[Lawrence, Kansas] — Suicide rates rose by over 37% from 2000 to 2018. By extension, the number of survivors, including children, increased too. But there are far too few resources for the young and grieving, and those that do exist often do not directly address death and the topic of suicide itself. 
 

“Hope and the Winds of Grief,” by former Hallmark artist and veteran book illustrator Stacey Lamb and StoryBots contributor Scott Emmons, directly addresses suicide and the emotions that survivors of it may experience. Also, available soon: An associated workbook by mental health professionals Dana Wyss, Ph.D. and Katherine Melton, MPH, MCHES. The workbook builds on the book’s story and is a deeper dive offering additional resources and activities.

 

At 40 pages and richly illustrated, “Hope and the Winds of Grief” is the story of a steady, wise and kind koala named Hope who, in her hot air balloon, gives friendship and solace to her bird friend Orrie after he loses his brother Kip to suicide.

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Together, Hope and Orrie navigate the winds of Orrie’s emotions in the wake of Kip’s death, flying through gales of doubt, sadness and even a breeze of happiness and subsequent guilt at that feeling. The journey is hard, but Orrie’s growth is a beautiful thing to witness.  

 

“Hope is probably the most important thing that I have ever done,” Lamb says. “I suppose I saw a bit of myself in [Orrie], realizing that perhaps I had not really dealt very well with three suicides I was affected by in my own life.

 

 “Obviously, the subject matter makes it a very intense project... But I knew deep down in my heart, that this was a book that needed to be created. There were days that I had to step away from doing my art, because it felt so heavy. I felt like I went through the main character, Orrie's journey with him.” 

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Hope welcomes you to HAPPYtown 

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Hope is the ambassador of HAPPYtown, a fictional village created by Stacey Lamb and her husband Brent where the goal is to learn to navigate the huge highs and deep lows of life through thoughtful games, cards, exercises, activities and more.

 

HAPPYtown was born from Stacey’s efforts to help her friend Cheryl navigate the emotional rollercoaster of battling cancer. After a bone marrow transplant, Cheryl was confined to a germ-free environment for 100 days, so Stacey created a series of 100 inspirational and motivational cards to keep Cheryl’s spirits up. From this first act of love and kindness, HAPPYtown was born.

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Meet HAPPYtown Mayor Stacey Lamb

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Stacey Lamb has been an artist since the age of 10 and cut her teeth drawing her own renditions of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts characters. Stacey worked at Hallmark Cards for 30 years as an illustrator. After leaving, she started HAPPYtown in 2015. At HAPPYtown, Lamb creates games and activities for children in hospitals and for families, as well as for play therapists, social workers, grief counselors, early educators and many others. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her husband, Brent, and barn kitty Betty. Stacey and Brent have two kids — Emily, who lives with her wife Nina, and Scott, who's married to Alyssa.

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The experts helping “Hope and the Winds of Grief” take flight

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Stacey Lamb’s mental health professional collaborators Dana Wyss, Ph.D. and Katherine Melton, MPH, MCHES have provided educational background on the subject and are creating a companion workbook for “Hope and the Winds of Grief.” 

 

Dr. Dana Wyss is a licensed marriage and family therapist, board-certified clinical art therapist, registered play therapist and is coauthor of “The Invisible String Workbook.” Dana resides in Southern California where she is also an artist who uses art and play for her own healing. She is a group, individual and family therapist and explores all diagnoses, and her areas of focus include self-injury, adopted children and families, grief and loss and more.

 

Katherine Melton, MPH, MCHES, is a public and mental health professional. She works in the field as a consultant, trainer and an advocate for mental health. Katherine's work focuses on comprehensive well-being practices and mental health promotion, focusing heavily on organizational and employee wellbeing, increasing access to care, school mental health and grief and recovery support. 

 

Like Lamb, Scott Emmons is also a Hallmark veteran and has worked with digital content production company JibJab (among many other adventures). He’s also a writer for Netflix’s “Ask the StoryBots” and the Emmy-winning “StoryBots: Answer Time,” and he has written several stories for StoryBots books.

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Where to find copies of “Hope and the Winds of Grief"

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“Hope and the Winds of Grief” is available via Amazon.com , and more information is available at HopeandtheWindsofGrief.com Be sure to follow the news of HAPPYtown on Facebook and Instagram, and, of course, reach out to HAPPYtown directly via our site.