Janice Bell Meisenhelder

After the loss of her 19-year-old daughter to cancer, Dr. Janice Bell Meisenhelder turned her grief work towards helping others. She used her insight as a nurse, her experience with peer counseling of other bereaved mothers, and her knowledge of the research to compose a gentle guide with practical tips for healing: Surviving the Unthinkable: The Loss of a Child. Based on scientific evidence as well as personal experience, this book provides comforting help to all bereaved mothers in short, digestible bites in chronological order according to need by topic. It has received rave reviews from leaders of The Compassionate Friends chapters. Dr. Meisenhelder holds a Doctor of Nursing Science from Boston University. Her clinical nursing practice was at Massachusetts General Hospital in medical-surgical, intensive care and oncology. With extensive experience in nursing education, she is currently a professor of nursing at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, teaching at both the RN-BSN and Graduate Level nursing courses. Dr. Meisenhelder has published thirty-six articles in professional and scholarly journals, including topics on coping as well as clinical guidelines for working with bereaved parents in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Meisenhelder currently resides near Boston, MA with her husband. She has one surviving daughter.

Articles:

Longing for a Child Who has Died

Longing for a Child Who has Died The intense longing for your deceased child causes difficult emotional pain and unremitting agony. Our bodies and minds cry out deep from our […]

Read More

Spring Holidays May Trigger Grief

Spring Holidays May Trigger Grief Our springtime spiritual holidays and rituals hold memories and significance which enriches our lives. But they may also be difficult waters to navigate following the […]

Read More

Valentine’s Day Triggers Mother’s Grief

From the author of  Surviving the Unthinkable: The Loss of a Child: Meisenhelder, Janice Bell: 9780979651120: Amazon.com: Books My firstborn, Melissa, was a hopeless romantic! She loved Valentine’s Day ever […]

Read More

For Grieving Moms: When Others Respond in Hurtful Ways

  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 […]

Read More