Heidi Horsley

Dr. Heidi Horsley is a licensed psychologist, social worker, and bereaved sibling. She co-hosts the award-winning weekly cable television show and podcast, Open to Hope. Dr. Heidi is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and an award-winning author, who has co-authored eight books, and serves on the United Nations Global Mental Health Task Force. She also serves on the Advisory Boards for the Tragedy Assistance Program, the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation, and Peace of Mind Afghanistan. She served on the National Board of Directors for The Compassionate Friends, and for 10 yrs. worked on a Columbia University research study looking at traumatic loss over time in families who lost a firefighter in the World Trade Center.

Articles:

Donna Bacon: Finding Hope and Healing After Multiple Loss

Dr. Donna Bacon got into the field of grief because of her own personal losses, and she shared a moment with Open to Hope’s executive director Dr. Heidi Horsley. Today, she’s a lecturer at Nassau Community College. “When I was four years old, my mom died of breast cancer—she was 34.” Bacon and her twin sister spent the next 12 years living with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and in that timeframe subsequently lost all of them. By the time she was 16, Bacon was very familiar with loss. Her uncle was murdered, one aunt died at 26 of HIV/AIDS and […]

Carole Hilton: TAPS for Widows

The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) was a buoy for Carole Hilton, who discovered the program just a few days after her husband died. He was an active member in the Navy, and when the officer arrived at Hilton’s doorstep to deliver the news, within the paperwork was a TAPS brochure. Hilton talked with the Open to Hope Executive Director, Dr. Heidi Horsley, during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference about what TAPS means to her. Nobody plans on becoming a young widow or ever having that title bestowed upon them. However, Hilton says that simply […]

Expressive Arts to Heal from Grief: Interview with Brianne Overton

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Brianne Overton about using the healing arts to help people cope with grief. In the video below, Brianne discusses healing/expressive arts and how they can help you get through the grieving process. Here are some key takeaways from the video: Drawing, writing, poetry, storyboards, and music can all be used as healing arts. Anything that allows you to express yourself creatively. When it comes to storyboards, you start off with just a blank piece of paper folded into 4’s or 6’s. From there, draw a picture in one […]

Ila Roy: Culture and Grief

Ila Roy of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spoke with Open to Hope’s Executive Director Dr. Heidi Horsley during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conferences about the relationship between culture and grief. As a member of the social work team in the clinical centers of the NIH, Roy is placed in the ICU of the hematology/oncology non-transplant branch of the hospital. “I deal, unfortunately, with loss a lot,” she says. When asked about her experience being born and raised in India, and how that may differ from the grief process in the US, Roy says that […]

Continuing Bonds After The Loss Of A Parent: Interview with Brittany Trauthwein

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Brittany Trauthwein about continuing bonds after loss. Brittany is a doctorate student at the Chicago Professional School of Psychology who is writing a dissertation about continuing bonds after the death of a parent. In the video below, Brittany discusses how she got into this topic and why it was so important for her to write about it as her dissertation. Here are some key takeaways from the video: During the first year of her schooling, Brittany lost her father. That was when people started telling her stories […]

Art of Grieving, After Loss of Child: Interview With Dr. Delores Gulledge

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Dr. Delores Gulledge about life after the death of her 17 year old daughter Melanie. She shares how she went forward with her life and found a way to help others. Delores is also the author of a book called “A Mourning Miracle”, which she wrote while in the process of putting her life back together after the death of her daughter. Her book was written to help others who are going through the same experience. In the video below, Delores share her advice on how to […]

Giving Back After Coping with a Loss: Interview with Dr.Janna Henning

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Dr. Janna Henning about her losses and how she went on to help other people the way she helped herself. Getting into the field of death and dying was influenced by Janna’s own loss experience. At the age of 21, Janna was in a car accident where her best friend died. Six months later, Janna’s partner was killed in a similar accident. For Janna, having those two loss experiences in her 20’s influenced her way of understanding loss. When Janna later entered the field of psychology it […]

Multiple Sibling Loss: Interview with Shavaun McGinty

At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Shavaun McGinty, an expert on sibling loss. In the video below I talk to Shavaun about the loss of her three siblings, the effect it has had on her life, and how she went on to find hope after loss. Here are some key takeaways from the video: Shavaun was 25 when she lost her sister, who was 23. Shavaun was 42 when she experienced her most recent sibling loss 4 years ago. Siblings can find hope again by passing on the legacy through talking about your […]

Litea Williams and Eleanor Haley: What’s Your Grief?

What’s Your Grief? is an organization founded and operated by Litea Williams and Eleanor Haley. “Practical, down to earth tools” is their specialty. They also do a lot of work in Baltimore City, working with the community and in particular with the homeless population. Williams and Haley spoke with Open to Hope’s Executive Director Dr. Heidi Horsley during the Association for Death Education and Counseling 2015 conference about their work and experience with grief therapy. “We’ll be presenting here a little bit about grief below the poverty line,” explains Williams. When a person is homeless and also grieving, it introduces […]

Trauma/Heal The Body

In episode 48, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interview Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. They also speak with Dr. Lyn Prashant, PhD, who uses yoga and massage in conjunction with her certification in grief counseling to holistically help heal the body after a trauma or loss in her Integrative Grief Therapy practice. Dr. van der Kolk explains that it’s not just fight vs. flight, but also elements of freeze and give up when the body faces a trauma. There comes a point when the body/mind […]

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.