Chris Mulligan

Chris Mulligan received her BS in Psychology and MS in Clinical, Child, Youth, and Family Work from Western Oregon University. Twenty-five years of adoption/social work and mental health experience didn’t prepare Chris for the devastation after the death of her son, Zac, in 2000. The journey through grief changed her, her views of life, death and the afterlife forever. Since Zac’s death, she has documented over eight years of signs and communication with Zac, her spirit guide, Samuel and others on the other side. She lives in Newberg, Oregon, with her husband, Jim, and their dogs, Chiquita and Joe. Chris appeared on the radio show “Healing the Grieving Heart” with Dr. Gloria & Dr. Heidi Horsley to discuss “Afterlife Agreements.” To hear Chris being interviewed on this show, go to the following link: https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/32277/afterlife-agreements-and-getting-through-your-grief

Articles:

Enjoying the Holidays … Differently

By Chris Mulligan — It’s time to party! the television advertisements say this time of year. Party? How could I party when some days I did not even want to get out of bed? I did not want to go to work. I did not want to confront my day. How could I party when I could not even look at my face to put on a happy one? Getting through one’s days are difficult at best after the death of a child, but enduring the holiday season seems almost impossible to surmount. Depending upon the length of time in […]

How Can I Receive a Sign or Message?

When grief and pain are your daily companions, you have questions. We all ask many questions after a loved one dies. We want validation of and answers to these questions. This uncertainty is a part of our grief process but can there be comfort or relief in this process. We remember the close bond with our child or loved one before their death. We wonder, why were they taken from us so soon or was their death painful or did they hurt or why couldnt we protect them? These common thoughts are often accompanied by questions concerning communication with their […]

Christmas Grief: Tips for Enduring After a Child’s Death

Anniversaries, birthdays, special memories and holidays intensify the pain after the death of a child. And although we may have discovered daily tools to help guide our everyday grief, December seems to require special tips and ideas to navigate the days leading up to the holiday dates. The following are some helpful ideas I have compiled over the years from my own history and from those shared by other bereaved parents. These ideas seem to follow the categories of Self Care, Traditions and Honoring Your Child. Self Care • Accept support • Allow/ask others to help with Christmas tasks (card […]

Platitudes: Uncomfortable for Everyone

Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while so that we can see life with a clearer view again. Tom Bodett When we’re grieving, we all platitudes. You know these: “She’s in a better place.” “God never gives us more than we can handle.” “It must have been his time.” “Be grateful you had him for nineteen years.” “You’ll be seeing him soon enough.” “Its God’s will.” Considering the other person’s point of view, the reasons for using these platitudes are many: · The majority of us do not know what to say that […]

Sudden Death vs. Anticipated Loss: Two Different Journeys

Experience: The stern lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge Having experienced grief previously, I assumed I would be able to move on through life after the death of my mother in November 2010. I thought myself well prepared since I had spent the last ten years creating my new life after my son passed from injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. While caring for my mother, I convinced myself that becoming knowledgeable about Alzheimer’s disease, its progress, symptoms and behaviors would arm me with the necessities to flow through […]

Mother’s Day Changes in Years After Child-Loss

January 22, 1979. October 1, 2000. As bereaved parents we look at those dates often because they represent our child. Thinking about this Mother’s Day, I recognize how the meaning of those dates has changed for me over the 9 Â½ years since my son Zac’s death. For 21 years, that birth date represented a day that was not only etched in my memory as one of the best days of my life, but it signified the passage of time that added experiences, memories and events to a life that I witnessed. Of course, like every other parent, I never […]

Grief Happens: Taking the Risk to Bloom After a Loss

Life and death give us lessons to learn everyday. If we’re aware, we notice the lessons in the media, on bumper stickers; in conversations and through our experiences, but what do we do with them? Do we heed them and heal ourselves by making different life choices? Or do we choose to stay stuck in our chosen state causing our own “death” in our grief? Often, we become so accustomed to life’s bombardment of information that we choose to view life from our surface level of involvement. We notice the signs, “Accidents Happen,” “Divorce Happens,” “S— Happens,” “Change Happens,” but […]

Is She ‘Half a Mother’ After the Death of Son?

By Chris Mulligan — Apparent in all the media, bombarding my world, I saw advertisements the first Mother’s Day after my son died: The perfect Mothers’ Day gift. Celebrate Mom! Make her day! Surprise her with style. Especially for you, Mom! Delight her with diamonds! Enjoy your special day, Mom… People asked me: What are you doing on Mothers’ Day? I did not want to decide so I was glad my family decided for me. A Mothers’ Day Brunch – wouldn’t that be fun? My feelings about Mothers’ Day were as conflicted as my grieving. I was a mother, but […]

‘Noticing’ and Grieving Go Together

By Chris Mulligan — Learning to “notice” during my first year of grief was more imporant than anything else in helping me survive my grief. It also provided me a major life lesson. I realized that noticing was the vehicle through which I have come to accept my life experiences as well as be able to move through them and learn from them. All the major events in my life — those that caused the most pain and eventually precipitated the most growth — have also caused me to reflect upon and recognize that the suffering was present for a […]