You Were Bigger Than the Whole Sky By Nora Biette-Timons In “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” a ballad about growing up and feeling alone, pop superstar Taylor Swift sings, “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, you’ve got no reason to be afraid… You’re on your own kid, yeah, you can…
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Hip Hop Therapy Annual Showcase in the Bronx, New York By Nora Biette-Timons “Hip hop therapy” was first conceptualized in the 1990s, by Dr. Edgar Tyson. In a 2002 academic paper, he wrote that “treatment innovations that are culturally sensitive and demonstrate promise…are of significant importance to practitioners working with at-risk and delinquent youth,” but…
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Cherokee Nation Art Classes and Art Show in Tahlequah, Oklahoma By Nora Biette-Timons In 2022, Evermore recognized the alarming trends in childhood bereavement and had to act. After partnering with Penn State and the University of Southern California to release America’s Forgotten Orphans, the nation’s first report documenting a 20-year rise in the experience of…
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Got Questions? National Call to Discuss the U.S. Government’s First Report on Grief & Bereavement We’re Here to Answer Your Questions: Join Us! In May, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a little-known government agency, released its draft report, “Interventions to Improve Care of Bereaved People.” This is the U.S. government’s first report on grief…
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Advancing Bereavement Leave for All Students in Higher Education Each year, over 4 million students in higher education are socially and academically impacted by bereavement Losing a loved one at any juncture can alter the course of a life; navigating grief is a fraught and difficult process in the best of times. But for students…
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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 considered salacious details of violent crimes that captured their readers’ imagination.…
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When someone close to us dies, we’re hardly in the right frame of mind to handle logistics and practical matters. Yet, often, this is the first thing we’re forced to confront. There’s the matter of the deceased’s body and how it will be handled, but also funeral arrangements and ceremonial planning to honor the life…
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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 summer of 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests over entrenched racism and inequality, Alica Forneret paused to make…
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Bo-Hawg & Evermore, A Love Story: A Deep-Fried Meaning Found in Grief How Bo-Hawg owner Greenberry Taylor injected Evermore into Pig Fish’s DNA By Greenberry Taylor Grease popping, no breeze, standing in direct sunlight, lifting coolers with 50 pounds of grouper, hands coated in cornmeal and batter, and a heat index of 107. Ah, those…
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Beyond Beats Hip-Hop’s Journey Through 50 Years of Grief By Nora Biette-Timmons Last year, American culture celebrated 50 years of hip-hop. At the 2023 Grammys, some of the genre’s most legendary performers—Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Ice T, Method Man—performed snippets of their groundbreaking songs in an exhilarating, 13-minute mash-up performance. The facade of the…
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Evermore Submits Comments to AHRQ on Interventions to Improve Care of Bereaved Persons Bereavement’s long-standing absence from public policy debates and national health priorities, along with its newfound urgency, requires sound leadership and an aggressive agenda to address the substantial challenges confronting our nation’s grieving population. Today, America lacks a comprehensive, coordinated, and evidence-based bereavement…
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Federal Government Requests Comments on Interventions to Improve Care of Bereaved Persons In 2023, and as a result of your hard work, Congress directed The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to establish an evidence base for what constitutes high-quality bereavement and grief care. This systematic review will inform an independent subject matter expert…
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Congress Recedes on Bereavement Leave in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act Over the last few weeks, many of you called your U.S. Senators seeking their support in allowing the U.S. Armed Forces to return home when their parents die. This bereavement leave would be an added provision to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act…
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We Have Achieved So Much Because Of You Ten years ago, no one talked about bereavement‘s impact on us or the trajectory of our lives. Today, bereavement is highlighted in major media outlets, in the halls of Congress, and in our communities. Thousands of people believe in our vision, which has been humbling and…
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Visionary & Trailblazing Attorney Kenneth Feinberg Offers Five Reflections On Bereavement After serving thousands of families, victim compensation attorney Kenneth Feinberg offers five reflections on grief and bereavement. By Joyal Mulheron with support from Maddie Cohen Visionary and trailblazing attorney Kenneth Feinberg has long been called upon by U.S. presidents, families, and survivors…
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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 off to make space for his grief. Little did he know…
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The scale and reach of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant—with current appropriations of $712,700,000—is indisputable, as 93 percent of pregnant women, 98 percent of infants, and 60 percent of children are touched. While impressive progress has been made in important benchmarks, including the 25 percent decline in infant mortality since 1997, bereavement…
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By Cynthia Prestidge 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, gutted, disoriented. Any word that implies destruction,…
DetailsBy 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 and share with bereaved family and friends these selected books. Dina Gachman’s…
DetailsBy Jena Kirkpatrick Jason Edwards grew up in the small town of Graham in West Texas where being gay was not accepted. Pegged as the class ‘gay boy,’ he was bullied relentlessly. His dad tried to spark his interest in sports and Edwards recalled being out on the field spinning around like Wonder Woman. “I…
