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Hope
After Loss of a child
After Loss of a child
We know the pain can be unbearable. Read stories and find community. You need not be alone in your journey.
Open to Hope Radio
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April Boyd: Love and Loss Project
June 21, 2018
April Boyd is a psychotherapist who is turning her daughter’s tragic life story into a love story by living as brightly as possible and helping others to do the same. Her Love & Loss Project currently supports women after the loss of a baby or pregnancy throughout 24 countries.
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Mary Jane Cronin: Unexpected Change and How You Can Grow from Them
June 14, 2018
Lost a loved one and looking for hope? Join Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley in an interview with Mary Jane Cronin author and licensed counselor in a discussion of the impacts and opportunity for growth after loss. Join the conversation by texting in your questions.
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Jane Harris: A Love That Never Dies
May 31, 2018
How do we grieve? Why do we grieve? And why are we afraid of those that do grieve? In order to answer these difficult questions after the death of their 22 year old son Josh in a road accident in Vietnam Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds went on a journey interviewing bereaved families in the […]
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Janine Salevsky: Sharing a Legacy of Love
May 24, 2018
In August of 2013 Janine Salevsky’s daughter Natalia died to multiple complications relating to Leukemia. Natalia was diagnosed at age 6 and died at age 10 leaving a legacy of love behind her. She made gifts, angels, artwork and her shared American Girl dolls bringing light and goodness to others. Her mother continues to share […]
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Harriet Cabelly: Living Well Despite Adversity
May 17, 2018
Harriet Cabelly is a social worker and positive psychology coach. She counsels clients as they cope and grow beyond their grief and painful circumstances. She is one of the coaching experts on WOR radio show, Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life and has appeared on ABC and Fox news as a parenting coach. She is […]
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Nathalie Himmelrich: Peer support groups & FB Live
April 19, 2018
Nathalie Himmelrich is a psychotherapist located is Switzerland. She is a grief recovery specialist, bereaved parent of a twin and the author of various resources and books for grieving parents. Nathalie is the founder of the Grieving Parents Support Network (GPSN), an online place of support and uplift for parents and others affected by the […]
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Nathalie Himmelrich: Peer support groups & FB Live
April 19, 2018
Nathalie Himmelrich is a psychotherapist located is Switzerland. She is a grief recovery specialist, bereaved parent of a twin and the author of various resources and books for grieving parents. Nathalie is the founder of the Grieving Parents Support Network (GPSN), an online place of support and uplift for parents and others affected by the […]
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Deborah DeLisi: Grief: A Lifequake
April 12, 2018
Deborah DeLisi is a mother, artist and author whose life was plunged into shock and despair when her 29-year old daughter, Kate ended her life. Her book Lifequakes speaks to all of us of the intimate journey of grief and how to walk alongside fear and pain on the road to healing. She is the […]
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Sue Hamby: Finding Purpose
March 22, 2018
After finding her only son murdered, Dr. Sue Hamby found herself, shattered and on a difficult and painful grief journey. Even though the murderer has never been found, Dr. Hamby has found a new purpose in life which has helped transform her mourning into joy and her scars into stars. Her story offers hope and […]
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Stephanie Champion: Grief at Work
March 8, 2018
Stephanie, a bereaved mom, has degrees in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, presented at TCF 2017, she originally qualified in Law in England, worked for a multinational, before opening a daycare, and progressed into Work Consultancy Services. She is author of “Grief at Work” that will be available later this year. \
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Jeannette Maré: Ben’s Bells Project
February 22, 2018
Jeannette Maré is the founder and Executive Director of Ben’s Bells Project. Ben’s Bells was founded in 2003 after the sudden death of Jeannette’s two-year old son, Ben. The simple, everyday acts of kindness following his death helped her begin to heal. She was inspired to establish the Ben’s Bells Project as a way to […]
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Barbara Hoffman: Don’t Run Red Lights
February 15, 2018
Barb Hoffman is the Executive Director of Red Means Stop Traffic Safety Alliance. She joined this organization as a volunteer back in 2004 after her fourteen-year-old son, Michael Allanson, was hit and killed by a man who ran a red light in Mesa Arizona. Barb is the author of Carelessness is No Accident. https://www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Barbara-Hoffman.mp3Podcast: Play […]
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Neal Raisman: Finding Balance After Loss
February 1, 2018
Neal Raisman Ph.D. is ex-college president who lost his son Isaac to meningitis. He struggled to reconcile and live with the loss finally finding outlet for his grief in writing a book, Standing on One Foot, to express and explore his grief leading to ways to find a new balance in life. https://www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Neal-Raisman.mp3Podcast: Play in […]
