GriefHaven Blog | Insights and Stories of Healing

July 26, 2012

Starting Over Television Show – NBC

Starting Over was a daytime reality show from the creators of “The Real World” which followed six women who came from all walks of life to overcome issues that had held them back from leading a fulfilling life. The producers of Starting Over contacted Susan Whitmore, asking her to visit with Bethany who was one of the Starting Over house guests. Bethany had just lost her only child, Shelby, in a tragic car accident a few months earlier (see Shelby’s photo on our memory page). The holidays were coming, Bethany was far away from her home, living in the Starting Over house in Southern California, and feeling the painful separation from family and friends. The hardest part for Bethany was that she was missing Shelby terribly. Bethany was trying to decide whether or not she would continue living in the Starting Over house while feeling such intense pain […]

May 24, 2020

Mom Voice Impacts Child

Children's brains are far more engaged by their mother's voice than by voices of women they do not know, a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. Brain regions that respond more strongly to the mother's voice extend beyond auditory areas to include those involved in emotion and reward processing, social functions, detection of what is personally relevant and face recognition. The study, which is the first to evaluate brain scans of children listening to their mothers' voices, will be published May 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

May 28, 2024

Finding Closure is a Myth

The wound of loss is a part of each person's life forever. We continue to think about those dear to us, though perhaps not every day or with the same intensity. Recollection is sometimes provoked by a date on the calendar or, less predictably, by a sight, sound, aroma, melody or place that evokes the missing person. These personal moments, seemingly forever paused in time, can cause us to feel alone, especially during sentiment-filled holidays.

October 19, 2020

I Wrote Your Name.

Ask my Mom how she is . . .
My Mom, she tells lies
She never did before.
From now until she dies,
she'll tell a whole lot more.

Ask my Mom how she is,

June 11, 2020

Coping Tools – New and Diverse Experience

New and diverse experiences are linked to enhanced happiness, and this relationship is associated with greater correlation of brain activity, new research has found. The results, which appear in the journal Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unknown connection between our daily physical environments and our sense of well-being. "Our results suggest that people feel happier when they have more variety in their daily routines -- when they go to novel places and have a wider array of experiences," explains Catherine Hartley, an assistant professor in New York University's Department of Psychology and one of the paper's co-authors.

October 19, 2020

If I Had Known

If I had known what trouble you were bearing;
What griefs were in the silence of your face;
I would have been more gentle, and more caring,
And tried to give you gladness for a space.
I would have brought more warmth into the place,
If I had known.

July 4, 2025

Depressive symptoms may hasten memory decline in older people

The researchers concluded that depression and memory were closely interrelated, with both seeming to affect each other. The researchers concluded that depression and memory were closely interrelated, with both seeming to affect each other. Senior author Dr Dorina Cadar, of the UCL Department of Behavioral Science & Health and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said: "It is known that depression and poor memory often occur together in older people, but what comes first has been unclear.

July 23, 2005

2005 – Peace of Heart Award

The Erika Whitmore Godwin Foundation Presents The 2005 Peace of Heart Award To Steven Turnbull and Credence Sol Attorneys from the Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif Law Firm Susan Whitmore presenting the 2005 Peace of Heart Award to Steven Turnbull On July 23, 2005, The Erika Whitmore Godwin Foundation and griefHaven presented its 2005 Peace of Heart award to Steven Wade Turnbull and Credence Sol for their unwavering support in assisting the foundation in a lawsuit caused by a volunteer who had refused to return the Portrait of Grief; Badges of Courage tapes to the foundation until certain demands were met. After almost a year in court, the footage was returned to the plaintiffs, who held a celebration July 9 to thank the devoted lawyers of Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif for handling the case pro bono. Susan presented attorneys Steven Turnbull and Credence Sol with the 2005 Peace […]

July 16, 2020

Why Are Memories Attached to Emotions So Strong?

Memories linked with strong emotions often become seared in the brain. Most people can remember where they were on 9/11, or what the weather was like on the day their first child was born. Memories about world events on Sept 10, or lunch last Tuesday, have long been erased. Why are memories attached to emotions so strong? "It makes sense we don't remember everything," says René Hen, PhD, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. "We have limited brain power. We only need to remember what's important for our future wellbeing."

October 19, 2020

The Gift

For Jill, Written by April Muir, Jill's Sister

Of all the things that are left behind

When a person leaves this world,

The one to treasure above all else

May 26, 2020

Narcissism Can Lower Stress Level

People who have grandiose narcissistic traits are more likely to be 'mentally tough', feel less stressed and are less vulnerable to depression, research led by Queen's University Belfast has found. While narcissism may be viewed by many in society as a negative personality trait, Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, who is Director of the InteRRaCt Lab in the School of Psychology at Queen's, has revealed that it could also have benefits. He has published two papers on narcissism and psychopathology in Personality and Individual Differences and European Psychiatry.

June 12, 2020

Everything Turns Out Okay

When I was three and a half years old, I went crashing into a glass door on the first floor of my family’s home in Chevy Chase, Md. The worst damage was not from my arm going through the door, but from it coming back out. A shard of glass, still fixed in the door frame, entered my arm at the armpit and then, as I fell backward and down to the ground, it sliced open my arm all the way up to the wrist. I suffered complete severing of my radial artery, and total or partial transection of the radial, ulnar, and median nerves, and of various muscles.