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Open for comment until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday June 2, 2023 One of the most hotly debated topics in bereavement care is whether all grief is normative or a diagnosable condition. For the first time, the federal government is beginning to examine scientific evidence on when grief is normative and when, if ever, does…
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Forgotten by most of society, Maryam Henderson experienced two devastating events that ultimately changed her course: a 25-year prison sentence and the death of her son, Augustine. Maryam was serving her sentence at St. Gabriel’s Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women when she received the news that her oldest son had died in a motorcycle accident.…
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Kevin, a fierce protector of his nine siblings and Nancy and Ray’s son. A Bereaved Mother’s Day Dr. Mom, otherwise known as Nancy, is an 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…
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Across America, powerful imagery and musical cadence ring out in coffee shops and onto the page during National Poetry Month. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, the month-long recognition celebrates the poets’ integral role in our culture and society. We are reminded that poetry matters. Evermore’s very own Jena Kirkpatrick (editor…
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Dear Friends unknown, We are joined together by so many things in grief. Maybe there’s a luminous cord connecting us through sleepless hours and hardest times. The poet Jack Ridl told me years ago, after my father died, “Grief is an ambush. When you’re least expecting it, it rises up again…” Poetry is a close…
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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 would look…
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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 father, seemed extra-ordinarily cruel and ironic. But, contemplating that cruel…
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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 it was we could drum up, weren’t even enough to…
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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 have died. At this point,…
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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 pours in. I learned to listen to…
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By Prerna Shah When a loved one dies, many family members seek bereavement leave to attend to family affairs, their grief, and sort through the many changes that invisibly unfold behind closed doors. It may be surprising to learn that most employees have no legal right to take leave, except in five states in…
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By Terri Schexnayder Country music’s familiar heart-tugging lyrics of country-western ballads about cheating, love lost, and traveling roads in pickup trucks always seems to have a place for grief. Hits are littered with songs about love, death, grief, and faith as artists share their feelings and coping strategies ranging from tears to whiskey. Steve…
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By Terri Schexnayder Often when someone dies, we seek to support the grieving family in a meaningful way. In a sign of solidarity and love, we attend memorials or funerals, send condolences, prepare meals, and sometimes participate in athletic events or donate to fundraisers for a related cause. When a child or teenager loses…
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By Terri Schexnayder For millions of people living in America, the death of a child is a tragedy that silently unites many, even presidents. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has cited his son’s death, Beau, as motivation to run for president and has shared his reflections and experiences on grief and loss in many…
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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 and festive rituals that blend African ancestry with the Christian religion. During the…
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In 2022, our community of supporters has grown by more than 50 percent for the second consecutive year. Our movement consists of people from every corner of America – from truck drivers to professors to homeschoolers and executives. We unite in solidarity to create a more compassionate world for those who will follow us. What…
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This list was developed in collaboration with Dr. Donna Gaffney, an expert in children’s grief. A tragic event is difficult to comprehend for even the most mature, knowledgeable adult. For children and adolescents faced with trying to understand such an overwhelming experience, the task is even more daunting. How can a young person grasp…
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It was the beginning of her junior year at the University of South Carolina (UofSC) when Mairead Peters’ cousin unexpectedly passed away. Not only was Peters just getting settled into her new class schedule, she was now forced to navigate the school year while wading through the shock and pain of her grief. The following…
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Earlier this month, Evermore hosted a conversation with Dr. Emily Smith-Greenaway, a grief and bereavement researcher in California and associate professor of sociology and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California, to discuss her research on bereaved people and her work on the COVID-19 bereavement multiplier. The bereavement multiplier is a tool used to…
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Since October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month – which aims to bring more acknowledgement and recognition to the grief, stress, and hardship parents experience after a miscarriage or the death of a newborn baby – we decided to share three stories of loss to contextualize this unique, and challenging maternal experience. According to…
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Jena Kirkpatrick with her son, Ellis McClane. Jena Kirkpatrick was hesitant to visit a medium after experiencing the death of her 19-year-old son, Ellis McClane, who died in a car accident in 2011. But five years after her loss, Jena decided to take a chance and scheduled an appointment. “That’s something everyone wants for the…
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As many as half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Even though 87 percent of women have experienced a miscarriage while employed, an alarming number of women aren’t aware that the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows for time off from work after a miscarriage and stillbirth. These were the findings from a survey conducted…
