Harriet Hodgson

Harriet Hodgson has been a freelancer for 43 years, is the author of thousands of articles, and 47 books, including 10 grief resources. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists, Alliance of Independent Authors, Minnesota Coalition for Grief Education and Support, and Grief Coalition of Southeastern Minnesota. She is well acquainted with grief. In 2007 four family members died—her daughter (mother of her twin grandchildren), father-in-law, brother (and only sibling) and the twins’ father. Multiple losses shifted the focus of Hodgson’s work from general health to grief resolution and healing. She has appeared on more than 185 radio talk shows, including CBS Radio, and dozens of television stations, including CNN. In addition to writing for Open to Hope, Hodgson is a contributing writer for The Grief Toolbox website and The Caregiver Space website. A popular speaker, she has given presentations at The Compassionate Friends national conference, Bereaved Parents of the USA national conference, and Zoom grief conferences. Her work is cited in Who’s Who of American Women, World Who’s Who of Women, Contemporary Authors, and other directories. For more information about this busy grandmother, great grandmother, author, and speaker please visit I’m no longer Assistant Editor, I’m the author of 47 books, and my website is www.harriethodgson.net.

Articles:

Mourners Can Choose Happiness, a Gift to Themselves

The death of a loved one changes you forever. You mourn, determine your grief work, do the work, and try to build a new life. At least, these are the things I had to do after four loved ones died in 2007. Though I miss my father-in-law, brother, and former son-in-law, my daughter’s death affected me the most. The pain has been unbearable. Coming to terms with multiple losses is a journey in itself. Reconciliation is hard-won and I had many times when recovery seemed elusive — a moving target I could not reach no matter how fast I ran. […]

Mourners Surrounded by Sacred Moments

Ever since my daughter died from the injuries she received in a car crash in 2007, I’ve become more aware of the sacred moments in my life. Before she died I thought I was aware of these moments, but this turned out to be untrue. I was sort of aware of them. Other family members also died that year, my father-in-law, brother, and former son-in-law. His death made my twin grandchildren orphans, and my husband and I became their court appointed guardians. I’ve had many sacred moments after my grandchildren moved in with us when they were 15 years old. […]

Coping With Sudden and Traumatic Loss

A sudden and traumatic death shatters your world. The changes may be readily apparent or may take months, or even years, to emerge. In 2007, my elder daughter (mother of my twin grandchildren) and father-in-law died on the same weekend. I was in such shock I could hardly think. Yet there were burial arrangements to make and memorial services to plan. I knew I had to do my grief work and did not shirk it. This work paid off and I was starting to feel better when my brother died eight weeks later. Several months later the twin’s father studied […]

Raising my Twin Grandchildren: Endings and Beginnings

After our elder daughter was killed in a car crash and our former son-in-law died in another car crash, my husband and I became GRGs – grandparents raising grandchildren. Wow, did our lives change! We are back to booming rock music, school concerts, ringing phones, text messages and emails, sleepovers, and school trips. Since I had been cooking for two so long, it took me several months to adjust to cooking for teens again. I go to the grocery store every other day and am cooking constantly. Teen slang has changed drastically and I had to learn new words to […]

15 Recovery Promises to Make to Yourself

Until I lost four loved ones in 2007, I did not realize recovering from grief was a personal choice. The shock of multiple losses was so great I could hardly think. Two choices were open to me. I could stay stuck in grief and remain a victim, or I could create a new life for myself. I opted for the second choice. Early in my grief journey (surprisingly early) I began to think about recovery promises. My first promise: I will get through this. Brook Noel and Pamela D. Blair, PhD write about recovery in their book, I Wasn’t Ready […]

Prepare Your Response Plan for Grief Triggers

Grief triggers – your deceased loved one’s birthday, the anniversary of your loss, and holiday festivities – are a recovery challenge. How will you respond? Will you continue to move forward with life or will the grief trigger stop you in your tracks? Worse, will you go backwards? I ask these questions when I encounter grief triggers. Tuesday of this week was the third anniversary of my daughter’s death. Though I was not sure how I would respond, I knew the day would be hard. So I pulled myself together, revised my response plan, and used it. First, I looked […]

Conflicting Feelings on Third Anniversary of Daughter’s Death

Today — February 23, 2010 – is third anniversary of my daughter’s death. She died from the injuries she received in a car crash. I have conflicting feelings: sorrow that will be with me always, and a sense of accomplishment about raising my grandchildren. The instant we learned their father had died in another car crash, my husband and I told the twins they were coming home with us. Weeks later, the court appointed us as their legal guardians and fiscal conservators. Should I mention the third anniversary of their mother’s death to the twins? Though they were sleepy when […]

As You Grieve, Look for Sacred Moments

After my physician husband completed his tour of duty in Vietnam, the Air Force sent him to a base in Selma, Alabama. He was the commander of the medical group. My husband and I, and our two young daughters, lived in a converted barracks. Each morning, dozens of maids would walk from town – a distance of about four miles – to clean houses on base, and then walk back to Selma. I couldn’t believe it. It was still dark when I heard a voice in the distance. The woman was singing “My Lord What a Morning,” a famous African-American […]

Writing Affirmations Can Help With Grief

In 2007, when I was devastated by the deaths of four loved ones, I looked for new ways to cope with grief. Though I had good coping skills, nothing had prepared me for multiple losses. Since I am a writer, I followed my instincts, and started writing about grief. I did something else, too. Each morning, when I awoke, I thought of an affirmation that would get me through the day. The list started out small and became so long that I kept a computer list of affirmations. Writing one-sentence affirmations was a lot like writing poetry. Eventually, my grief […]

Handling the Most Haunting Memories

On a February weekend in 2007, my elder daughter and father-in-law died. Their causes of death were very different. My father-in-law was 98 1/2 years old and had been dwindling for months. His death was anticipated and I had made peace with it. But my daughter’s death from blunt force trauma in a car crash was the worst shock of my life. Surgeons operated on her for 20 hours and could not save her. My daughter was also brain dead. Signing the legal papers to stop life support was an agonizing decision — the stuff of bad memories. Indeed, it […]

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