Letters from Judy: When Your Loss Is Not Recognized

“You were so lucky to have her for so long.” Martha was 75 years old when her mother, Rose, died. Rose had just turned 101. Martha’s friends comforted her by saying how lucky Rose was to live so long, and how lucky Martha was to have that time with her. But Martha did not feel […]
Letters from Judy: What to Say When Someone Is Grieving

In the early days of my working life, one of my colleagues returned from bereavement leave. Her husband had just passed away, and it was her first day back at work. I froze when I saw her walking down the hallway. I wanted her to know I was there for her, but I was so […]
Letters from Judy: Thank you to our teachers

When we think of who is working on the front lines of grief and loss, we picture hospice nurses, firefighters, and counselors. We imagine doctors and first responders. But do you think of teachers? In the early days of my career, I never would have put grief work and teachers together. Now, teachers are some […]
Who Am I Without My Loved One?

Loss doesn’t only take away a person you love. It also takes away a part of yourself. When you first experience a loss, you might feel lost and afloat. It’s hard to remember who you are when you are trying to make sense of who you are not anymore—a caretaker, a daughter, a father, a […]
Recipes for Resilience: When I Say “I’m Fine,” I Might Be Masking My Feelings

Welcome to the next installment of our monthly series, Recipes for Resilience, meant to inspire you to reflect, connect, and develop tools that help you on your grief and loss journey. This month’s recipe is called When I Say “I’m Fine,” I Might Be Masking My Feelings. It’s a look at the different ways we […]
Letters from Judy: What Do I Do With All This Anger?

“I can’t believe he did this to me. How could he leave me with this much debt? I had no idea things were this bad.” Janet was 66 years old and a recent widow when she discovered the second mortgage her deceased husband had taken out on their home. She’d been working part-time at Walmart, […]
Letters from Judy: When Does Grief Begin?

I started my career offering bereavement services as a hospice social worker, and those days supporting my patients and their families taught me so much about what I do now. The more families I met, the more I found myself asking the same questions over and over again: When does grief begin? Where is grief […]
Recipes for Resilience: I Didn’t Know This Was Grief

We are excited to share our new monthly series called Recipes for Resilience, meant to inspire you to reflect, connect, and develop tools that help you on your grief and loss journey. This month’s recipe is called I Didn’t Know This Was Grief. It’s a snapshot of the range of emotions that can be part […]
A Good Ritual Brings Us Comfort

Going through grief and loss turns our worlds upside down. Even if our day-to-day stays mostly the same, the way we experience our lives is completely different. The familiar task of making a morning cup of coffee might become a devastating reminder of your husband’s worsening illness. The holiday tradition you used to love may […]
2024 Brings Exciting Updates to GRIT™

If you’ve been following us over the last year, you know that we’ve been tackling the mental health crisis in schools with our new SEL-inspired program, GRIT™. But you may not know of all the exciting ways that GRIT™ is growing in 2024! We will be expanding our research team, piloting GRIT™ in more school […]