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Earlier this month, Evermore hosted a conversation with Toni Miles, M.D., Ph.D., a grief and bereavement researcher in Georgia and Morehouse School of Medicine adjunct professor, to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) — a health-related survey of adults that measures certain behaviors, such as seatbelt…
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Experiencing the death of a loved one can be one of the most traumatic and painful experiences someone can face in life. Such losses can be overwhelming, resulting in intense and difficult emotions of sadness, emptiness, shock, and despair. The bereavement process that conjoins grief — the handling of a loved one’s affairs, the navigation…
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Just How Many People In America Have Lost A Loved One? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the nation’s most-trusted, science-based sources of data on public health in the United States. For more than 70 years, this government agency has been monitoring the nation’s health landscape and providing guidance to…
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Why Is Our Nation So Far Behind In Grief and Bereavement Services and Policies? National Grief Awareness Day — observed annually on August 30 — was created by Angie Cartwright, who’s experienced immense grief in her life after the loss of her baby sister, newlywed husband, and mother. She helped establish this day of awareness…
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With Teacher Shortages, Community Programs for Grieving Kids Are More Important Than Ever With the back to school season in full swing, all of us with students in our homes have probably heard about the critical shortage of teachers. Reports say that our country lacks a whopping 300,000 teachers and support staff. In an…
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The Time Is Now to Invest in Grieving Young People Recently, NPR covered a fascinating club for teenage students experiencing the death of a parent. The article follows the story of a high school sophomore named Elizabeth, whose father passed from COVID-19 last year. More than anything, this reporting shows that the time is now…
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Close the Loophole! – Universal Paid Leave Should Include Bereavement Leave Due Monday, August 15th! Earlier this year, you made phone calls, sent emails, called your friend in order to add paid bereavement leave to our nation’s policy conversations. You did it and it was the first time Washington included paid bereavement leave to…
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Grief is a powerful dual-edged emotion that can result in a dull, undulating pain which can be paralyzing and suffocating or, if channeled appropriately, can swell into rage and anger that moves each of us — or societies — to do things that once seemed impossible. Such collective grief, outrage and injustice sparked the “fierce…
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For 25 years, visual artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg has comforted families in mourning as a hospice volunteer. And with each new family she’s consoled came lessons about the scope of grief, its impact, and the lack of spaces for people to express their deep sorrow. Firstenberg brings those experiences to her latest work — a…
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Tell Congress To Protect Jobs for Newly Bereaved Families Imagine how many families have lost a loved one in the past year. Our nation’s collective grief is inescapable and it has impacted all of us. Today, there are no federal legal protections for newly bereaved families except for narrow exceptions. Congress must act! Workers…
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White House Considers Bereavement Leave: ACT NOW! One of the most glaring results of COVID-19 is the lack of systemic bereavement care in the United States. Most Americans who have lost a loved one have no legal right to take leave, paid or unpaid. And this is not a new problem but the pandemic…
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering “the fierce urgency of Now” during the I Have a Dream speech taken August 28th, 1963, Washington D.C, United States. The Fierce Urgency of Now: Modernizing Bereavement Care Today, armed American troops guard the heart of Washington, D.C., including the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther…
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The creators behind a new documentary set to air on public media channels across the country in May want to start a national conversation about a topic that many shy away from — grief. The goals for “Speaking Grief” are twofold: to validate the experience of grief through the stories of those mourning the death…
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For the first time in history, key federal health agencies will report what activities, if any, they are doing to advance bereavement care. Photo by Bob Bowie on Unsplash As Congress shut its doors and fears of COVID-19 swept the nation, a small group of families and professionals worked tirelessly to advance our nation’s bereavement care system. We know…
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For too long, too many have considered bereavement as simply a mental health issue. When a family member or loved one dies, those grieving experience a deep sadness as their lives are changed fundamentally forever. Conventional wisdom tells us a bereaved individual or family will eventually “get over it,” “find closure” and “move on.” But,…
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As another decade comes to a close and Evermore marks its fifth year working to improve bereavement care in the United States, we have reason to celebrate 2019. Here at Evermore, we made big strides toward building our team and raising awareness about the need to support grieving parents. Meanwhile, across the country, new initiatives…
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How CuddleCot is changing the care system for stillbirth families The scene opens with a woman, curled up on a hospital bed. A doctor enters, rolling in a white bassinet. “This is called a CuddleCot,” he explains. “It’s a special bassinet that keeps stillborn babies cool so they can stay with their parents a little…
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After his son Reid died in a car crash, Tim Hollister helped transform Connecticut’s teen driving laws. The provisions include earlier curfews, no electronic devices, a two-hour teen driving safety course for both teens and their parents and restrictions on who can ride with young drivers. Evermore is dedicating this Father’s Day week to…
