News-Events

How to Care for a Loved One’s Remains When ‘Conventional Death Care Feels Like Another Form of Forced Assimilation’

How to Care for a Loved One’s Remains When ‘Conventional Death Care Feels Like Another Form of Forced Assimilation’

By Nora Biette-Timons In November 2021, Viennia Lopes Booth went to visit her dad for the first time in a couple of months. When he opened the door, she was “shocked,” she shared during a death care conference in September. “I hadn't seen him in two months, and he...

Who Owns Our Stories?

Who Owns Our Stories?

Who Owns Our Stories? The Fever Pitch and the Harm of True Crime   By Nora Biette-Timmons  There doesn’t appear to be one singular moment when America went true-crime crazy. In the 1990s and early 2000s, tabloids and popular magazines published what they...

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America How three Black-led grief organizations are building resources for communities of color through education and conversations. By Nora Biette-Timmons[ In the...

Advocating for Change: How One Man Secured Bereavement Leave for Hundreds of Thousands of Johnson & Johnson Employees Globally

Advocating for Change: How One Man Secured Bereavement Leave for Hundreds of Thousands of Johnson & Johnson Employees Globally

A Grieving Parent Turns Pain into a Purpose Following the death of his teenaged son, Blake, Tom Barklage fought to secure bereavement leave for Johnson & Johnson employees around the world   By Maddie Cohen After his son Blake died, Tom Barklage took time...

Five Books on Grief and Loss

Five Books on Grief and Loss

By Terri Schexnayder Five new releases have landed in bookstores and audible programs recently. Each one delivers the topics of grief and loss through unflinching honesty with the author’s personal story—some even include moments of humor. We encourage you to read...

Renowned Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Honors the Nuances of Grief In Her Poem, “I Want to Listen to Your Absence”

Renowned Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Honors the Nuances of Grief In Her Poem, “I Want to Listen to Your Absence”

Before my son Finn died, I already had a daily writing practice in place. The day he died was the first night I hadn’t written a poem in over thirteen years. And then I didn’t write at all for the first seven weeks after his death. I suppose on the surface then it...

National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson Pens a Letter of Grief to His Father, “Letter to My Father”

National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson Pens a Letter of Grief to His Father, “Letter to My Father”

Losing anyone in your life affects EVERYTHING in your life.  Your perspectives shift. You question your own mortality.  Losing someone close to you makes you feel like a raw nerve in a world of razor-wire. Everything hurts. Losing my dad just before becoming a...

Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown Says Less Is More When Talking About Grief In His Poem “Nevertheless, It Moves”

Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown Says Less Is More When Talking About Grief In His Poem “Nevertheless, It Moves”

I lost a best friend, fellow vagabond, and gifted poet to a long battle with cancer. We traveled and performed together for years. We joked over homemade-hotel-room drinks about how the $31 we raked in from the donations for the night’s house concert, or whatever...

Notable Poet Brady Peterson Speaks About the Acceptance of Grief In His Poem, “He Checks His Luggage”

Notable Poet Brady Peterson Speaks About the Acceptance of Grief In His Poem, “He Checks His Luggage”

First, I have lived long enough to have outlived most of the people who were important to me when I was young. My parents died years ago. My younger brother died three years ago. All but one of my aunts and uncles have died. Cousins have died. Many close friends...

Acclaimed Troubadour and Poet Beth Wood Writes About the Vulnerability of Grief In Her Poem, “LESS HEAVY THINGS”

Acclaimed Troubadour and Poet Beth Wood Writes About the Vulnerability of Grief In Her Poem, “LESS HEAVY THINGS”

My own loss and the deep grief that accompanies it brought about profound change in the way I experience creativity. Deep loss breaks you down in a way that also cracks you open. There is loss of control and surrender. Tears and sorrow pour out, but light also...

In Black Communities, Homegoing Rituals Honor the Dead and the Living Through a Blend of African and Christian Traditions

In Black Communities, Homegoing Rituals Honor the Dead and the Living Through a Blend of African and Christian Traditions

By Brittiny Moore Whether at a small church, or one that seats thousands, Black funerals – or homegoing celebrations – are expressions of mourning that honor Black life, love, and community. Homegoing celebrations are a fixture in Black communities, and elaborate...

We lost you

We lost you

It has been over five years since we lost you. When we found out we were having twins, we were so excited, overwhelmed and scared. From one of the very first ultrasounds, I was concerned that you were measuring smaller.

