Hope and Healing Spring From Life-Changing Loss

Loss, death, and grief are words that often leave one feeling empty and without hope. But for Judy Pedersen and the small staff at Interregnum, Inc., the words represent an opportunity to help people find hope and move forward following life-altering loss.

Based in Montville, Interregnum is a non-profit bereavement organization that trains professionals and counsels individuals. It provides education and counselling services throughout the state.

Most widely recognized for its program, Interregnum has served tens of thousands of people.  

“I want everyone to know that loss exists,” explained Pedersen, who founded Interregnum in 2006. “That we feel it in so, so many ways, and that loss is part of the fabric of everything that gives us a sense of joy and, sometimes, not so much joy, in terms of sorrow.”

Eighteen years ago, Pedersen herself experienced life altering loss when her fiancé unexpectedly passed away.

Four years later, she answered a small ad that changed her life.

 “It was as though this little ad in the paper kind of found me,” Pedersen said.

The ad was simple. It said: “Hospice volunteers wanted.”

“That was it,” said Pedersen. “The rest of what I have been doing for 14 years—happily and tirelessly—that started then and it hasn’t stopped.”

Once she found her calling through volunteering in hospice, Pedersen became determined to become a bereavement professional. She returned to school, earned her master’s in social work, became a licensed social worker, and acquired her certification as a Fellow of Thanatology, an expert in the field of death, grief and loss.

Through experience, Pedersen has developed the three-pronged initiative that is Interregnum, Inc.

The first initiative is the organization’s flagship program: . The eight-week model was developed by Pedersen and is most often facilitated by her as well. Working with host organizations like , United Way, and the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, individuals who have suffered a loss through death are brought together to validate that loss and learn tools and methods for moving forward. Moving Forward is a free program. In 2012, Pedersen will launch a training initiative to develop additional social work and nursing facilitators so that more individuals will have an opportunity to participate in the Moving Forward program.

Second, Interregnum offers a roster of professional workshops, known as Lessons in Loss. Again, partnering with host organizations, the continuing education certified classes are offered free of charge to professionals who are looking for techniques to further assist bereaved clients.

Third, Hearts of Hope is Interregnum's most widely recognized initiative. Groups and individuals volunteer to paint clay hearts which are then glazed, fired and packaged for delivery to hospices, military personnel, hospitals, individuals fighting illnesses, and others in need of hope. Hearts of Hope is used by all Interregnum, Inc. programs to facilitate relaxed conversation, but it is also used by Girl Scouts, senior centers, service organizations, schools, book clubs, and many other groups as a community service project. Over 26,000 painted clay hearts, with accompanying notes, have been sent around the globe. Those who paint the hearts pay $3 to cover supplies and shipping expenses.

Hearts of Hope was developed when Pedersen was a hospice social worker. It fully took shape following 9/11. In response to the attacks, Pedersen asked her community to volunteer to paint hearts for the families of those who died. In three hours more than 700 hearts were donated. Pedersen knew instinctively that, in launching Interregnum, Hearts of Hope would be an integral part of the organization.

“I could see the power of it,” Pedersen said. “When people would gather in these groups it kind of accelerated the opportunity to talk. Not art therapy, not talking therapy, not any kind of therapy, just nice, comfortable, kind of talking”.

Pedersen chose the name, Interregnum, from a poem she kept coming back to during her early days as a hospice social worker.

“Loosely translated, it just simply means transition,” Pedersen said.

The poem, “Interregnum,” by Helen Duke Fike, compares life to a candle and ends:

But the candle does not suffer
after darkness comes.
It is the person
left in the dark room
who gropes and stumbles.

“That’s what I do,” Pedersen said. “I have been working with people who have been in the dark room, groping and stumbling, now for almost 14 years. And it’s an immeasurable honor to be able to do it.”

Recently, Interregnum also sponsored a Bereavement Coalition. The response was very positive, and Interregnum, Inc. is in the process of compiling bereavement resource information from organizations throughout the state.

“We look at loss to be as broad as it really is,” Pedersen said of Interregnum.

Loss can be death, a tour of duty, a life threatening disease, a disability, an estranged relative, a layoff, or any life changing moment of great disappointment, fear, or feeling of being alone.

“Loss is so universal and so big,” said Pedersen. “Hopefully, ultimately, we will get the word out there to anyone who experiences loss of any type that they truly are not alone. They don’t have to go through this process alone.”

Today, Pedersen is the executive director of the organization she founded. She is also a volunteer in her own organization and credits her husband with affording her the opportunity to do what she loves for others.

“I’m getting all I want,” Pedersen said of her unpaid role in Interregnum, Inc. “I’d rather see the money go into the organization. I’d rather buy more stuff for Hearts, truthfully, because I get a lot of gratification from being able to do what I do.”