Arik Housley

“Let me know if you need anything.” Most of us have said it. We say it because we care. We say it because we don’t know what else to say. The problem is…some people say it as an obligation and it doesn’t land with empathy. Please understand, when someone is grieving, “anything” can be an … Read more

Losing someone you love can make the world feel like it has stopped. The routines that once felt ordinary can suddenly feel impossible. A familiar song can bring you to your knees. A birthday, a favorite meal, or an empty chair can remind you that life has changed in ways you never wanted and never … Read more

The funeral is over. The cards have been opened. The flowers have begun to fade. The food deliveries have slowed down. The people who filled the room, answered the phone, and asked, “What do you need?” have returned to their own routines. Then, suddenly, there is quiet. This quiet can feel almost louder than the … Read more

When someone we love dies, their story does not end. It becomes something we carry. I learned that in the hardest way possible when I lost my daughter, Alaina, in the 2018 Borderline Bar & Grill shooting. There are no words large enough to explain that kind of loss. There is no simple path through … Read more

On the morning we got the call letting us know there was a mass shooting and our daughter Alaina was still unaccounted for, time fractured into an unrecognizable before and after. In an instant, our lives shifted, and we had to wake up our 14-year-old son, Alex, her younger brother, to start living a whole … Read more

After losing someone (in my case, my daughter Alaina) there are moments that resonate where you can feel joy, sorrow, and presence all at once. They don’t ask permission. They just arrive. Sometimes they show up in the quiet, like when a song comes on in the car and takes you somewhere you weren’t planning … Read more

We often talk about resilience like it’s a solo mission: something an individual builds in the quiet moments of their own life. Yet, when tragedy or loss strikes, we don’t experience it in a vacuum. Most of us spend more time with our coworkers than almost anyone else. When a team member is grieving, the … Read more

Grief is the ultimate awkward houseguest. It shows up uninvited, stays way too long, and never helps with the dishes. When someone you care about is going through it, the instinct is often to retreat because you’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. The truth is, you don’t need a script; you just need to … Read more