Grief, Loss and Healing

After a loss, grief is the natural process of recovery.  From losing a job to death of a loved one, it is important to learn how to process feelings in a health way.  A panel of experts is joined by Terry Cogdon, a father whose daughter was tragically killed, as he offers insights into working through the emotions of grief (Second Opinion TV, Published October 25, 2012).

Resources

• Grief and Loss
• Grief (Second Opinion-TV)
• Grief: Coping with Reminders After Loss (Mayo Clinic)
• Helping Children Cope with Loss, Death and Grief
• Support
• The Center for Grieving Children
• Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention
• Disaster Distress Helpline - 1-800-985-5990
• Disaster Resources for Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting (PDF)
• National Crisis Line Locator
• United States: Crisis and Suicide Prevention 
• International

• The Dougy Center: National Center for Greiving Children and Families
• TLC Institute - Supporting professionals and communities with trauma-informed practices.
• TLC Recommended Book List for Parents dealing with trauma (PDF)

• Coping
• Applications
• Moniors
• Heart Rate
• PTSD Coach 
• Stop Panic and Anxiety
• Stress Check 
• Articles
• Coping with Violence and Traumatic Event 
• Community
• How communities cope with tragedy
• Children
• How to Help Your Child Deal with Tragedy (Better Parenting) 
• How to Talk to Children About School Shooting (WebMD)
• Helping Children Regain Their Emotional Safety After a Tragedy (KidPower)
• Restoring a Sense of Safety in the Aftermath of a Mass Shooting: Tips for Parents and Professionals (Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress)
  
  Talking to Children about Disasters (Am. Psychiatric Association)

• General
• Help Parents, Children and Others Cope in Aftermath of School Shootings (HealthyChildren.org)
• Reacting to the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting (American Psychological Association)

• Parents
• Tips for Parents and Teachers (National Association of School Psychologists) 
• Teachers
• Coping with the Death of a Student or Staff Member (U.S. Dept. of Ed.) 
• There Is No Lesson Plan For Tragedy – Teachers YOU Know What To Do (Angela Maiers)

• Workers
• Restoring a Sense of Safety in the Aftermath of a Mass Shooting: Tips for Parents and Professionals (Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress) 
• Working with Trauma Survivors: What Workers (rescue workers, health care workers, journalists, and volunteers) Need to Know

• Community and Faith
• BeliefNet.com
• How to Help Community of Newtown
• Meditation (MP3 Downloads, Amazon)
• Counseling
• American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
• American Psychological Association
• National Association of School Psychologists
• National Association of Social Workers
• KidsPeace.org - National Center for Kids Overcoming Crisis
• Memorial Ideas and Coping Tools
• Christian Memorials
• Getting it Sorted
• Memoralization and Commemoration
• My Forever Child
• Relaxation and Sleep (MP3 Downloads, Amazon)

• Safety
• The Department of Homeland Security offers funding, training, and resources to enhance school safety
• Gavin de Becker and Associates
• Gavin De Becker Answers Questions About Child Safety
• Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)

•  Support Groups
• National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children
• Rainbows.org

• Videos 
• Preparing Children for School after Tragedy   
• Websites (Other)
• Center for Loss and Life Transition 

 

Merry Christmas

Snuggle Time & Reading

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall."

— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Resources

• Grimm's Fairy Tales (free for Kindle at Amazon.com)
• LibriVox: free audiobooks
• Reading Rockets
• Reading Today Shapes the Child's Tomorrow
• What's wrong with the American education system?
• Education Pays (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Does media help or harm a child’s ability to learn to read (Center on Media and Child Health)
• International Education Rankings Suggest Reform Can Lift U.S. (ED.gov Blog)

Artifacts

The story is more interesting when no one is around.

Omar Torrez

ArkivMusic, The Source for Classical Recordings

Imagination Thrives Together

Enter the place where your child's imagination thrives, and together discover a world you both experience once, and will remember for a lifetime.

Lavender

Nothing better than a Father's day with young daughters captivated

by the beauty and fragrance of lavender.

