Zander Sprague
Zander Sprague is the GO TO Speaker, Author and Coach for Sibling Loss. His mission is to help sibling survivors define their loss, choose a positive pathway and fully participate in their life. In December of 1996, Zander’s sister was murdered. All of a sudden, he found himself thrust into a very unfamiliar world; depression, loneliness, lifelessness, feeling of despair. Although he had a lot of love and support of his family and friends, he found that he alone had to choose a positive pathway to healing and recovery. Then in October of 2007, just as the first edition of his book, Making Lemonade: Choosing A Positive Pathway After Losing Your Sibling was coming out, his sister in-law had a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died at the age of 35. She left a husband and a 3-year-old daughter behind. Again, Zander had to choose a positive pathway to recover from this horrible loss. Zander has studied many modalities of coaching and is currently on track to get his certification as a From Heartbreak to Happiness® grief coach from the Grief Coach Academy. With his own personal experience of loss and this training, it has allowed Zander to help other sibling survivors to choose their own Positive Pathway™ to a rewarding life.
Articles:
Siblings: The Forgotten Mourners
Episode 24 of The Open to Hope show features Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interviewing Dana Brophy and Zander Sprague. Brophy is the daughter of Alan Pedersen, the Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends. She lost her brother, Sean, and knows all too well how disenfranchised sibling loss can be. Like many siblings, she hid her feelings in order to protect her parents. So much of the time, the focus is on the parents when a child dies, but a sibling takes on a huge responsibility—all while feeling like they’ve lost someone they were “guaranteed” to spend their life with. […]
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Holidays Don’t Have to be Harder Than Other Times of Year
The holidays are here. This time of year can bring all kinds of stress and anticipation for you and for your living children. Sometimes, just the anticipation can be the hardest part of the holidays. You may find that you anticipate that the holiday it is going to be difficult. You may anticipate that it is going to be sad. Indeed, it may be sad. However, it is important to recognize that Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah, Kwanza or whatever holiday you may celebrate does not need to be any more difficult than any other day. My sister was killed December […]
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The Basics of Sibling-Loss
I would like to take some time to focus on parents who have lost a child and have other living children. I plan to talk about the sibling survivor experience to give you an idea of what they are going through. I would like to start by talking about their grief. While I was attending The Compassionate Friend’s National Conference and the Bereaved Parents of the USA gathering this past July, the question I heard most was, “Are my children grieving, because I do not see it?” While I can’t speak for all siblings, what I can say in general […]
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