Co-Presidents’ Message – June 2022

Greetings COPE community – As the saying goes, hope springs eternal. This isn’t always the easiest sentiment for grieving families to relate to or understand (especially these days). Similarly, this isn’t the message I hoped I’d be writing as we emerge from...

Suggested Reading – June 2022

Click here to read: Your Brain on Grief, Your Heart on Healing “Grief is a heart-wrenchingly painful problem for the brain to solve… to live in the world with the absence of someone… ingrained in your understanding of the world… For the brain, [they are]...

Healing Tip – June 2022

Waves in an Ocean of Grief When considering what to write this month I found myself continuing to encounter examples of the constant presence of loss and grief in our lives both in the small everyday ways and larger, tragic events. Whether I heard it in session with...

Co-Presidents’ Message – May 2022

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say this month. Mother’s Day is like the elephant in the room that couldn’t or shouldn’t be ignored, but I wasn’t sure how to discuss it with the COPE community because I am not a mother who has lost a child, but I do have a...

Welcome to Jennifer Webb

Jennifer Webb is the newest member of the COPE board and is excited about her new role! Jennifer is a Long Island native and is a career special education teacher. She currently owns and operates her own education company that offers curriculum based...

Clinical Director’s Message – May 2022

Mental Health Awareness Month: Facilitator Spotlight We were halfway through April when I realized it was no longer March. As for much of the pandemic, time has simultaneously stood still and rushed forward in bursts. In realizing we were in April, I reflected that...

Breakdown or Catharsis? Crash or Cleanse?

From COPE Clinical Director Amy Olshever, PhD, LCSW Have you had the experience of making it through your day only to find that you are triggered by something totally unexpected, like a song on the radio? Or something that is usually inconsequential, like forgetting...

Lilly Julien, founder and visionary of COPE Foundation

The COPE Foundation was inspired by a dream.    In 1992, Lilly’s 20-year-old daughter, Michelle, lost her life tragically in a car accident. In the midst of her grief, her daughter came to her in a dream and said, ” I’m okay, Mommy. You’re the ones who...

Healing Tip – April 2022

Prolonged Grief Disorder The newest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V TR) includes a new diagnosis known as Prolonged Grief Disorder. Along with many in the grief community, this new addition has been an important topic of...