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  • Resources
  • Online Resources
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  • Inspirations
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Fall 2020 online

WELCOME TO OUR FALL 2020 ONLINE SERIES


  If you've suffered the recent loss of a loved one and the upcoming holiday season seems overwhelming, please join us for the final week of our online fall series.
This week, we explore helpful ways to get through the holidays while grieving.

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To ensure more inclusive and less distracted viewing, try watching videos in full screen view. 
Volume may need to be adjusted during videos for the best possible audio experience.
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WEEK 5:   October 12  - Dealing with Grief During the Holidays

The first link is a 13-minute YouTube interview featuring psychologist Dr. Merry C. Lin on the 100 Huntley Street channel.  The program, “Grief During the Holidays”, was made available on December 24, 2014 and has more than 6300 views.
Click Here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QWXRtGHkno

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The videos listed below were created by James E. Miller and are posted on https://griefhelps.com/.  The three- to four- minute clips provide tips and actions for those who are grieving as well as ideas for helping others who suffer with grief.
Click here:
griefhelps.com/2016/11/08/grief-and-the-holidays-1-10-personal-tips-for-grievers/ 

griefhelps.com/2016/11/11/grief-and-the-holidays-2-7-actions-to-help-you-through-those-days/
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griefhelps.com/2016/11/13/grief-and-the-holidays-3-a-word-of-hope-for-those-grieving-during-the-holidays/

griefhelps.com/2016/11/14/15-things-you-can-do-to-help-grieving-people-during-the-holidays/
​

Dr. Merry C. Lin is a registered clinical psychologist who specializes in helping people overcome depression, anxiety, fear, abuse, trauma, stress, grief, marital and relationship struggles, parenting and family issues and other life stressors. Her passion is to help people discover their full potential and to realize their purpose and joy in life.
Visit Dr. Merry’s website:
www.drmerry.com/
James E. Miller is a photographer, author and presenter who combines his work with meditations, poetry, scripture, and quotations to provide helpful tools for those who are grieving.  He is the founder of Willowgreen Inc., a leading and trusted provider of thoughtful, creative resources to assist people through life’s changing events.
Visit James’ website:  
griefhelps.com/



Recommended  Website
www.griefshare.org/

Related Recommended Reading from the GTL Committee

ABC's of Healthy Grieving: A Companion for Everyday Coping, Harold Ivan Smith;
Copyright 2007 (2nd ed.): Ave Maria Press
How to go on Living When Someone You Love Dies, Therese A. Rando, PhD;
Copyright 1991 (reprint): Bantam


​Please visit our Recommended Reading page for more suggestions from GTL committee members.​
​


WEEK 4:   October 5​

​Welcome back for the fourth week of our fall online series.
This week, we hear about redefinition of self and our responses to change
following the loss of a loved one.


Redefining Ourselves After Loss 
​

In week four of our online series, we hear from local grief educator Brenda DeMotte as she talks about redefinition of self and our responses to change following the loss of a loved one.  This brief introduction and two part series, "Uncommon Sense About Change, Loss & Grief" was posted on YouTube in December 2019 and is made available courtesy of Rediscovering U, an organization that provides education and support for women transitioning through divorce and into a new life.
Click below:
Brenda J DeMotte - Change, Loss & Grief – PREVIEW  (1.5 min.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDc8dNpCz9w

Brenda J DeMotte - Change, Loss & Grief - Part 1  (30 min.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeL2yYvKKEo&t=915s
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Brenda J DeMotte - Change, Loss & Grief - Part 2  (34 min.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDl-UuRTC4

Brenda DeMotte, MSW, LICSW, holds degrees in Grief Therapy and Mortuary Science.  She founded Professional Counseling & Grief Services, Inc., specializing in grief and complicated bereavement.  Today, she is a professional speaker and educator on grief and author of the book “Grief Demystified”.
Visit Brenda’s website:  
www.griefdemystified.com/



Recommended  Website
www.verywellmind.com/

​Related TED Talks
www.ted.com/talks/nora_mcinerny_we_don_t_move_on_from_grief_we_move_forward_with_it


​Related Recommended Reading from the GTL Committee
Crossroads: Stories At The Intersections, Ted Bowman;
Copyright 2008: IBOC Moravian Church
The Grief Recovery Handbook:
The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce and Other Losses,
 
John W. James & Russell Friedman;
Copyright 1998 (2nd ed. rev.): Harper Paperbacks
The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin,
Copyright 2012: HarperCollins


​Please visit our Recommended Reading page for more suggestions from GTL committee members.​
​


​WEEK 3:   September 28​

Thank you for returning for the third week of our fall online series.
This week, we explore ways that art and meditation can help us cope with grief.  

