Hurting and in pain and looking for hope? In times of bereavement watch, read and listen to stories of hope and recovery.
Grieving over Libby A few months after Libby died, I sat for an interview with a local newspaper to talk about her death, her impact on the people she knew, […]
Read More
Tell Your Grief Story Telling your grief story is an insanely powerful way to process your emotions. At first, friends and family want to hear the story, and we tell […]
Read More
A Writer’s Attempt to Outrun Grief I set my timer for twenty minutes and vow to write without stopping. I tell myself not to judge, not to edit, not to […]
Read More
Handling Your Own End-of-Life Planning Each of us will eventually have to confront death. My late husband, Tom, died in my arms several years ago. Less than two months later, […]
Read More
Coping with the death of my twin has been an incredibly challenging and personal experience. Finding meaning and purpose in the aftermath has and continues to be a deeply personal […]
Read More
Son’s Grief Opens a Door I got a belated birthday card from my mother for my 41st birthday. “To Our Wonderful Daughter,” was scripted on the front, in gold, above […]
Read More
Creating a Loss History The first place we need to start is the past. We’re going way back—as far back as you can remember—and dredging up any experiences that may […]
Read More
Practicing Gratitude in Grief OK, OK. Before you throw lasagna in my face, let me just assure you that this section is not going to be full of toxic positivity […]
Read More
Create Meaning Through Ritual Creating traditions, rituals, and ceremonies that celebrate your person is the shit. Seriously. It’s the opposite of the get-over-it and move-on mentality. Instead, by celebrating the […]
Read More
Envision a Future after Grief What do you want your future to be? I realize that this question, to someone in the deep, dark midst of grief, is a terrifying—even […]
Read More
Grief support and mental health are deeply interconnected aspects of wellbeing. Grief is a natural response to loss, whether it’s the death of losing someone close, the end of a […]
Read More
Grievers Need to Tell Their Stories Because of the personal and varying nature of grief, I believe that narratives—stories—are critically important and helpful both for accepting death and coping with loss. […]
Read More
The Many Types of Tears I’ve cried about every type of cry there is since Libby died. There are the public, tears-silently-running-down-the-cheeks cries and the I’m-so-sad-I-just-have-to-get-it-out, medium-sized cries, and then […]
Read More
Why Routines Help When You’re Grieving Think of your favorite comfort food, the coziest blanket you own, or the pleasure of consuming a warm cup of hot chocolate before bed. […]
Read More
Repairing Heirlooms My best friend and wife (same person) has a new entertainment obsession: the British television show, The Repair Shop. In each episode, master craftspeople receive and expertly, and […]
Read More
The soul and grief are deeply intertwined in many spiritual and philosophical traditions. It’s only natural that after someone dies, those they leave behind will start to question and want […]
Read More
Unsolved Homicides Destabilize Many Lives Homicide is a complicated loss, and its reflection resides in a constant state of metamorphosis with each new experience that follows in its wake. In […]
Read More
Grief is Love, Joy is Love What words come to mind when we think of love? I think of emotion, devotion, adoration, and respect. Each person may have their own […]
Read More
I was a member of the church choir for 20 years. A line from one of the songs we sang keeps rattling around in my mind: “Love is stronger than […]
Read More
I write about grief to help me through the ‘grieving process’ after the loss of my twin. I hope it helps you too. Grief is complex; it’s based around individual […]
Read More
Knowing About Grief Helps with Grieving My father died almost two weeks ago after two weeks in the ICU. For most of that time, he was on a ventilator. My […]
Read More
Grief can throw a spanner in the works, but it can also bring acceptance and closure positively, so long as we’re honest with ourselves. Our experiences can distort our perception […]
Read More
The Visibility of Change My children are tweens/teens. When I think about their development throughout the years, it is clear and tangible to me the ways in which they have […]
Read More
Spirituality and healing around grief is inevitably an individual and personal journey, with no two people sharing the same experiences. While my interest in spirituality started in childhood, my spiritual […]
Read More
