Gloria Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley is an internationally known grief expert, psychotherapist, and bereaved parent. She started "Open to Hope" to help the millions in the world with grief. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Clinical Nurse Specialist, and has worked in the field of family therapy for over 20 years. Dr. Horsley hosts the syndicated internet radio show, The Grief Blog which is one of the top ranked shows on Health Voice America. She serves the Compassionate Friends in a number of roles including as a Board of Directors, chapter leader, workshop facilitator, and frequently serves as media spokesperson. Dr. Horsley is often called on to present seminars throughout the country. She has made appearances on numerous television and radio programs including "The Today Show," "Montel Williams," and "Sallie Jessie Raphael." In addition, she has authored a number of articles and written several books including Teen Grief Relief with Dr. Heidi Horlsey, and The In-Law Survival Guide.

Articles:

Suzy Miller: Donate Life America

Suzy Miller of Donate Life America spoke with Dr. Gloria Horsley at the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling Conference about the many benefits of becoming a donor. A leading tissue, eye and organ donation organization, Donate Life America is one of the most well-established donor organizations in the country. “A very good friend of mine…received a heart transplant,” Miller shares with Dr. Horsley. That transplant saved her life. It’s what allowed her to see her daughter graduate from high school, get married and even allowed her to live to have grandchildren. Miller knows that it was the selfless […]

Getting Back to Life When Grief Won’t Heal

Dr. Gloria Horsley talks with Dr. Phyllis Kosminsky, the author of Getting Back to Life When Grief Won’t Heal. Dr. Kosminsky says, “I wrote it because people were coming in and asking me if they were grieving in the right way.”. There are many stages of grief, and that’s talked about in depth, but it can be confusing. People in grief will look at stages and see them as consecutive, but that’s not the case. This can be particularly frustrating in the second year when you think you “should” be progressing, but suddenly find yourself back in an early stage. […]

Webinar: What a Father Learned From the Death of his Son

Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Pastor Dennis Apple about “Where is God?” after a loss—and in many cases, especially on holidays like Easter. Apple lost his son, Denny, when Denny was only 18 years old. He died of a sudden illness in 1991. Today, Apple counsels others who are grieving the loss of a loved one. He’s also a pastor at College Church of Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas. Along with his wife, Buelah, Apple is consistently working towards addressing his own grief in a healthy manner. He wrote Life After the Death of My Son: What I’m Learning as a tool […]

Open to Hope Television Wins Prestigious WAVE Award

We are pleased to announce that our Open to Hope television show Returning to Work After Loss has won a 2017 Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE). Through Public Access and its dedicated team of volunteers, we have been able to produce shows that help people find hope after loss and give a voice to grief and recovery. We started hosting Open to Hope radio programs ten years ago, but could not link into television. Producers were not interested in grief and loss even though our mission is really about hope and healing. Thus, we were excited in 2013 when we […]

Family First at Facebook: Company Offers Groundbreaking Bereavement Policy

The world watched Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg deal with her own grief process when she lost her husband in May 2015. Like anyone who loses a loved one, she needed time to be with her family and go through the healing process. It’s a human need that more companies are finally starting to understand doesn’t just fix itself overnight. And, Facebook is a company that is setting a precedent with its new bereavement policy just as Netflix did with its parental leave policy. A Heart for Workers Yes, it turns out that organizations really do have a heart when it […]

Traumatic Grief May Interfere with Memory

Dr. Gloria Horsley with the Open to Hope Foundation talks with Robert Zucker about traumatic grief, healing, and his own bereavement process. As a grief counselor and the author of The Journey Through Grief and Loss: Helping Yourself and Your Child When Grief is Shared, Zucker knows all too well how difficult bereavement can be. Every loss situation and everything we grieve for has a traumatic component according to Zucker. There’s no such thing as a grief that’s more traumatic than another. Deaths that are predictable are also traumatizing. There’s no use in comparing grief. Everyone has had a loss. […]

Support for Donor Families and Organ Recipients

What does it mean to be a member of a donor family? Jamie Yetter, the family services coordinator with the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA), works closely with families who potentially have a loved one who is a viable organ donor. She’s a chaplain and gets notified from hospitals when a potential donor becomes available, then serves as a liaison between the medical team and potential donor family. Even if a family chooses not to donate, Yetter stays by their side and helps in any way she can. Organ donation is just part of her role—the bulk of her […]

Peter’s Place: Serving Grieving Children in Philadelphia

Dr. Gloria Horsley talks with Anthony Morelli of Peter’s Place. A licensed social worker, he works with bereaved children near Philadelphia. Peter’s Place serves children and families who have experienced a death—usually of a parent or sibling. When there’s a loss, it affects the entire community including the school. Children need a safe, consistent environment. After a death, routines are no longer maintained, and school can be a safe, consistent place for children. How to interact with a child is a big challenge. A lot of the time, it’s showing and mentioning that you care. Let children take the lead […]

Becoming a Grief Counselor

Dr. Gloria Horsley connects with Dr. Janet McCord at an Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference. Dr. McCord is the director of Grief and Bereavement Studies at Marian University in Wisconsin. The two experts discuss what it means to be a grief counselor, including the unique challenges—as well as the benefits. Being a volunteer facilitator is no easy task. It requires love, listening skills, the ability to not make judgments of what children are saying, and the ability to validate what grievers are saying. Ultimately, the goal is to reflect back to them. A child should expect a […]

Julie White: Teens and Grief

Teens can grieve differently than adults. Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Julie White of the Willow Center in Idaho. White runs teen groups, and finds that teens need the support of one another after a loss. They like to lean on each other to know they’re not alone. Sometimes in school, they feel like an outcast. Feeling like a loner or outsider makes the teenage years even more difficult. However, sometimes it can be challenging to get teens to show up. You need to be flexible and plan for any sized group. Facilitators are informed of the type of loss so […]

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.