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Harriet Hodgson: Raising Grandchildren
January 18, 2018
Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance health/wellness writer for 37+ years, is the author of 37 books, and thousands of articles. Her latest writing focuses on caregiving, and this is her 20th year as a caregiver. She was her demented mother’s caregiver for nine years, her twin grandchildren’s caregiver for seven years, and has been […]
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Ida D Gonzalez: Military Loss
January 4, 2018
Ida Gonzalez, Mommy, Mom, Mama Gonzo, President of Butterfly Circle of Friends, her son Michael was KIA in Baghdad, Iraq on August 28, 2008. BCOF is non-profit created in memory of Michael assists military, veterans and their families. Sharing her love for Michael has been her way to survive. http://opentohope.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/04092417/Ida-D-Gonzalez-.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | […]
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Catherine McNulty: Strategies To Help With Grief
December 28, 2017
After losing her infant son, Catherine McNulty embarked on a journey to do more than survive grief. She has created a framework to grief that disrupts conventional ways of looking at loss. She challenges her clients to step outside of a victim mindset and regain control of how they navigate grief. http://opentohope.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/01080600/Catherine-McNulty.mp3Podcast: Play in new […]
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Robert Goor: Writing Through Grief
December 21, 2017
Robert Goor is a teacher, a writer, a mathematician and a scientist. He is an active member of the Bethesda Writer’s Center and of The Compassionate Friends, where he is a trained group facilitator. Dear Andrew, a collection of letters to his deceased son, is his first literary publication. http://opentohope.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/01080251/Robert-Goor.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | […]
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Nisha Zenoff: Techniques For Healing Loss
December 14, 2017
Nisha Zenoff MFT Ph.D is a grief counselor, psychotherapist and certified dance/movement therapist. She has devoted her professional life to supporting bereaved families after the death of her 17-year-old son Victor in 1980. She is the author of The Unspeakable Loss: How Do You Live After A Child Dies? http://opentohope.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/01075901/Nisha-Zenoff.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | […]
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Ashley Jones: Love Not Lost
November 30, 2017
Ashley Jones is a helper. She’s always loved helping others from grade school through Clemson University, and then into marriage. After losing her daughter to a terminal diagnosis, Ashley’s desire to serve others grew stronger and she founded Love Not Lost to preserve memories of those facing a terminal diagnosis and support people in grief. […]
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Jenna Rogers Topic: Finding A Place of Hope
November 9, 2017
Jenna Rogers is the Director of Advancement for Faith’s Lodge, a retreat facility that supports parents after the death of a child. As a bereaved mother, Jenna is passionate about helping others who have endured this tragic loss. She created Noah’s Memorial SIDS Foundation in 2010 to help fund SIDS research and support families who […]
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Pamela Hagens: Helping Loved Ones After a Death
November 2, 2017
Pamela Hagens is a lifetime proponent of taking care of health through exercise and yoga. She currently teaches and inspires others on how to work with their grief through daily healthy practices. In July of 2013 she lost her 19-year-old son, Samuel. She is a frequent presenter at The Compassionate Friends national conferences. http://opentohope.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/23111314/Pamela-Hagens.mp3Podcast: Play […]
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David Ferber: A Dad’s Grief
October 5, 2017
David Ferber is the father of Russell Ferber, who died in a car accident in 2002 at age 21. David soon joined, and then became the facilitator of a fathers group at The Compassionate Friends, the support group for grieving parents. The fathers group was an instant success, and it became a regular feature of […]
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Articles
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For Grieving Moms: When Others Respond in Hurtful Ways
May 16, 2018
Fix-It Friends People feel helpless in the face of your loss of a child. They have an intense need to say something to lessen your pain. They cannot understand that this pain refuses any comfort and must be processed over time to ease. They try to help by saying things that negate your pain, […]
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How to Release Guilt After Loss of a Child
May 10, 2018
After the loss of a child, a mother’s guilt is inevitable. There may be things she wishes she had done. There may also be things she wishes she hadn’t done. She may have made serious mistakes that carried grave consequences. She likely feels guilty. If you feel guilt, too, you know what I mean. In […]
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The Child-Loss Club
May 8, 2018
