President’s Message – September 2021
We are nearing the end of a difficult summer season. This year, many of us lived through record breaking heat, dangerous storms and floods, and...
Healing Tip of the Month – September 2021
"Identifying and Supporting Your Individual Grieving Style" It has become a commonly accepted idea that there exists a number of different...
Vice President’s Message – August 2021
“However you survived is brilliant.” I always liked this sentiment. We’re all survivors of one thing or another. As a father who...
President’s Message – May 2021
May brings Mother’s Day so I googled “who started Mother’s Day” and learned that a woman, Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis, started...
“How Long Does Grief Last?” with Mark Henricks
Please join us online Tuesday April 27th at 6 pm Eastern for a special workshop “How Long Does Grief Last?” with Mark Henricks Presented in...
Parent Column – April 2021
From Karen and Jim Hom Brian Hom As we reflect on the loss of our son, Brian James Hom we cannot seem to grasp the reality that time...
COPE Welcomes our Board Member Jen Schwartz
Jen Schwartz graduated Long Island University at CW Post in 2007 with a Master's Degree in School and Mental Health Counseling and holds a...
Lilly’s Inspirational Thoughts – March 2021
I recently came across a grief exercise I did many years ago which helped me trust in my intuition and its potential to guide me. The...
Lilly’s Inspirational Thoughts – April 2021
My thoughts go out to all of you during the Passover and Easter holidays. Wishing everyone peace and continued good health. Lilly ...
President’s Message – April 2021
I am writing this while listening to the morning news, not on Long Island, but in Denver, Colorado, about thirty minutes south of Boulder. While the...
Healing Tip of the Month – April 2021
Thanks to COPE Facilitator Marilyn Kohn LMSW for this month's healing tip. March 11th 2020 was the beginning of a most difficult year when...
Thank you Sandy!
Thank you for very much your incredibly generous gift to COPE in the amount of $10,000 received today in connection with the design and...
President’s Message – March 2021
Welcome to March! The vernal equinox is on the 20th, which marks the beginning of spring and by the 21st, the days get longer. Ok, maybe by a few...
Healing Tip – February 2021
Thanks to COPE's facilitator Diane McNamara, LCSW-R for this month's Healing Tip Riding the roller coaster of grief The grieving...
Lilly’s Inspirational Thoughts – February 2021
For many of us February is synonymous with Valentine’s Day, a day celebrating love. Love is the other side of grief. It’s because we love so deeply...
President’s Message – February 2021
It is hard for me to avoid reading or watching the news. Yes, I know that it’s not always the best thing for my sanity, and yet I can’t stop, or...
Parent Column – February 2021
The voice heard in my silence - The pandemic we are all facing is challenging but allows for some rare opportunities of self discovery. I have...
Lilly’s Inspirational Thoughts – January 2021
Dear COPE families, For as long as my daughter is gone, the New Year has been associated with January, the month that Michelle passed. One thing I...
President’s Message – January 2021
Happy New Year! Doesn’t it seem odd to say that? Perhaps the best we can say about 2021 is that is not 2020. With the rest of humanity, we,...
Giving Back from COPE
So many families at COPE have lost children and siblings, and the holidays are always so difficult for people. Many of the siblings in my group have...
Healing Tip of the Month – November 2020
Thanks to COPE Facilitator Lauren Jukofsky, LCSW for this month's Healing Tip Take Care of Yourself There are moments...
Reflections
REFLECTIONS So many aspects of the world right now are reminiscent of my early grief...The isolation, distancing, fear, anxiety, and...
Holidays this year are different…
Holidays this year are different… This holiday season is like none other. We’re embracing those we love at a distance and creating new ways to...
Sibling Column – December 2020
I've had conflicting thoughts throughout my life about what happens when we die. After my brother, LB, died, a friend told me about a recent...
Healing Tip of the Month – December 2020
Thanks to COPE Facilitator Janet Zimmerman, LCSW-R for this month's Healing Tip Sometimes you just don’t feel like getting out of bed. ...
