Dr. Heidi Horsley, Executive Director and Co-Founder for the Open to Hope Foundation www.opentohope.com and co-host of Open to Hope Radio a nationally syndicated talk radio program, has been elected to serve on the Compassionate Friends National Board.
The Compassionate Friends has over 600 chapters serving all 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. This organization offers friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved parents, siblings, grandparents, and other family members during the natural grieving process after a child or sibling has died. Around the world more than 30 countries have a Compassionate Friends presence, encircling the globe with support so desperately needed when the worst has happened.
The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
The Compassionate Friends was founded 40 years ago when a chaplain at the Warwickshire Hospital in England brought together two sets of grieving parents and realized that the support they gave each other was better than anything he, as a chaplain, could ever say or provide. The Compassionate Friends jumped across the ocean and was established in the United States and incorporated in 1978 in Illinois.
Each chapter, along with the supporting National Office, is committed to helping every bereaved parent, sibling, or grandparent who may walk through our doors or contact us.
“I am so honored to have been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of The Compassionate Friends, an organization that is so near and dear to my heart, and has done so much for me and many others throughout the world after a loss,” said Dr. Heidi Horsley.
Dr. Horsley hosts the syndicated talk radio show, the Open to Hope Show, and is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Open to Hope Foundation, an international organization committed to providing hope and resources to those grieving. She also has a private practice in Manhattan (www.DrHeidiHorsley.com). In addition, Dr. Horsley presents at National Compassionate Friends Conferences and the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and consults with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), working with military families after a loss. Dr Horsley serves on the advisory board for Our Conservatory, a national music program for at risk teens. She has appeared on ABC’s 20/20, and been quoted in the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Money Magazine and the New York Daily News, in addition to many other media venues. She gives presentations, workshops and professional continuing education courses throughout the country for health care professionals.
Since 9/11 she has worked as a co-investigator for the FDNY-CSU/Columbia University Family Guidance Program; a study providing ongoing intervention and follow-up to families of firefighters killed in the World Trade Center, including workshops for bereaved siblings. Her research interests and publications are in the area of grief and loss, and her doctoral dissertation was on the sudden death of a sibling.
She is also author of “Teen Grief Relief” and “Real Men Do Cry”. She holds graduate degrees from the University of San Francisco, Columbia University, and Loyola University, New Orleans.
