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:

Mandi Zucker: Imagine Center Offers Family Support

Mandi Zucker joins Dr. Gloria Horsley to talk about Imagine, a center for coping with loss located in New Jersey. They target children ages 3-18 as well as their families. Children living with an illness in the family, as well as those who’ve lost someone they love, need a special kind of support. For adults who are grieving themselves, balancing life, loss, and a little one who’s grieving can be a huge challenge. There are more women than men who seek out grief support, but Imagine is open to men and women alike. Still, there are more moms at the […]

Coral Popowitz: Grief Camps Offer Peer-to-Peer Healing

Grief camps can be a fantastic tool for healing. Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Coral Popowitz, the Executive Director of several grief camps around the country. Grief camp is an oxymoron, since nobody wants to think about attending one. However, the focus is on the camp aspect and it’s geared towards kids looking for a fun peer to peer outing. Adults can have just as much fun as kids, and there’s definitely a ritual and memorial aspect to it. Everyone arrives on a Friday, and nobody wants to be there but they feel a need to be there. Her camps are […]

Stacey Smyczynski: Children and Grief Groups

Stacey Smyczynski of the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region talks with Dr. Gloria Horsley about using peer to peer support. Kids ages 5-18 help one another at this center. The adults also have their own support groups to attend when the children meet. There are opening and closing circles where talking and sharing take place, but a lot of the grief work happens in play. There are plays, art, dress up, and more ways children can express themselves. Especially with younger kids, talking isn’t always the best way to heal. Play is a child’s work, and […]

Tom Demaria: Grief in the Classroom

How can teachers and staff help children in school who are grieving? That’s the question Dr. Gloria Horsley has for Dr. Tom Demaria. The work of grief begins in schools and should always start in the classroom. He began working with superintendents, school boards, and school psychologists to come up with principles everyone can follow in the classroom. If you wait until a child gets symptoms of trauma, it can be too late. A lot of teachers don’t know what to say or how to say it. Talking about death isn’t easy for anyone, and many teachers aren’t prepared. Teachers […]

Kathleen Gilbert: Couples Coping with Child Loss

Dr. Kathleen Gilbert, an Associate Professor at Indiana University, talks with Dr. Gloria Horsley at an Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference. How can couples cope with the loss of a child? Partners can have very different reactions, explains Dr. Gilbert. Men and women in general tend to have different approaches to life and death. Couples who go through this traumatic experience can grow closer—or farther apart. Men will “do the man’s job” of buying caskets, making the arrangements, and basically manage the world around their wives. Women are given permission to be the emotional griever. Women are […]

Judy Rooney: How to Help your Child Grieve

Helping your child grieve is one of the toughest things you can do. Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Judy Rooney about this difficult strategy. She works with the Willow Center, a peer support program that offers free support groups for kids and the adults caring for them. They also offer Camp Erin for grieving teens and kids. Rooney facilitates the parent group, and finds that the biggest challenge is simply how to help their child. As an adult, you need to help yourself first, and that makes you better able to help your children. Getting men to group is even harder. […]

How to Recognize Your Coping Style When Dealing with Loss or Change

If you are struggling with an addiction (of any variety), it may well be that you have not yet fully developed the coping strategies that provide a way to handle various stressful situations. Certainly everyone handles loss and stress differently – and this way of doing things is known as their coping style. If you are falling apart and screaming because you can’t find your keys in the morning, chances are that you have not been employing effective coping strategies in your life to keep you and your life balanced. Then, when (not if) a true life changing loss occurs […]

Isabel Stenzel Byrnes: Facing Mortality

During the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley connects with Isabel Stenzel Byrnes about finding hope and balance while living with an illness. Born with cystic fibrosis, Byrnes wasn’t given many years to live—but she has proven doctors wrong again and again. She attended CF-related camps as a child and then retreats as an adult. She cites her peers as giving her the support she needed to fight the disease. However, every year she loses friends to this illness and has seen how she will eventually die of CF. It puts her in touch with […]

Peter Hanlon: Bereavement Camp

During an Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Peter Hanlon, a registered nurse and bereavement specialist at HSE who manages bereavement camps. Based in Ireland, the camps began in 1995 for children only, but over time it was found that a family camp was necessary. Groups of families are brought together to learn about loss, coping, and healing. That same message needs to be spread throughout the family, not just with children, and bringing everyone together can help strengthen familial bonds. Four hours per day are dedicated to counseling, while the rest of the […]

Therese Wenner: Cranial Sacral

If you haven’t heard of cranial sacral work before, you’re not alone. Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Therese Wenner at the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, and discusses the benefits of this form of therapy. Based in Olympia, Washington, Wenner has a private practice that focuses on cranial sacral therapy. For those in grief, this can be very calming to your entire system. Many people need a lot of calming, but may not know where to turn. This is a form of therapy that deals with the core system in your body—the central nervous system, but accessed in a gentle […]

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.