Keys Creek Lavender Farm

With immediacy and intensity, smell activates the memory, allowing our minds to travel freely in time. - Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume, 1984

Resources

• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: The 30-day Challenge (Dr. Meg Meeker)
• 88 Great Daddy-Daughter Dates: Fun, Easy & Creative Ways to Build Memories Together
• Between Fathers and Daughters: Enriching and Rebuilding Your Adult Relationship (Dr. Linda Nielsen)
• Supportive Fathers Help Reduce Stress in Daughters (GoodTherapy.org)
• Father-Daughter Relationship Crucial To When Girls Enter Puberty, Researchers Say (ScienceDaily.com)

Reading

Resources

• Books
• Summer Reading for Kids (Amazon.com)
• Clubs
• Al's Book Club
• Good Reads
• Library Thing
• The Stacks by Scholastic
• Reading and Development
• The Importance of Child Development
• San Diego State University Summer Reading Program
• Reading Programs
• San Diego County Library
• Summer Reading Program
• Libraries
• Boston Public Library
• Library of Congress
• San Diego County Library

Friday's Child

Resources

• Seven Days of Social Science Research: Friday's Child
• Sibling Psychology
• The Sibling Complex
• Siblings with Rivalry
• Making Room for Brother ~ Coping with Family Changes (The Sid Series ~ A Collection of Holistic Stories for Children)

Volunteering

Resources

• American Red Cross
• Charity Navigator
• Cross Cultural Solutions: Excellence in International Volunteering
• New Research Finds Kids & Teens More Exposed to Character Education Volunteer More (Scholastic)
• Volunteer Match: Find Your Opportunity

Simplicity

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves
awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation
of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our
soundest sleep." - Henry David Thoreau

Resources

• The Way of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments
• Relaxing Meditation Music with Inspiring Quotes
• Natural Sleep Aid by Binaural Beat Brainwave Subliminal Systems
• Tips to Simplify Your Life (WebMD)
• BeliefNet: Inspiration. Spirituality. Faith.

Time

Lose not yourself in a far off time, seize the moment that is thine. - Friedrich Schiller

Montblanc's "The Beauty of a Second"

Resources

• iPerceptive - Quotes and Authors
• The Poems of Schiller: First Period
• The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life - Gene D. Cohen
• Overcoming Destructive Beliefs, Feelings and Behaviors - Albert Ellis
• Reuben Margolin: Sculpting waves in wood and time

Humor

Sometimes the best response...

A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.

Mignon McLaughlin

Resources

• 202 Good Clean Jokes for Kids - Jessica Van Vleet
• "People who have access to their sense of humor in the midst of stress are much more resilient than the rest of us." - P. Mcghee, Ph.D.
• Using Humor to Cope: Laughing in the Midst of Stress
• The Laughter Remedy - "The latest research on humor's impact on health..."
• The Healing Power of Humor - PsychCentral.com
• Humor's Healing Potential - Journal Articles
• E-Trade Baby
• Corporate Comedy
• Jeanne Robertson

What is a frogs favorite game?

Tic-Tac-Toad!
- J. Van Vlett

Imagination

Parents pave the course for a child's imagination to run, explore and play by respecting the child's integrity, which is to discover places no one has ever been before.

Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time

Resources:

• San Diego Creative Connection
• Billy Collins (Poetry Foundation)
• Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems by Billy Collins

Transformation

I do not quite know how my daughters transform my mind.  Often, they invite me into their exuberant joy of exploration, and together we take in the beauty that surrounds us.  Sometimes, on a spiritual level, I wonder who is teaching whom.

    

               

Empowerment

"KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice" (Kony2012.com).

• Inside the books of the charity behind viral "Kony 2012" video - Read more.
• Charity Navigator: Review of Invisible Children charity

Friends

Several bottles of laughter, stories and music with friends has lasting effects on the spirit and longevity of one's life.

Alive

This writer remembers this feeling from over twenty years ago, the elation that comes with cycling into the night or rain.  The muscles ache, bones breathe, the lungs grapple with the chill of water and teeth grind the grit of earth that flies into the mouth, face and eyes, reminding this writer, come what may, it is good to be alive.