Protecting Students Abroad

Protecting Students Abroad

Two grieving mothers seek efforts to bring transparency, safety to college abroad programs Ros Thackurdeen remembers the hype as she sat through a college study abroad session with her youngest son Ravi at Swarthmore University.

Should You Go to a Medium?

Should You Go to a Medium?

In one study grieving parents ranked support groups and psychics as the most helpful in coping with their grief. Photo courtesy of Yeshi Kangrang. An expert on grief says bereaved parents shouldn’t discount the benefits One of the most difficult aspects of dealing...

Bea’s Law: Two Bereaved Parents Fight for (and Win!) Bereavement Leave for Seattle City Workers

Bea’s Law: Two Bereaved Parents Fight for (and Win!) Bereavement Leave for Seattle City Workers

Bea’s parents — Rachel and Erin Alder say they are “extraordinarily pleased” by Seattle City Council’s unanimous vote for paid bereavement leave and were thankful for the support they received throughout the process. City employees no longer face impossible choice:...

“He Wants Me to Salute Him Back: Bereaved Parents Create Network to Support Those Who’ve a Lost Child in Military Service

“He Wants Me to Salute Him Back: Bereaved Parents Create Network to Support Those Who’ve a Lost Child in Military Service

Bryan Burgess was killed in action during a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan just 16 days before he was scheduled to return home — a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday. Telling and re-telling the story of his son’s life and sacrifice pulled Terry Burgess from deep...

It’s okay…

It’s okay…

Don’t ever allow what other people say or think about your pain to keep you from allowing yourself to feel it. Because the only way you’re going to get through this is to feel it and process it. It’ll get better. You’ll always miss your baby. I’ll always miss my...

It Changes You

It Changes You

I’m not the same as I used to be. I don’t think I ever will be. If that doesn’t change how I am with Chris I mean I think it has to change how I am with Chris because I’m different.”
— Gina

What’s Your HR Benefit? Deana’s Was One Week Leave Per Child

What’s Your HR Benefit? Deana’s Was One Week Leave Per Child

There are times in which an entire life can change in a moment. It may come in the form of an anxiously anticipated milestone: graduation, marriage, or the birth of a child. But there are darker, unimaginable tragedies we often refuse to consider – tucking them into the deepest recesses of our minds because they are too painful, too life-altering. For Deana Martin that moment came on a busy Friday afternoon.

No one understands…

No one understands…

It’s okay no one understands why I was so upset this morning. Dad and Johnny don’t get it – perhaps the male mind can compartmentalize easily – they accept that you’re gone. Today I took stuff out of your room, the way I had set your things up, because dad is going to paint the room.

Loss of a Loved One - Evermore's Bereavement Stories
Once More We Saw Stars

Once More We Saw Stars

Evermore is dedicating this Father’s Day week to bereaved dads who will always be fathers. In a new memoir, Once More We Saw Stars, father Jayson Greene vividly recounts the raw feelings after his two-year-old daughter Greta died and his continuous journey through grief.

Loss of a Loved One - Bereavement Stories shared on Live-Evermore
Dr. Mom Gives You A Life to Live

Dr. Mom Gives You A Life to Live

Nancy is the unflappable mother of ten and leads her large family with grace, instilling a deep love for life in all her children. As a psychotherapist who specializes in addiction and trauma, she has a soft spot for people and falls in love easily, especially with children. Kevin was no different.

Loss of a Loved One - Bereavement Stories shared on Live-Evermore
When I saw her…

When I saw her…

“Why is a chaplain here?’ She just rolled off the bed. Then when I saw the first doctor before I was able to see Kayla, she said, ‘If she survives,’ and I didn’t hear anything after that.” — Tonya

Loss of a Loved One - Bereavement Stories shared on Live-Evermore
Hold My Hand

Hold My Hand

He was one of the initial responders and he just kept holding my hand. He was like, ‘Miss Hawkins, I’ve been in Iraq. Your son, he’s going to be okay.’”

Choosing to try

Choosing to try

Grief teaches a mother lessons she never wanted to learn My husband Brad came home to tell me what he had learned minutes earlier. Sarah is gone… Our Sarah-Grace. Our beautiful 24-year-old daughter. Dead. With three words and within mere seconds, I was shattered,...

Loss of a Loved One - Bereavement Stories shared on Live-Evermore
Welcome to Holland

Welcome to Holland

A Reflection by Catherine T I thought I was in a dream, a nightmare, would I ever wake up? My plane never landed in Italy, but crashed on the runway in Holland. She was sick, there were no answers, in the end: not enough oxygen to her brain.