Nina Bennett

Nina Bennett has 4 grandchildren, one of whom was unexpectedly born still following a healthy full-term pregnancy. She has worked in reproductive health since 1976, and was a childbirth educator for nearly 10 years. A healthcare professional and frequently requested guest lecturer, Nina presents talks and workshops locally and nationally. She is the Principal Investigator of an IRB-approved research study looking at how grandparents incorporate perinatal loss into their families. Nina is a social activist who gives voice to the often silent grief of grandparents through her writing and speaking. Her articles and poetry have appeared in the anthology Mourning Sickness, The Broadkill Review, Slow Trains Literary Journal, Grief Digest, the News Journal, A.G.A.S.T., Different Kind of Parenting, M.I.S.S.ing Angels, and Living Well Journal, as well as many other publications. Nina is the author of Forgotten Tears A Grandmother’s Journey Through Grief. Proceeds from her book are donated to MISS Foundation, and other agencies supporting families bereaved by the death of a baby. She contributed a chapter to They Were Still Born, a collection of first-person accounts of stillbirth.

Articles:

Robin Williams’ Legacy: Opening a Conversation about Suicide

Robin Williams was brilliant, and his death leaves a void that does not and cannot make sense to anybody but him. Williams talked openly about his addiction issues and struggle […]

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She Died: Bereavement Without Euphemisms

I love words; the look of them on a page, the sound of them in my head, the texture of them in my mouth. My love of language was encouraged […]

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When a Father Dies on Father’s Day

My father died on Father’s Day 2007. He had been in apparent good health until the night he was admitted to the hospital. That day, he went through his usual […]

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Mother’s Terminal Diagnosis Teaching Daughter to ‘Live While Dying’

When my father died unexpectedly and traumatically, my brother and I entertained a philosophical discussion on whether it’s easier for family members if death is sudden or if it is […]

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Deceased Grandchild Sends Dragonflies to Grandma

Synchronicity is far more than a rock album. It is the term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychotherapist, to describe the phenomenon in which events are connected in such […]

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Bereaved Grandmother Turns the Corner on Grief

My granddaughter was unexpectedly born still in 2003. My daughter-in-law had a healthy, uneventful, full-term pregnancy. There were no indications of any problems during her labor. The medical staff was […]

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Families Crave Remembrance After a Loss

The fall and winter holidays can be particularly difficult for bereaved families. Marty Tousley is a psychiatric nurse and certified bereavement counselor. In her article, Getting Through the Holidays, she […]

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Meditations on the Word ‘Still’

“But after tempest . . . /There came a day as still as heaven” (Tennyson) Still. An ordinary word, brief, easy to pronounce. When my sons were toddlers, I often […]

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‘I’ve Never Been a Crier,” But Now….

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief…and […]

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Mother Learns How to Comfort Bereaved Son

By Nina Bennett — I was used to fixing the problems Timothy, my youngest son, encountered when he was a child. If his older brother knocked down his castle of […]

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