Grief is a highly individual and complex emotional experience that manifests differently in each of us. People may express their grief through a variety of emotions and behaviours. Some common […]
Read More
Changes in Seasons North of the equator, and north of the tropics, we are in the season of winter. The grass is brown and bare branches are all around. It […]
Read More
Grief and the grieving process are deeply personal and complex experiences that can have different effects on us. It’s true that shared experiences of loss can create a sense of […]
Read More
Merry Go Round My mom made it a priority to take me and my siblings to the Smithsonian to visit the touring exhibits that came through the D.C. museums. I […]
Read More
A Christmas Promise On a long-ago Christmas Eve, I made my last visit to a patient as her hospice chaplain. I was honoring a promise made weeks before. While a […]
Read More
Joining a Grief Support Group Joining a support group can help those who are grieving. Many support groups were available in my area, and they differed widely. Before I joined […]
Read More
Making Sense of Grief At first, I thought grief was an amorphous vapor that made your breathing labored and that obscured your view…temporarily. But I was wrong. Losing My Grandmother […]
Read More
Contextualizing Grief In my experiences, grief has been most commonly recognized with a major event: the loss of another human being. There seemed to be a framework for understanding the […]
Read More
Compassion is the Most Precious Gift The holiday season is upon us and with that comes a blur of sights, smells, memories and hopes. Some are pleasant and even joy […]
Read More
In Search of Healthy Grieving I wanted to experience “healthy grieving.” These words often appear in grief articles and books. Did healthy grieving mean sobbing like crazy, being confused, or […]
Read More
So how do you know if you’re making progress on this messy journey called grief? I remember going through seasons where a trigger would wipe me out or tears would […]
Read More
During the intense period after the loss of my favorite people, many questions ran through my mind. These are questions you might ask in your pain. Will the tsunami of […]
Read More
After months of trying to outrun the ache and sprint toward some imaginary silver lining, I realized that running from the pain can leave you crushed, lonely, and confused. In […]
Read More
Have you ever gotten news that literally took your breath away? I surely have. It was the late-night call that my mom—my healthy, hilarious, newlywed mom—was gone. Nobody could have […]
Read More
Writing Helps Bereaved Whenever you set out to write a book, an important first step is clearly defining your audience. When I started dreaming about Uncrushed, I assumed it would […]
Read More
Express your grief creatively! Join Dr. Gloria Horsley and writer, and playwright Elizabeth Coplan for a discussion of how her losses inspired her to create a movement to develop creative […]
Listen to show
The Open to Hope Foundation Day of Hope and Healing welcomes; Ron Villano, MS, LMHC, ASAC, CCH. He is a leading expert in working through change. As a father who […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Listen to show
With a remarkable 35-year association with The Dougy Center, the inaugural bereavement center for children in the United States, Dr. Donna Schuurman stands as an internationally recognized authority in the […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Listen to show
Join Dr. Gloria Horsley and her fiancé Dr. Frank Powers AKA Golden Dating Doctors for an interview with widow Joan, a contestant on ABC’s Golden Bachelor, discussing her experiences and […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Listen to show
While there are similarities among men who are grieving, there are also differences. Listen to how two men with very different experiences navigated their unexpected losses. Join hosts Dr. Gloria […]
Watch
Is it possible to find hope again after loss? Join hosts Dr. Gloria Horsley and her daughter Dr. Heidi Horsley, along with their guests Abby Dart and Meghan Riordan-Jarvis, as […]
Watch
Have you experienced a sudden traumatic loss? If so, get tips and tools on how to navigate this difficult time. Join hosts Dr. Gloria Horsley and her daughter Dr. Heidi […]
Watch
The death of a loved one can take a physical, psychological, and emotional toll on us. How do we navigate health and wellness after loss? Join hosts Dr. Gloria Horsley […]
Watch
Purchase Anne Peterson’s book: Amazon.com: Always There: Finding God’s comfort through loss eBook : Peterson, Anne: Kindle Store
Treasures in Grief, by Lo Anne Mayer
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.