President’s Message – December 2020
We have just had our first major family holiday since the pandemic slammed into our country and reshaped so much of our lives. Our lives are...
NYL Award for Art and Writing – Scholarships and Free Workshops for Teens!
Media-Kit-NYL-Students-2021
President’s Message – November 2020
Adam Rabinovitch, our executive director, has joined with a national grief advocacy group called Evermore. Adam has had some conversations with them...
President’s Message – October 2020
Dear COPE Families, It’s me, Sandy Wolkoff, COPE’s board president. You get a lot of emails from me and the staff. And yes, I know that most of you...
COPE Walk 2020
Join us for COPE Walk 2020! Each year we walk to honor our children, siblings and loved ones who have passed and to support COPE families and the...
President’s Message – September 2020
It will be September when you read this column, but it will be unlike any previous September in my lifetime. You are living those changes just as I...
Healing Tip – August 2020
The term compounded grief is exactly that, when all of our grief from over a lifetime gets lumped together, and then causes us to downward spiral...
President’s Message – August 2020
I try to read less news, watch less news, and worry less about the news I do see. I am not succeeding but I have, however, noticed a slight uptick...
COVID Support Group
A healing space for those who have experienced the death of a loved one due to COVID Please join Janet Zimmerman, LCSW-R on Thursday Evenings...
COVID Support Group
A healing space for those who have experienced the death ofa loved one due to COVID COPE is now offering a COVID GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP Please join...
President’s Message – July 2020
Now what? For me, this pandemic started by the end of February. I had already bought a box of masks and one of gloves, both for me and my 90 year...
President’s Message – June 2020
It is three months into this new covid-19 world. Is it still possible to be optimistic? A pandemic of biblical proportions? An economic crisis that...
Healing Tip – May 2020
Grief during a time of social isolation Even under the best circumstances, coping with grief and loss after the death of a loved one is difficult....
President’s Message – May 2020
I was thinking about how much I seem to be “taking” these last two months—nearby friends shop for me, neighbors walk with me, albeit masked and 6-8...
Telehealth Groups
Important Update - Changes to COPE support groups Dear COPE Families and Friends, During these uncertain and volatile times, COPE has never been...
Healing Tip – April 2020
Telehealth...Give it a try. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and the necessity to practice social distancing, COPE is taking advantage...
President’s Message – April 2020
It has been crazy I have been crazy My body has been making me nuts The news has landed in my belly and made me sick Worry has become...
Minisode: When a Child Dies – Coping and Community
EPISODE SUMMARY How can we confront the loss of a child? As parents, it’s hard to contemplate how we’d ever move forward. As siblings, this type of...
Healing Tip – March 2020
Defining Our Grief Grief in the general sense is a reaction to loss. We connect the concept of grief to death, however, grief can be associated with...
President’s Message – March 2020
It’s that time of year……temperature is two degrees outside, bright sun bouncing off snow and ice, pale blue sky wherever you look and almost no one...
Healing Tip – February, 2020
February is the month of love. We spend a lot of time and energy showing our love to others. While this is a beautiful expression, I would like to...
President’s Message – February, 2020
Grief is grief. We all mourn our losses. How we mourn, however, is shaped by many factors. Religious and cultural practices shape our beliefs and...
How to talk to chiuldren about grief andother advice
The Cope Foundation provides support services for bereaved parents and children who have lost a child or sibling, respectively. We talk about how...
Grieving Children – Reflections and resources
Grieving Children - an introduction Children are often forgotten during the grief process. Yet children also experience deep grief, and they need...
President’s Message – January, 2020
I went to a 90th birthday party recently. This was for the patriarch of a family I have known for 50 years and the parents, the children, the...
Healing Tip – January, 2020
Self care is so important. Unfortunately, many of us neglect to do it. We are so busy in our everyday lives that we forget how vital it is to take a...
