Posts

Embracing the positive

By Ken / June 11, 2015 / Comments Off on Embracing the positive

Recently I’ve become more inspired by people doing good works on a small scale, committing their grit and sweat to bring about change. While working on larger platforms is vital and requires foot soldiers at the grassroots level, I also appreciate those who work day to day without grandiose schemes and battering egos to help…

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Confronting an epidemic

By Ken / May 21, 2015 / Comments Off on Confronting an epidemic

The numbers of those lost to opiate addiction are staggering. Tony LaGreca’s son Matthew is one. Seeking to educate and help prevent other families from going through the same hell, LaGreca will speak June 1 at Hope Floats Healing & Wellness Center in Kingston, a nonprofit bereavement center that my wife and I founded. His…

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Before liberation, a tormented flight

By Ken / May 5, 2015 / Comments Off on Before liberation, a tormented flight

Marking 70 years of freedom from a Nazi concentration camp, a survivor recalls his late wifeʼs flight Rounding age 92, Nathan Offen sounded slightly perturbed when rain canceled his tennis match this morning. After missing his favorite outlet for about 18 months, a platelet-rich plasma treatment that Offen has been receiving in Florida seems to…

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Lifting each other up

By Ken / April 29, 2015 / Comments Off on Lifting each other up

Somewhere up there, our son is surely hooting at the marvel taking place in our lives. One of Mike’s closest and lasting friends is a special needs educator in a nearby town. At times effusive,  loquacious, and highly-driven, Travis works with a group of students and young adults who are on the autism spectrum. As…

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Hope and willingness

By Ken / March 26, 2015 /

“I had a little willingness, and I ran with it … it keeps me grateful for what I have today, that I can help these people.” — Aaron Fitzgerald  A doctor who specializes in treating student athletes for concussions warns parents to scrutinize prescriptions for dangerous pain medications written by other physicians and practitioners. The…

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Stopping the enablers

By Ken / February 27, 2015 / Comments Off on Stopping the enablers

As an epidemic of heroin overdoses surges, parents cry out for the tools to save their families   Standing up to a child who tries to hide a drug addiction goes against many of our parental instincts. As a surging epidemic of heroin and other opiate addictions blister many regions, adults are crying out for…

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Shuttered In

By Ken / January 31, 2015 /

Are you feeling shut in with the mid-winter blahs? Or perhaps beyond the harsh weather, are you avoiding or attempting to deny the emotional impact of something that feels frozen inside? Or know someone who seems locked in this state? You are certainly not alone. Please click here for my post on Psychology Today’s web…

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Heading into darkness to reclaim the light

By Ken / December 22, 2014 /

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus For many people, this last stretch into the holidays is the pits. Those of us who grieve, battle depression, or for anyone whose life seems to be seized by other sources of despair, the early arrival…

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In darkening days, survivors of suicide unite

By Ken / November 21, 2014 / Comments Off on In darkening days, survivors of suicide unite

Thousands of survivors of suicide loss will gather together around the world Saturday for mutual support and practical guidance on coping with grief. While no one chose to walk this journey of being a survivor of suicide loss, we can find comfort and hope by being with others who understand. Every 40 seconds someone in the world…

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Facing the onset of grief’s winter

By Ken / November 18, 2014 / Comments Off on Facing the onset of grief’s winter

A couple whose son died earlier this year recently asked my wife and I how we coped with losing ours. How did we handle those first holidays? What did we do for our other children? How do we hold on to him, and to each other? Their grief is so raw, their upheaval and torment…

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