I am pretty sure that each and every one of you reading this article has heard the saying, “We have all joined a club, and this is a club that no one ever wanted to belong to.” I beg to differ. I just wish I could have joined this club without having lost my beautiful 12-year-old […]
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I Care and Wish You Comfort and Hope: A Mass Shooting Triggers Mother’s Response
May 7, 2018
Valentine’s Day has forever been changed in my mind. No longer will I think of flowers, chocolates and the little hearts that say “I love you.” This year, a 19-year-old boy opened fire at a High school in Florida on Valentine’s Day, killing 17 teenagers. These recent shootings are unfortunately nothing new; in 1999, in Columbine, Colorado, two […]
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A Book From an Old Soul Who Died Too Young
March 15, 2018
Our beautiful 12-year-old daughter Billie was involved in a freak horse accident and died on May 29, 2016. I was just about to turn 50 and up until losing Billie, I would have to have been the happiest person I’ve ever met. I never took my life for granted and can honestly say that I […]
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How Hope Changes for a Mother of Many Losses
March 13, 2018
There was a time, in the early hours and months following my son’s death, where hope was nothing but a desperate desire to wake up from a bad dream. A hope that bordered on denial fed my wildest imagination, where I would wake up to find myself still pregnant or even better yet, to find […]
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The Fear of Forgetting
March 11, 2018
This is the 11th year without my daughter Helen. I still miss her, still love her, and still remember her. But I’m worried. When I try to imagine Helen’s face in my mind, the image isn’t as clear as it used to be, and I don’t think of her as often. I have a fear […]
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Coping With the Loss of a Teen by Suicide
January 10, 2018
At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with Carolyn Zahnow about The Shore Grief Center and tips she has to find healing after suicide loss. Carolyn lost her son, Cameron, in 2005 when he was 18 years old. In the video below, Carolyn shares advice on how to cope with […]
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Be Selfish to Heal More Quickly
January 8, 2018
I didn’t believe that my son would die. The death of a child is a tragic and horrific event that happens to someone else, not to me. Until it did. The grieving process sucked the very life out of me. My grief strained me emotionally as I experienced a roller-coaster of emotions like anger, depression, […]
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How Spouses Can Talk About Grief After a Child Dies
January 4, 2018
At the annual ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling), I spoke with An Hooghe about loss and the relationship with spouses after a child dies. An is a clinical psychologist who does research on bereaved parents who have lost a child. This research includes how the parents cope and how they talk to each […]
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Lalie Gomez: Organ and Tissue Donation
January 2, 2018
During the 2015 Association of Death Education and Counseling conference, Open to Hope’s Dr. Gloria Horsley interviewed Lalie Gomez—a woman with extensive experience in organ and tissue donation. Both Gomez’s mother and daughter were donors. “In 2003, my daughter passed away in a motorcycle accident and at the time we had never discussed organ donation.” […]
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Keep the Door to Your Soul Open
December 17, 2017
I was given a pocket size daily devotional after Mack died called “Healing After Loss” written by Martha Whitmore Hickman, who was also a bereaved parent. I carried it in my purse for two years until the binding weakened, the cover fell off, and each page was dotted with notes and stained with my tears. One of the daily reflections […]
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Wendy Lichtenthal: Helping Parents After the Loss of a Child
October 13, 2017
Dr. Wendy Lichtenthal is a researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and many of her interests focus on grieving. She spoke with Dr. Gloria Horsley during the Association for Death Education and Counseling 2015 conference about how parents can heal after losing a child. “We are doing an intervention […]
Open to Hope TV
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Episode 132: Resilience After Loss
April 12, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley, interview bereaved parents, Glen Lord and Lynda Cheldelin Fell, founders of the International Grief Institute. Glen is past president of the national board of directors of The Compassionate Friends, co-founder of The Grief Toolbox, and executive producer of the Walking Through Grief® series. Lynda Cheldelin […]
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Episode 131: Redefining Ourselves After Loss
April 11, 2018
On this show, Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley interview Christine Duminiak and Dr. Tanya Lord about redefining ourselves after multiple losses. Christine is an internationally recognized expert on afterlife contacts and signs, and a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist. She has authored 5 books and co-hosts, Ask the Angels radio show. Tanya lost her […]
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Episode 129: The Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation: Supporting Research and Hope
