Passed and Present: Remembering Loved Ones During the Holidays

This month, our final conversation is about opportunities to honor loved ones during the holiday season. We’ll also talk about why taking steps to remember our family and friends is so very healing after loss. Everyone is welcome and there is no cost to attend. Bring your most pressing questions!

Allison Gilbert is host of the Passed and Present event series and co-author of Listen, World!, the first biography of American writer Elsie Robinson, the highest-paid woman writer in the Hearst media empire and a young mother who, at the turn of the 20th century, grappled with the death of her only son. Through her groundbreaking work, Allison reveals that beyond self-help books and memoir, biography is a vital yet overlooked reservoir of support and healing after loss. Allison is author of numerous other books, including Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive and Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Have Lost Both Parents. Allison Gilbert serves on the Advisory Board of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and is past Board Member of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. Through her successful initiative Pub Day, Allison enthusiastically supports emerging and established writers to best-position their grief stories for publication. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @agilbertwriter.

Hope Edelman is the author of eight nonfiction books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Motherless Daughters as well as Motherless Mothers and her most recent book, The AfterGrief. Her work has been published in 17 countries and has sold more than 1 million copies. Motherless Daughters is now in its third edition and has been in print for nearly 30 years. Hope has spoken at venues and conferences all over the world, from the U.S. and Canada to Australia, the U.K., and Dubai. She has appeared frequently on television including Today, Good Morning America, CNN, KTLA, CBC, Good Morning Washington, and Good Morning Australia. She is a certified life coach with additional training in narrative therapy, and runs four-day retreats and weekly online support calls for motherless women throughout the year. She also teaches nonfiction workshops to help people develop, revisit, and revise their stories of loss using a proprietary method she developed. Hope lives in Los Angeles and spends every summer in Iowa City.

Charlene Lam is the author of the forthcoming book, Curating Grief: A Creative Guide to Choosing What to Keep After a Loved One Dies. After her mother died suddenly, Charlene leaned into her creativity as an art curator and asked herself this one empowering question: “If I was to curate an exhibition about my mother, which 100 objects would I choose?” This question offered Charlene a path to healing and now, through her innovative platform, The Grief Gallery, she offers the bereaved similar heirloom-centric opportunities through private coaching and live events. Charlene’s exhibitions have been featured at numerous international festivals, including NYCxDESIGN, DesignTO in Toronto, and London Design Festival. Originally from New York City, Charlene lives in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dr. Jason Troyer is the author of Counseling Widowers, a much-needed guide for therapists who are helping men grieve the loss of a spouse or partner, and the forthcoming book, Rituals Reimagined, an exploration of why these types of specific customs are essential for healing after loss. A psychologist, Dr. Troyer has created numerous brochures that funeral professionals use to help the bereaved, including “Grieving Your Loved One,” “Grieving Your Child,” and “Grieving During the Holidays.” He is a frequent keynote speaker at funeral and cemetery conventions and offers community presentations, caregiver workshops, and holiday remembrance services. Dr. Jason Troyer is also host of GriefPlan, a comprehensive online grief support program that helps individuals heal, remember, and rebuild after the death of a loved one.

The Passed and Present series, named after Allison Gilbert’s inspiring book, is sponsored by For Grief, a platform created with a single goal in mind: to provide in one place the best and most trusted resources, support, and information available to begin the healing process.

Registrants will be added to the For Grief and Reimagine e-newsletter lists.