Published Articles
2021 - March - Gazette - Leaning into Sorrow
Leaning into Sorrow
I will never forget the time I was chatting with a group of people around a hi-top table at an evening fundraiser and was asked about my work. I explained that I work with Koch...
Thursday, March 25, 2021
2021 - March - CDT - Active Life
Comfort on Both Sides of the Parting
A very wise woman recently told me that many wedding vows are inaccurate. When the couple commits to “until death do us part,” that doesn’t include the whole s...
Thursday, March 11, 2021
2021 - February - Gazette - Masculine and Feminine Grieving
Masculine and Feminine Grieving
HEART – Helping Empty Arms Recover Together – is a support group that Jenn Stubbs and I facilitate for individuals and couples who have experienced pregnancy ...
Thursday, February 25, 2021
2021 - January - Gazette - Heartfelt Support
Heartfelt Support
Many of you may know that the root of the word courage is “cor,” the Latin word for heart. It takes courage to listen to our hearts.
Fortunately for us, our brains are used to l...
Thursday, January 28, 2021
2021 - January - CDT - Helping Hands
Everyone in Happy Valley is very grateful for the many helping hands in our community, especially during this pandemic. We’re continually in awe of all the first responders who put their he...
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
2020 - December - Gazette - Pieces of Me
Pieces of Me
When our son was little, the two of us had a nightly practice called “Most Grateful, Least Grateful.” As I helped him settle into bed, we would both think through our day and share on...
Thursday, December 31, 2020
2020 - November - Gazette - Searching for Meaning
Searching for Meaning
Experts who study grief suggest that people who are grieving have a need to search for meaning. Meaning helps them understand the nature of their grief - the what, why, when ...
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Previous Posts
2023 - November - Gazette - Dare! Silence
A lot goes on in the silence.” These are words I often share because silence is a big part of my work. For example, I ask for moments of silence when officiating at memorial and funeral services. D...
2023 - Nov - CDT - Helping Hands - Healing Through the Holidays
Healing through the Holidays
Author, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I witness this every day in my work ...
2023 - October - Gazette - Memories Become Treasures
Memories Become Treasures
I was visiting with my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago and we started talking about my dad’s parents, who I lovingly called Grandma and Grandad. My mom shared two memor...
2023 - September - Centered - Arriving Where I Started
I love the T.S. Eliot quote, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for t...
2023 - September - Gazette - Existing Elsewhere
A few years ago I sat with a handful of adults’s in a grief gathering and listened as one mother shared her story. She told us about the moments before and after her young child’s unexpected and su...
2023 - September - Town & Gown - End-of-Life Doulas, Graveside Journaling, and Sponsoring Memorials from Afar
We hope you read the September Town & Gown article by Holly Riddle featuring End-of-Life Doula Jackie Naginey Hook.
2023 - August - Gazette - Surrender Your Soul
Surrender Your Soul
A couple of weeks ago, I stepped onto the deck of our cabin at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. It was early morning and the sun had just risen from behind...
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