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Kelly Farley and Barry Kluger are the dads behind the Parental Bereavement Act. Evermore is dedicating this Father’s Day week to bereaved dads who will always be fathers. Kelly Farley and Barry Kluger met because of a horrible coincidence: They knew what it was like to mourn a child. For Kluger, it was his 18-year-old…
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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. Evermore is dedicating this Father’s Day week to bereaved dads who will always be fathers. A stunning accident claimed the life of two-year-old Greta Greene in…
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Camp Erin is the largest national bereavement program for kids and teens ages 6 to 17 who are mourning the death of someone close to them. Photo courtesy of Frank McKenna. Evermore is giving focus to younger siblings who have suffered the death of a brother or sister. During the summer months, many surviving siblings…
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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 with the death of a loved one is its finality. Surviving family…
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A leading expert in child death investigations talks about his unlikely career. A parent’s response to grief comes in many forms. And, after decades as a medical examiner, Dr. Thomas Andrew, among the country’s leading experts on child death, knows all about that. Andrew is New Hampshire’s former chief medical examiner and spent decades conducting…
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47% of surveyed kids under age 18 believe their life will be harder than it will be for other people. Photo by Chinh Le Duc on Unsplash. Evermore’s next few stories will have a “Back to School” theme focusing on both younger children and college-aged students. We are giving focus to siblings who have suffered the death of…
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Julie Kaplow, on the left, serves as the Director of the Trauma and Grief Center in Houston, Texas, will be launching the Handle with Care program for children who have witnessed a death. In August we are focusing on “Back to School” at Evermore. We are giving focus to siblings who have suffered the death…
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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. “It was pretty exciting,” Thackurdeen said. “I wanted to go on it. You had students who talked about their experiences…
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June 2013, during recovery from what was supposed to be a routine heart catheterization to assess his heart condition, Ron Kelly’s son’s heart failed. Doctors weren’t able to revive 16-year-old Jon. Today Ron helps other grieving fathers, particularly those in the workplace. After struggling with identity after his son’s death, Ron Kelly helps other men mourn…
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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: to mourn their child or keep your job This week, the Seattle City Council passed “Bea’s Law,” which extends…
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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 depression In the early morning hours before Terry Burgess learned…
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Bryan Burgess (center) was killed in action during his final 2011 deployment to Afghanistan just 16 days before he was scheduled to return home — a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday. His parents Terry and Beth created Gold Star Parents retreat and network in his honor. Grieving Bryan, their son who gave all, Texas parents Terry and…
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Child deaths, especially those that occur in mass tragedies, are the subject of significant news coverage. Frank Ochberg, chairman emeritus of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Michigan State University, said that journalists have an important role to play in covering child death and trauma. A pioneer in trauma research shares how news stories…
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Photo courtesy of Cynthia H. Craft. An award-winning USA Today reporter talks about why she’s covered child death for so long It’s been nearly 23 years, but USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell won’t ever forget the moment. Jayne O’Donnell, health policy reporter, USA Today. After writing a series of articles in 1996 that prompted the…
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Photo courtesy of AbsolutVision on Unsplash. Evermore’s founder to speak at journalism conference Raising the visibility about the long-lasting effects on parents and siblings after a child dies is a central goal for Evermore, and Joyal Mulheron, Evermore’s founder and executive director, will do just that when she addresses healthcare journalists in early May. Mulheron will…
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“Don’t Lean Into The Brokeness,” Joyal Mulheron, The Huffington Post, July 19, 2017. Child death ‘more common’ than many realize, hits black Americans disproportionately The connections we form with our family and friends benefit our mental health, physical health and longevity in countless ways. So, it’s no surprise that the loss of those close relationships,…
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When a child dies, what happens next makes all the difference. Evermore works to de-stigmatize the issues bereaved parents face and advise employers, law enforcement, schools and health care about what grief stricken families need to survive one of the worst traumas a human can experience. Photo by Jonatán Becerra on Unsplash. Why we need to…
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When a child dies, what happens next makes all the difference. This article brings focus to the cascading consequences of parent grief that our nation’s lawmakers and changemakers can do something about. Photo by Gus Moretta on Unsplash. From job losses to social media trolls, there’s always something When a child dies, a family deeply grieves.…
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Cynthia with Sarah-Grace. 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, gutted, disoriented. Any word that implies destruction, pain…
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Mulheron left her career to immerse herself in the science surrounding the fallout of losing a child at any age or cause. She then started Evermore — a nonprofit to change the national response when a child dies. Evermore organization will tackle why and how More. Bereaved. Families. Every day, news coverage reports the death of sons and…
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