GriefHaven Blog | Insights and Stories of Healing

October 19, 2020

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.

May 24, 2024

Mothers live longer as child mortality declines

The dramatic decline in childhood mortality during the 20th century has added a full year to women's lives, according to a new study. "The picture I was building in my mind was to think about what the population of mothers in the U.S. looked like in 1900," said Matthew Zipple, a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University and author of "Reducing Childhood Mortality Extends Mothers' Lives," which published May 9 in Scientific Reports.

May 1, 2024

Will I Ever Know Happiness Again?

My daughter Erika died, and I believed that with her went all the happiness and joy life once held. From that place, I didn’t see how it was possible to ever be happy again. Thankfully, I was wrong. Of great concern to many people who are in the initial throes of deep grief is whether or not they will ever again know true happiness or experience real joy. They are experiencing thoughts and feelings that are often shocking and scary.

October 20, 2020

I Love Life Still

I stand before the gates of hell
does it exist
I know too well

familiar are the licks of fire
consuming my soul

July 13, 2018

A Day That Changed My Life (Yet Once Again)

Susan Whitmore, CEO, Meets With Fire Fighters A Day That Changed My Life (Yet Once Again) I was asked by Captain Bob Bates to come to the fire station and talk about griefHaven. He said, “We need you…we need to know about your organization and what you do.” So I went armed with documents, grief pins, and other bits of information to share with them. But what started out as a sharing about griefHaven turned into a grief sharing from the firefighters about their own PTSD, their own trauma and grief over all that they have experienced over the many years they have fought fires, tried to save lives, walked into homes where people have died–where children have died, tried to console families, worked untold hours for the betterment of our communities, and so much more… Most of us have no idea what firefighters do for us. We think they […]

September 22, 2022

You Don’t Need Closure

As a cancer doctor, I see death, and I see how the loss of a loved one is a part of each person's life forever. There are few among us who have not experienced the loss of a friend or loved one. Often it comes without warning, like in an accident. The experience of loss after a lingering illness like cancer, though more expected, is just as deeply felt.

March 28, 2023

Fear of Losing Another Loved One. What to Do?

Once you have lost a loved one, the reality of death may weigh heavily on you, sometimes opening that place where you fear someone else you love may die. This could be anything from a small fear that resolves fairly quickly to a sense of impending doom where your mind regularly goes to terrifying places of what if. You might be on pins and needles every time your child leaves the house.

July 4, 2025

How do our memories last a lifetime? New study offers a biological explanation

A new study by a team of international researchers has uncovered a biological explanation for long-term memories. It centers on the discovery of the role of a molecule, KIBRA, that serves as a 'glue' to other molecules, thereby solidifying memory formation. "Previous efforts to understand how molecules store long-term memory focused on the individual actions of single molecules" explains André Fenton, a professor of neural science at New York University and one of the study's principal investigators. "Our study shows how they work together to ensure perpetual memory storage."

May 24, 2020

Those Left Behind: Working With Suicide-Bereaved families

Rumination is common in individuals experiencing suicide bereavement and is unique compared with the responses to bereavement for other reasons. Suicide, the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, is on the rise. In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans 10 or older died by suicide, up by 30% since 1999. An individual’s death by suicide has far-reaching effects on a wide range of people, including immediate and extended family, friends, acquaintances, and healthcare and mental health professionals.

May 27, 2020

Addiction – Important Brain Reward Pathway Confirmed By Researcher

Details of the role of glutamate, the brain's excitatory chemical, in a drug reward pathway have been identified for the first time. This discovery in rodents shows that stimulation of glutamate neurons in a specific brain region leads to activation of dopamine-containing neurons in the brain's reward circuit. Details of the role of glutamate, the brain's excitatory chemical, in a drug reward pathway have been identified for the first time.

June 17, 2020

Suggestions For The Holidays

The holidays are here, and for most people it is a time of coming together with families and friends. Sure, some of you might dread what happens when your families get together and the challenges of getting along begin, or for some it's nothing but a spectacular time with love and laughter and gratitude that you are all together. Yet, for those who are grieving, the holidays, especially for the first few years, are something often dreaded as people try to figure out how to endure the holidays. What used to be a time they looked forward to is now a time they would rather forget about.

July 13, 2017

Grief Myth – Is the second grief year harder than the first?