​

 Coping Strategies

We begin with an inspirational talk from local artist Josie Lewis in which we hear about art, grief and flow and how focusing on the most elementary elements of art resulted in a flow state that helped her work through her own personal grief.  This 15-minute talk by TEDx Minneapolis was given in 2019 and made available in January 2020.
Click Here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M80Rh3wocQ

Our second link takes us to a 19-minute meditation video titled “Coping with Grief: Guided Spoken Meditation for Healing After a Loss of a Loved One”.   This YouTube video is one of many posted by Jason Stephenson on his Meditation Sleep Music Channel.
Click Here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB6KKQRQzXs 

Josie Lewis works in sculpture, painting and mixed media and video. Her work can be found in the St. Paul Union Depot, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and in private collections of General Mills, the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Public Schools. She is the author of “The New Color Mixing Companion”.
​Visit Josie’s webpage: 
www.josielewis.com/
Jason Stephenson is the founder of the popular meditation hub ‘Relax Me Online Australia’.  For more than 15 years, he has studied the positive effects of guided meditation and relaxation music.  His YouTube Meditation Sleep Music Channel has more than one million subscribers with more than 250 million views.  
​Visit Jason’s YouTube Playlist: 
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIBb9Ez-6tw28LroP5jmiaJ_tEmsB3PpJ
​
​

Recommended  Website
thegrieftoolbox.com/

​Related TED Talks
www.ted.com/talks/alyssa_monks_how_loss_helped_one_artist_find_beauty_in_imperfection
www.ted.com/talks/amy_green_a_video_game_to_cope_with_grief


​Related Recommended Reading from the GTL Committee
Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief, Martha Whitmore Hickman;
Copyright 1994: William Morrow Paperbacks
 Our Hearts Still Sing (Meditations), Peter Millar; Copyright 2004: Wild Goose Publications
 Laugh! I Thought I'd Die (If I Didn't): Daily Meditations on Healing Through Humor, Anne Wilson Schaef;
Copyright 1990: Ballantine Books
​

​
Please visit our Recommended Reading page for more suggestions from GTL committee members.​
​


​WEEK 2:   September 21

​Welcome back for the second week of our online fall series. 
This week, we bring you video content that addresses the grief we feel stemming from COVID-19 and provides helpful commentary on grieving the loss of a loved one during the pandemic.  

​

Grief During the Pandemic

We begin this week with a link that takes us to the PBS program ‘Amanpour and Company’.  In this 15-minute interview that originally aired on March 26, 2020, grief and loss expert David Kessler discusses sharing our pain across new-found boundaries and what he’s learned from the loss of his own mother and son.
Click here:
​www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=191&v=pSOZAnbzFuA&feature=emb_logo

This week's second video contains a 10-minute message from local grief counselor Ted Bowman and is made available through South Washington County Schools Community Education.  In this video, Ted talks about grief, resilience and purpose while working towards hope, acceptance and peace. 
Click here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tkUEHV1IdI

David Kessler has authored six books and is founder of the website grief.com/.  His personal experience as a child witnessing a mass shooting while his mother was dying ​launched him on his grief journey.  His life was later turned upside down by the sudden death of his
twenty-one-year-old son. 
Visit David's website:
grief.com/
Ted Bowman is a Twin Cities grief counselor, consultant, educator and author who specializes in change and transition.  Whether change and loss occur in families, the community or within organizations, his emphasis is on helping people use both their own strengths and the help of others. 
Visit Ted's website:
bowmanted.com/index.html
​


Recommended  Website
grief.com/

Related Podcasts
www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/david-kessler-240​
brenebrown.com/podcast/david-kessler-and-brene-on-grief-and-finding-meaning/

​
Related Recommended Reading from the GTL Committee
On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler;
Copyright 2014 (reprint): Scribner
The Wind Blows, The Ice Breaks: Poems of Loss and Renewal by Minnesota Poets,
edited by Ted Bowman & Elizabeth Bourque Johnson;
​Copyright 2010: Nodin Press


Please visit our Recommended Reading page for more suggestions from GTL committee members.
​


​​WEEK 1:   September 14 
​

Beginning this week and over the course of the next four weeks,
we are posting suggested video content, websites and recommended reading
that 
we hope you find useful on your grief journey.
​


Conversations with Kelly at the Hastings Art Center

This week, we bring you a relatable conversation with local grief speakers Kelly ​Grosklags and Donna Mathiowetz.  In their discussion, you will hear common threads of the grief experience that we hope you find reassuring and comforting.  This hour-long event was recorded during the summer of 2019 and made available through Hastings, MN Community TV.  ​​
Click here:​​
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYIPfBEkp_4​

Inspirational speaker and author Donna Mathiowetz has worked in the arena of loss and grief since 1997.  Director of the Hastings Area Grief Group, she is the creator of “The Journey Card Deck” and author of “A Journal for Your Journey" and “What Have You Done Since I Left?” 
Visit Donna's website:
unfinishedbydesign.com/
​

Kelly Grosklags LICSW, is Board Certified in Clinical Social Work and has achieved her Fellowship through the American Academy of Grief Counseling.  She has 24 years of experience in the fields of grief, loss, trauma, oncology/hematology, palliative care and hospice.
Visit Kelly's website: 
conversationswithkelly.com/ ​
​


Recommended Website
​www.griefanonymous.com/
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Related Recommended Reading from the GTL Committee


Five Cries of Grief: Our Family's Journey to Healing after the Tragic Death of a Son, Merton P. Strommen, PhD & A. Irene Strommen; Copyright 1996: Augsburg Books
No Time for Goodbyes: Coping with Sorrow, Anger, and Injustice After A Tragic Death, Janice Harris Lord;
Copyright 2014 ( 7th ed.): Compassion Press​

Now That You've Gone Home: Courage and Comfort for Times of Grief
, Joyce Hutchinson & Joyce Rupp;
​Copyright 2009: Ave Maria Press

The Orphaned Adult: Understanding and Coping with Grief and Change after the Death of our Parents, Alexander Levy;
Copyright 2000 (rev.): Du Capo Lifelong Books


Please visit our Recommended Reading page for more suggestions from GTL committee members.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Joanna Lee Osborn