Healing Tip – December, 2019
When the Holidays Aren’t So Happy When you are grieving, holidays aren’t always joyful, blissful or magical. They can mark a period of intense...
President’s Message – December 2019
Happy New Year………or maybe not. Every new year for the first five or so years after my son was killed in an accident, I would go to the cemetery and...
Lilly’s Inspirational Thoughts – November, 2019
Every year is different because Holidays have forever changed! There are so many missing and we're missing ones we love. It is a time when...
“Making Meaning Out of Grief”
In case you didn't already see it, please check out this powerful piece titled "Making Meaning Out of Grief" by Jane Brody from NYT 11/06/2019....
President’s Message – November, 2019
There are a few things I have been thinking that I want to talk with you about. (You do see that I am hoping these columns are a conversation...
Healing Tip – November, 2019
Children’s Grief Awareness Day On November 21st we will acknowledge Children’s Grief Awareness Day. Children's Grief Awareness Day seeks...
Healing Tip – October, 2019
When we think about brain trauma we often think about the physical consequences of an injury. After much research, scientists have discovered that...
President’s Message – October, 2019
When I became Board President in January, 2019, I felt getting to hear your thoughts, opinions, feelings, and needs was essential to help me and the...
Remembering with Love & Connection…
From Lilly Julien - Today I’m remembering my friend, my soul sister, Bonnie. She lost her son Scotty in 9/11. Scotty was a friend of my three...
Healing Tip – September 2019
Hopes and Dreams When we grieve, it is not just the past and the present that we yearn for, but the potential of the future that has been taken....
Our Babies Push us to be Stronger—Wednesday, September 12, 2001*
The call came in about 9:15 on Wednesday morning, September 12. It was from a former client but for the moment I couldn’t find a face to match...
Care2Share – Support COPE!
We are happy to participate in the Investors Bank Care2Share program and pleased to report that we have received our second Care2Share donation...
Parent Column – September 2019
A Poem from Cris Camplin to her Son BobbySo today (8/14/19) is my son Bobby’s angeldate. 18 years have gone by. ...without you...
President’s Message – September 2019
Welcome to September! While still summer, the languor and laughter of vacation days are waning. I always felt that those first chilly evenings was...
Parent Column – Poem to Alex
Alex passed on July 23, 2018. He had Lung cancer stage four and never smoked. He was told he had months to live but he won the battle against cancer...
The Aftermath of Mass Shootings
We at the COPE Foundation can understand how hearing about death in the news can bring up strong emotions. It can cause an intensity of feelings to...
President’s Message – August 2019
It is often a just over four hour road to visit my son and his family. Sometimes longer, occasionally, joyously, shorter. Traffic, construction,...
Healing Tips – August 2019
Another Year Has Passed Greeting milestones with mixed emotions is normal when you are grieving. For some, the future that was filled with...
President’s Message – July 2019
Hi everyone, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about this month. For me, making it through June, the month of the anniversary of my son’s death,...
Healing Tips – July 2019
Grieving During the Summer Summer on Long Island gives us so much to love, but if you are grieving, everything you used to enjoy about summer...
Parent Column from Esther Bogin – July 2019
Together – We SharedA Tribute to My Son, HeathBy Esther Bogin Together we shared, my son, your first breath on earth at 8:04 p.m. on July 6, 1977....
Sibling Column from Ann McDonough – July 2019
My sister Eileen Gilday passed away on May 1st to join her husband Buddy, her daughter Eileen Sullivan, her son Kevin Gilday, and two full term...
Parent Column from Jayne Goldberg – July 2019
As summer approaches, memories of celebrating birthdays with my son Dominic flood my mind. As fall approaches, memories of losing my son Dominic...
Parent Column from Maureen Morrow – July 2019
My best friend, other half, my first born, Vanessa, passed away from sudden cardiac arrest. We never got to say goodbye. The irony of it was...
