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American Essence

American Essence

How HealGrief® Founder, Fran Solomon Learned to Live With Grief After Death

When Fran Solomon, the founder of HealGrief®, lost her father in 1998, she unexpectedly found herself facing grief after a death loss that many of us know so well. After the funeral and when the calls and flowers stopped coming in, she noticed that the feelings and waves of emotion weren’t gone. 

At this time, there weren’t many resources available to men and women like Fran who suffered with unspoken grief in silence. Without the support she needed to understand the implications of no longer having her father in her life, she returned to work without looking back.

When her daughter was born in 2002, the major event sparked grief all over again – in the form of depression. She couldn’t fathom why she wasn’t happy about her daughter’s birth until she talked to a friend.

Fran shares, “Because of my friend’s willingness to sit and listen… I was able to understand that my sadness around the birth of my daughter was really grief over my father’s absence. Had that moment not happened, my relationship with my daughter could have become a resentful one, resulting from my having displaced my emotions.”

Fran’s Path to Healing

With a new understanding of grief, Fran created HealGrief®, a social support network that is there when everyone else goes away, and the real grieving begins. Inspired by the core belief that no one should ever grieve alone, HealGrief provides the tools and resources to guide one’s journey with grief into a healthy personal growth. Fran wanted to remove the stigma around grief, encouraging people to talk about and share their experience – regardless of who had died and how new or old the loss was. She became committed to working everyday to create a community where people who “get it” could uplift and support each other. She envisioned HealGrief® as a place (both via website and now through the AMF App) where people could celebrate good things in their lives, share stories about their person, and hear stories from others who have gone through grief.

After becoming a certified grief recovery specialist, she went on to create other outlets for a broader audience. Through Actively Moving Forward, a HealGrief® program, people of all ages connect digitally, and may choose to participate in virtual grief support groups and book clubs. 

“Support is crucial,” Fran says. “Lack of support can lead to poor coping skills, which may lead to addictive behavior, suicidal ideology, etc. Grief can change the trajectory of a person’s life.”

HealGrief’s free bereavement tools have helped hundreds of thousands of grieving individuals find a healthy way to live with grief. To find resources or donate, visit HealGrief.org or click here to learn more about Fran’s story in the February issue of American Essence.

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