April 10, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley talk with Dr. Gary Jaworski, President of Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation and social worker, Jessica Elder, Bereavement Program Manager, about support, research and the needs of families who have lost a child to a brain tumor. Joining the group is bereaved parent, Sandy Perkins, who […]
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Episode 128: Coping with the High Profile Death of a Child
April 10, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley will interview Jamie Bright and Delain Johnson, about coping with the high profile death of a child, and how they coped. Danielle was murdered by her boyfriend. Delain is Vice President of Bereaved Parents USA, and a licensed counselor, specializing in grief and loss. Her […]
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Episode 127: Regaining Your Health After Loss
April 10, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley explore with Basia Mosinski and Glenda Powell how to regain your health after loss. Glenda is Co-Chapter Leader of the Newport Beach Compassionate Friends chapter, and serves in memory of her son Garrison. Basia is a health and wellness coach. She is Founder and Chapter […]
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Episode 126: The Healing Power of Peer to Peer Support
February 26, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley explore with Bob Burt and Debbie Rambis, both bereaved parents, the healing power of peer to peer support. Bob Burt has a Hall of Fame Football coaching career, has served on the Board of Directors for The Compassionate Friends, and speaks on Student Suicide Prevention. […]
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Episode 125: Creating Healing Communities After Loss
February 26, 2018
Debbie Rambis joined The Compassionate Friends in 2011 after the drowning death of her 29 year old son Tony. She has served in numerous capacities for The Compassionate Friends, and is currently their Executive Director. Jeannette Maré founded the Ben’s Bells Project after the sudden death of her two-year-old son Ben. Ben’s Bells focuses on […]
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Episode 124: Recovery and Rediscovery after Loss
February 26, 2018
On this show Dr. Heidi Horsley and Dr. Gloria Horsley talk with Pamela Hagens and Dr. Janis Johnston, about Recovery and Rediscovery after Loss. Pamela Hagens lost her 19 year old son Samuel in 2013. She is a lifetime proponent of health through exercise. Dr. Janis Johnston is a counseling psychologist, who lost her husband […]
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Episode 123: On The Road Again-Angels Across The USA Tour
February 26, 2018
On this show Dr. Heidi Horsley talks with Alan Pedersen, singer, songwriter and bereaved parent. Alan is the past Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends and is currently on the road with The Angels Across the USA Tour where he will speak and perform in over 100 U.S. cities in 2018. Joining them on the […]
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Episode 122: How Two Mother’s Survived the Murder of Their Son’s
February 25, 2018
On this show Dr. Heidi Horsley and Alan Pedersen talk with Mary Jane Cronin and Dr. Sue Hamby, about the murders of their son’s, Jeremy and Ross, and how they survived their shocking loss, going on to author books, share their stories and provide counseling and comfort to others. The show closes with singer, songwriter, […]
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Episode 118: Men and Grief with R. Glenn Kelly, Ron Villano and Anna Huckabee Tull
January 8, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley interview R. Glenn Kelly, who lost his only child, Jonathan, to a congenital heart defect and Ron Villano whose son, Michael died in an automobile accident. Both men are motivational speakers and authors. R. Glenn is the author of Sometimes I Cry in the Shower […]
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Episode 116: Child Loss: Keeping Memories Alive with Michael and Maya Luria and Becky Belanger
January 8, 2018
On this show Dr.Gloria Horsley and Dr.Heidi Horsley interview Michael and Maya Luria, co-founders of the Bald Beauties Project, a non-profit that benefits children and young adults with cancer. Becky Belanger joins them, to talk about how the Bald Beauty project helped her, when her 3 and 1/2 yr. old daughter was dying of pediatric […]
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Episode 115: Spiritual Experience and the Afterlife
January 8, 2018
On this show Dr. Gloria & Dr. Heidi Horsley interview bereaved parents Elizabeth Boisson, Irene Vouvalides and Ernie Jackson regarding their view of the afterlife and how their experiences have helped them to cope with their losses. Their organization, “Helping Parents Heal,” founded by Elizabeth Boisson, offers bereaved parents an open discussion of spiritual and […]
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Episode 113: Laura Sullivan LMFT and Lani Ciotek-Is My Grief Complicated?
November 17, 2017
On this show Dr. Heidi and Dr. Gloria Horsley discuss with bereaved parents Laura Sullivan and Lani Ciotek the death of their sons and what they do to celebrate their lives. Laura lost her son Kyle shortly after graduation from High School and Lani’s son Terrance was a physician and father of two. Laura is […]
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Episode 112: Kim Perlmutter and Sarah Cornwell: Gardening Through Grief
November 17, 2017
On this show Dr. Heidi Horsley and Dr. Gloria Horsley interview landscape designer Kim Perlmutter, bereaved parent of Joey and owner of “Inviting Spaces By Kim” and Sarah Cornwell, Executive Director of Gamble Garden located in Palo Alto, California regarding how gardening as well as just enjoying the gardens can heal the broken heart. A […]