Parent column from Joan Vera DaCorta – July 2019
July 19th will be 8 years since my sweet loving Son Jason entered God's Magnificent heaven at the tender age of 28. I have included a poem he...
Parent Column from Jane and Jon Bell – July 2019
Ten years has gone by in a blink of an eye. So much has changed yet nothing has changed. We put one foot in front of the other everyday. We live...
Healing Tip – June 2019
Gardening and Grief “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" - Audrey Hepburn Gardening can reduce the feelings of grief. Some of...
President’s Message – June 2019
Grief and Gratitude I have spoken to parents about their kids since my first job right out of college where I worked as a counselor in a drug...
President’s Message – May 2019
It is Spring and with it comes color, and sunshine, gardens and allergies, and for many of us,memories of the times spent with our children: delight...
Ralph S. Attonito II (Ralphie) 5/12/1993 – 5/6/2018
“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” - Winnie the Pooh It’s been a year this month...
Healing Tip – May 2019
Acute, Integrated and Complicated Grief There are three categories of grief that one can be experiencing throughout the grief journey: acute,...
REFLECTIONS ON 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW WITH SANDY AND LONNIE PHILLIPS
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I had just finished writing my monthly column for the COPE April Newsletter when I turned the TV on and saw a...
Q&A WITH JANE BELL (COPE BOARD MEMBER AND FAMILY ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR)
COPE: What originally drew you to COPE and its mission? What has kept you engaged? Jane: I was originally drawn to COPE a few weeks after my...
My big Brother, Neal Markowitz 4/13
I've always found the concepts of heaven and hell rather difficult to swallow and I'm not certain I believe in the kind of afterlife where we meet...
COPE Healing Tip – April 2019
Loss by Suicide According to a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates for adults in the...
President’s Message – April 2019
I saw something on COPE’s Facebook page that said, “Grief is love that has no place to go.” I commented on it because it sounded so lovely. But I...
COPE’s 20th Anniversary Annual Golf Outing Honorees
The COPE Foundation's 20th Anniversary Annual Golf Outing Monday, May 20th at Glen Head Country Club, NY [pdf-embedder...
Vincent Mascoli 11/28/1981-3/12/2013
Vincent Mascoli 11/28/1981-3/12/2013From Melissa Mascoli "I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to...
COPE Healing Tip – March 2019
Sleep Health When You Are Grieving It is common for those who are grieving to experience changes in sleeping patterns. This can last days, weeks,...
Eric Preto 3/15/87 – 11/24/18
Eric Preto 3/15/87 - 11/24/18From Denise Preto Eric Vincent Preto E.V.P. 31 years. I was blessed with 31 years. I can still remember the...
Hugs From Heaven A Loving Tribute to My Son, Heath By Esther Bogin
Hugs From Heaven - A Loving Tribute to My Son, HeathBy Esther Bogin It has been four years – March 8, 2015 at 11:39 a.m. – four years. Here I am,...
President’s Message – March 2019
When my older son was killed, I, a social worker, went to a therapist. He was great and was a great help in many areas of my life. But losing a...
COPE Healing Tip September and October 2018
Remembering and Honoring By Michelle Graff, COPE Clinical Director Losing a child at any stage, whether through miscarriage,...
In memory of Adam Cody Metzger
Adam Cody Metzger 1/14/90-10/31/13 Adam’s mom, Naomi Wolf writes… I lost my son Adam C. Metzger on 10/31/13 to...
COPE featured in the Long Island Press!
COPE is proud to be featured in Long Island Press' October issue as part of their special "Coping With Death" section....
Parent Column Adam Cody Metzger
Adam Cody Metzger 1/14/90-10/31/13 Adam's mom, Naomi Wolf writes... I lost my son Adam C. Metzger on 10/31/13 to suicide. His struggle to...
Camp Erin NYC 2018 Update
Hi Camp Erin Family! Well, I blinked, and POOF the weekend was over. Summer number seven in the books! First and foremost,...