Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley are a mother/daughter team and internationally recognized grief experts. They are the founders of The Open to Hope Foundation and the hosts of The Open to Hope Show. In addition, Dr. Gloria is a board member for The Compassionate Friends and Dr. Heidi is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and has a private practice in manhattan. Their message is that others have made it through the grief journey and so can you, if you do not yet have hope lean on theirs.

Articles:

Shep Jeffreys: Helping Grieving People When Tears are Not Enough

Open to Hope Foundation’s Dr. Gloria Horsley interviews Shep Jeffreys for the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) organization. What happens when tears aren’t enough to help you grief? Jeffreys is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. He’s also a psychologist and grief counselor with a private practice. He’s also the author of Helping Grieving People – When Tears Are Not Enough, which just released its second edition. Helping grieving people usually comes with “normal” customary things, but that doesn’t always work for everyone. Many times tears can greatly help a griever—as can friends, church groups, […]

Jenny Wheeler: Reassuring Grieving Teens

Author Jenny Wheeler talks about losing her dad when she was a teenager. She wrote Weird is Normal When Teenagers Grieve to help other teenagers struggling with their own losses. She encourages teens and anyone who’s experienced a loss to connect with the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), which hosts an annual conference. Wheeler was a speaker at the 2011 event and has found that connecting with others, especially when you’re a teen, can be a great tool for healing. Empathy is something everyone needs, but as a teen it can be tough to reach out. She lost […]

Ted Bowman: The Hidden Losses

In this webisode of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) organization, Ted Bowman joins the show to talk about different types of loss. Things rarely work out as planned. Dr. Gloria Horsley introduces Bowman as she asks about shattered dreams. “What are some of the factors around loss?” she asks. There are conspicuous losses, such as a death or a divorce. There are also internal losses that he calls shattered dreams or loss of dreams. It’s a “death” of what you expect life to be. You might be dealing with a death or a diagnosis, but you’re thinking, […]

Solomon R. Benatar: Living and Dying in Today’s Globalizing World

The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) features Dr. Solomon Benatar discussing how living and dying has changed in a globalized world. At the Joint Centre for Bioethics, Dr. Benatar is revered as a leader in the industry. He also teaches at the University of Cape Town and the University of Toronto. What are the highlights of living and dying today? The conditions of humans are incredibly diverse. There have been great advances in technology and economical growths—but still, more than 50 percent of people live in horrific conditions without clean water or adequate food. Death can be a […]

Amy Florian: Finding Hope After the Loss of a Spouse

The founder and CEO of Corgenius, Amy Florian, shares her thoughts on losing a spouse and finding hope in the aftermath. As a bereavement consultant, she pursued her career based on her own experience. Her husband, John, was killed in an accident when they were in their 20s. She was shocked that the world kept moving forward when she had her world torn apart. “I felt that John deserved five minutes of silence,” she recalls. There needed to be more recognition beyond family and friends. She took it upon herself to memorialize John. “I was determined to remember,” she says. […]

Continuing Connections to a Deceased Loved One

The founders of the Open to Hope Foundation, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley, share how they got into the grief and loss field—it’s often a story with terrible beginnings. For this mother-daughter duo, it was the death of Scott at 17 years old that catapulted both of them onto their own unique journey. He was Gloria’s son and Heidi’s brother. Gloria was already in the field of counseling, but losing her son inspired her to specialize in grief and loss. For Heidi, who was in college at the time, she quickly changed her career path to also focus on the […]

Chris Chaplin: Supporting Bereaved Children in the Schools

Kids and grief are a challenge at times. Chris Chaplin is a child and family therapist that works in a Portland, Oregon school. He talks to Dr. Gloria Horsley about kids needing support and acceptance above all when experiencing a loss. A lot of understanding is required to process the loss, and there are a myriad of ways they may need to express this. Many times, kids don’t know the best way. Our roles as an adult is helping children grieve, and identifying the challenges kids face. Specifically, Chaplin recommends for young children to find their own ways to heal. […]

Inspirational poem about puzzles by author Laurel D. Rund

Makiko Matsumoto: Grief Support for Children in Japan

At the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley connects with Makiko Matsumoto from Tokyo, Japan. Last year, she went to The Dougy Center in Portland and decided to start a similar grief support group in Japan. So far, the efforts have been great. However, it’s difficult to communicate with the members and to find children who may benefit. There’s no such thing as “grieving children” in Japan, which makes it difficult to talk about grief and loss. Children may not want to talk about grief because they don’t want to worry their parents. Matsumoto’s goal is to […]

Dr. Carla Sofka: Museums as Healing Spaces

Museums can be a great site for healing according to Dr. Carla Sofka. A professor at Siena College, she points out that almost everyone has a memory of visiting a museum, and they serve a variety of purposes. They’re a place where learning can be fun. Since she began volunteering at New York museums following 9/11, she’s found that they are also great healing spaces for those in grief. Brimming with information, people of all ages can learn about events that have a big impact on their life. Museums are also a place to go for those who didn’t get […]

Maddi The Therapy Dog

Maddi, therapy dog extraordinaire, is part of The Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon. Under Dr. Donna Shuurman, CEO of the center, this is a space for kids, teens, and their families to be surrounded by their peers and plenty of empathy. The Dougy Center is for children ages three through 18, young adults, and their families. It’s a space where nobody tries to “make it all better,” but instead listens, empathizes, and allows everyone to follow their own grief journey. There are many activities and resources to help with healing, including a thriving art therapy program. However, perhaps one of […]

Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.