaved

Last week, I visited my 81 year old widowed Aunt following the death of her boyfriend, also age 81. She was expectedly quite distressed following his sudden death from heart failure. In spite of having been widowed for over 20 years, and having three children and grandchildren and lots of friends, she felt very alone. She reminded me that even at age 81, she still needed to be held and loved and neither her children nor grandchildren could fill that role in quite the same way.

November 30, 2006 From Parent to Advocate: A Long Day’s Journey Deborah Dokken

NOVEMBER 30, 2006 – FROM PARENT TO ADVOCATE: LONG DAYS’ JOURNEY:? DEBORAH DOKKEN.? After the loss of two infants and the premature birth of her son Jeremy, Deborah Dokken became involved in programs enhancing family participation in health care. She is co-investigator for The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care, a national education and quality improvement project.? She currently serves on the FDA’s Pediatric Advisory Committee, and is a longtime member of the Ethics Forum at Children’s National Medical Center.? She is the recipient of the Pediatric Nursing’s 2003 Humanitarian and 1998 Excellence in Writing Awards.? http://www.ippcweb.org/ Deborah Dokken:? I didn’t […]

Healing the Grieving Heart National Radio Show Welcomes End of Life Care Expert Deborah Dokken

Recipient of 2003 Pediatric Nursing?s Humanitarian Award to be interviews by ?Healing the Grieving Heart? Hosts, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley on November 30, 2006. New York, New York and San Francisco, California (PRWEB) November 26, 2006 ? Deborah Dokken, MPA, co-investigator with The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) will join Drs. Gloria & Heidi Horsley on their nationally syndicated talk radio program ?Healing the Grieving Heart? November 30th, 9 AM PST/12 Noon EST. ?End of life care and anticipatory grief are so important to our audience. You can?t ever really prepare for losing a child, but you can […]

Grief Poem: Suicide – An Eternal Pain

Suicide is the one form of death that has quite a stigma attached to it. It brings with it a feeling of shame and betrayal. It is not the same as saying to someone “My father died in a car crash” nor is it the same as saying someone died from a heart attack. Having to explain that someone took their own life can be quite a difficult thing to do as we have no explanation as to why this dreadful occurance took place. Suicide amongst young men is currently growing quite significantly around the world and I hope that […]

Grief: Signs of Closure

In my fifteen years of helping people change their lives working with emotional distress I have learnt many new things about human life and behaviour. Many of these lessons have come about with experience and not from books. One of such lessons is- how do we know when someone has completed the grief ?process?.

Grieving the Loss of a Loved One

My brother-in-law died suddenly last month when he fell from a ladder. We drove to Maryland where we celebrated Don’s life and visited with my husband’s family. Don was cremated so there was no physical body for anyone to ogle. Don was an avid fisherman and loved to be near the water. It only seemed appropriate that his celebration was held at the beach house of some dear friends who live on the eastern shore. Each person who wanted to speak was given a turn to share a story about Don. Afterward, Jimmy Buffet music played and margaritas flowed

How to Handle Grief and Loss With Your Children

Dealing with any kind of loss with a child or children is a task that most adults dread. Best friends can move away, a car can kill a favorite pet, a schoolmate can be killed in an auto accident, and Grandma may die suddenly are all situations that parents can face. In any case, a parent should handle the loss with dignity and quality so the child learns how to deal by comparison.

GriefWorks Update

We know that the holidays can be an especially difficult time after a loved one has died. GriefWorks? winter newsletter, which is attached, offers special support for this time of year. It also includes our schedule of upcoming programs and services. Please note that we have cancelled the Night of Remembrance service originally schedule for Friday December 8. We invite you to instead join us at our Public Forum on Thursday November 30, from 7-8:30 p.m., which will be followed by a brief service of remembrance. There is no cost and no need to register. For more information, please see […]

A Note from Dr. Rick Tedeschi

Gloria?Here are the five domains of growth as we describe them on our website?www.ptgi.uncc.edu What forms does posttraumatic growth take? Posttraumatic growth tends to occur in five general areas. Sometimes people who must face major life crises develop a sense that new opportunities have emerged from the struggle, opening up possibilities that were not present before. A second area is a change in relationships with others. Some people experience closer relationships with some specific people, and they can also experience an increased sense of connection to others who suffer.. A third area of possible change is an increased sense of […]

Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.