Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elizabeth Boisson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Elizabeth, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Our beautiful son Morgan, the light of our lives, passed at the Base Camp of Mount Everest in Tibet on October 20th, 2009. He was studying in Nanjing, China, for the second time, pursuing a double major in East Asian Studies and French. He had traveled to Lhasa two days before with thirteen other students. They had left by bus the previous morning, traveling from 11,000 feet to almost 19,000 feet in altitude in less than two days. The rapid change in altitude was fatal to Morgan.
Everyone except the Chinese tour guide was sick as the bus climbed the mountain. When they arrived at the Base Camp, he had a terrible migraine. Morgan went to bed early and failed to wake up the following day.
When it was time to go back down the mountain at nine am, Morgan was foaming at the mouth, and he was then evacuated. The exchange program director called to give me Morgan’s roommate’s phone number so I could call.
When I got through, Colin told me Morgan’s situation was very tenuous. They had stopped the bus because he was no longer breathing. I immediately asked Colin to put the phone up to Morgan’s ear. I told Morgan that we loved him, that we were proud of him, and not to be afraid. At that moment, I felt a massive hug from the inside. It was all-encompassing. At the same time, I experienced an overwhelming feeling of love and compassion.
When this happened, I feared that Morgan had transitioned. However, I was confident that he was happy, healthy, and whole on the other side. In fact, I have since been told that he was welcomed by our daughter, Chelsea, who passed in Montpellier, France, at two days old. She grabbed Morgan’s hand and led him to me.
I realized that every parent must experience this same connection with their children who have passed. I wanted to find others who shared this experience, but speaking about this connection was off-limits in other parent support groups at the time.
I started a Facebook group one week after Morgan passed. Two months later, I began holding in-person meetings. Our first speaker was Mark Ireland, the co-founder of Helping Parents Heal, Inc.
Helping Parents Heal became a nonprofit in 2012. We now have almost 30,000 Facebook members and have Affiliate Groups in fourteen different countries, with over 200 Affiliate Leaders and Caring Listeners. Our volunteer Caring Listeners speak fifteen languages. With the help of our Vice President, Irene Vouvalides, we have held three Helping Parents Heal conferences in six years, with our next conference in 2026. These events have welcomed thousands of parents from around the world.
We have published three books about Helping Parents Heal: ‘Life to Afterlife; Helping Parents Heal, The Book,’ one about the Dad’s group, edited/written by Chris Ryan, ‘Helping Fathers Heal, Love, Grief and Our Search for Connection,’ and one about our HPH volunteers, ‘Shining Light Parents Speak,’ edited/written by Dr. Mark Pitstick, Anne marie Taplin, Dolores Cruz, Allison Alison, and Nancy Hejna.
Our children guide our work from the other side. They hold our hands, leading us toward healing, and they are our biggest cheerleaders. They want us to heal, and they high-five each other each time we smile.
Thank you for allowing me to share the story of Helping Parents Heal. If you have experienced the passing of a child, please know that you are not alone. We are here to offer our support, and understanding. We invite you to join us on this journey of healing.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Elizabeth Boisson is the President & Co-Founder of Helping Parents Heal. She has four beautiful children, two of whom are in spirit: Chelsea, who passed when she was 2 days old, and Morgan, who transitioned at the Base Camp of Mount Everest in Tibet while on a university exchange program when he was almost 21 years old. She also has two daughters: Alix, b.1992, and Christine, b.1995.
On October 20, 2009, while Morgan was undergoing CPR on Mount Everest, Elizabeth asked his roommate to put his phone up to Morgan’s ear. While speaking to her son, she felt him hug her from the inside. It was at that moment that she realized that love transcends physical boundaries and lives forever. A week later, Elizabeth started a Facebook support group. In March 2012, with Mark Ireland, she created the nonprofit support group Helping Parents Heal, which currently has over 200 affiliate groups, 36 Caring Listeners who speak fifteen different languages, and almost 30,000 members throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, India, Australia and New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
Elizabeth spent several years in New Delhi, India, while in middle school, high school, and college and then 15 years in France. She did both her undergraduate and graduate studies and taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France. She is a certified yoga instructor and teaches healing yoga.
Please join our Helping Parents Heal Facebook groups, which are specifically for parents of children who have passed. We understand that each journey is unique, which is why we offer groups for Fathers, Siblings, geographical locations, and special-interest groups.
Helping Parents Heal can be found on various platforms, making it easier for you to access our resources. Join us on these platforms to stay connected and informed.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey are:
-Connecting with other parents who have children who passed.
-Knowing that our children in spirit are still right here.
-Realizing that it is possible to heal from the passing of a child.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I have 10 steps that have helped me enormously since my two children passed:
How to Heal from the Passing of a Child
1-Know that your child is not gone. The veil that separates you from your son or daughter is as thin as a sheet of wax paper. And when we see them again, we will feel as though not one second has passed. As Suzanne Giesemann so eloquently puts it, our kids are Still Right Here.
2-Take one breath at a time, then one minute at a time, until you are ready to move forward. Everyone’s journey is different. Don’t compare yours to anyone else’s. You are unique, just as your child is unique.
3-Know that your child is happy, healthy, and ‘home’ and we are still ‘in school.’ And we have so much to accomplish before we hug our kids again! But for now, they walk beside us, holding our hands and leading the way to healing.
4-Surround yourself with friends who understand. Our kids in spirit are all friends with each other; it is they who have connected us here on Earth. Expand your friend base to include those who love to hear about your child in spirit. We keep them alive in our hearts and spirits by continuing to tell their stories.
5-Be Kind, both to yourself and others. Helping others helps us even more. Once you move forward on the path to healing, reach a hand back to help others who are not so far along the path.
6-Express Gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for on this journey. Watch for the signs and gifts that your children send you and be sure to always thank them. This will automatically bring more gifts!
7-Express Forgiveness, for yourself and others. We cannot heal without letting go of the feelings of guilt and anger that hold us back.
8-Live each day in honor of your child in spirit. They are so proud of us, and they share in everything we do.
9-Raise your vibration. Eat healthy, plant-based foods, practice yoga and meditation, take long hikes outdoors, take off your shoes and connect your feet to the earth, use crystals and essential oils, use sound meditation and breathing exercises and again, practice kindness wherever you go.
10-Learn to communicate with your child in spirit, through automatic writing, guided meditation, the pendulum, dream visits, mirror gazing, forest bathing, reiki and much more. We can all do this! And our kids high-five each other when they see us smile.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.helpingparentsheal.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helpingparentsheal/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/helpingparentsheal
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ElizabethBoissonHPH
- Other: https://linktr.ee/helpingparentsheal
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