Open to Hope Articles
Do you want to read stories of others who have been where you are? Are you looking for bereavement help, and advice? Look no further. We offer over 3,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.
SORT BY RELATIONSHIP
What Bereaved Families Can Expect – Interview with Harriet Sarnoff Schiff
December 2, 2014
HEALING THE GRIEVING HEART What Bereaved Families Can Expect As Time Goes On Host: Dr. Gloria Horsley With guest: Harriet Sarnoff Schiff June 16, 2005 Today I am much honored to have as my special guest international grief expert and author Harriet Sarnoff Schiff. Harriet Sarnoff Schiff is the author of two classic works on grieving, The Bereaved Parent and Living with Mourning. Her third book, How Did I Become my Parent’s Parent addresses the challenges of caring for elderly parents. Harriet is a licensed clinical social worker and former reporter for the Detroit News. She’s lectured throughout the United […]
Healing Through the Holidays
November 29, 2014
The holidays approach. “Holidays” meaning Thanksgiving, then Advent, Hannakah, Solstice, but ultimately Christmas, and then New Year’s. ‘Tis the season…to be jolly. Increasingly it is a commercialized, consumer event of trees and trimmings, treats and gifts—purchasing an experience of gaity, cheer, warmth, togetherness, presence. When absence is a constant companion, when loss is fresh and raw, when grief is weighty, how do we enter and navigate this season… to be jolly? Gratitude is almost always the answer to our most heartfelt urgent questions about grief. Gratitude offers a frame for finding a measure of solace within the season. Memories of […]
Creating a New Reality After a Child-Loss
November 16, 2014
Grief has many lessons. One of them is the opportunity to re-create ourselves from scratch because it has the power to take what we are, what we thought we were meant to be, to a far-away place. A place that we felt we would never be able to go. We are stuck with a new reality, a reality that we don’t like. When I lost my son, for a while I fought that reality. I fought the dark place where my identity, my plans that would never be fulfilled, and all my dreams had been taken away from me. I […]
Episode 35: Grieving Disability and Death
November 11, 2014
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley discuss with Louise Bruce, bereaved mom the experience of losing two special needs children, Laura and Chris. Louise has honored the children by starting the LaChris Connection serving families of kids with disabilities. The second guest is Isabel Stenzel Byrnes, Hospice social worker, Cystic Fibrosis survivor and author of “The Power of two: A Twin Triumph Over Cystic Fibrosis” Isabel discusses her process in coping with Cystic Fibrosis, lung transplants and the death of her twin. These inspirational guests show how through hope, charity and love they have overcome […]
Episode 34: Making Meaning After Loss– Golden Gate Bridge
November 11, 2014
On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley interview Sue Story and David Hull both bereaved parents whose children died after jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Sue and David have gone on to honor their children by advocating for safety changes in the bridge and suicide prevention. David is the co-founder of the Bridge Rail Foundation. The second guest is Reverend Ron Harder bereaved parent of Zachary whose loss has moved him to also help others. Ron is a minster, Funeral Director and Owner along with his wife Chris of the Heritage Oaks Funeral Home and the […]
Finding a Silver Lining in Living with Loss
October 28, 2014
Can we find anything at all in living with loss that in some way we might benefit from? Is it possible that something as terrible as loss, so final and irreversible, can contain a silver lining? Maybe this isn’t exactly a silver lining, but I’ll tell you about something that has dawned on me as a result of losing my 22-year-old son in July of 2008. Even though I always knew in a factual way that someday I would die, I still lived in emotional denial of that reality. Since losing Danny, the façade has been ripped off of my […]
Learning to Live Again After Loss: Interview with Alan Pederson
October 28, 2014
In a recent interview, Alan Pedersen opened up with Dr. Gloria Horsley about Learning to Live Again After Loss and the trials he faced after his great loss. Below is the interview: G: Hello. I’m Dr. Gloria Horsley with my co-host Dr. Heidi Horsley. Welcome to the show today. We’re so happy to have you on Healing the Grieving Heart. Heidi and I want this to be a show of hope, friendship and renewal for those who suffer the loss of a child. Well, Heid, I want to start out the show by reading an email we had. We get some […]
Wedding Day a Lesson in Process of Grief
October 24, 2014
In 2007, my twin grandchildren’s parents died from the injuries they received in separate car crashes. The twin’s mother, our daughter, listed my husband and me as the twin’s guardians in her will. Suddenly we were GRGs, grandparents raising grandchildren. The twins, one boy and one girl, came to live with us when they were 15 years old. Suddenly, we were reliving the teenage years. We attended gymnastics meets, choir concerts, marching band concerts, and other high school events. Seven years passed, and during this time, we melded into a grand family. When the twins left for college, we were […]
My Way of Living with Death
October 22, 2014
If there is one word to describe me, it would be “Mother.” When I hear “Mom” in a grocery store, I turn, ready for action. I want every one of all ages to be happy, healthy and well cared for. It is in my DNA. My son, Christopher Robin Hotchkiss, was murdered by his roommate, Mark James Taylor, on March 21, 1996. Christopher was 21 years old. He was shot four times with a handgun because of an argument over where to put the dishes. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to get this kind of news. What hit me first, […]
