Help Texts, Seattle, WA (2025)

10/29/2025

Here's Help Texts CEO, Emma Payne, telling it like it is, with Optispan CEO, Matt Kaeberlein. In this candid moment, Emma and Matt talk about the need to process the pain of grief. It's not something you can avoid or skip or push aside.

The good news is, there are lots of healthy ways to process grief, and things we can all do to support our grieving loved ones too.

10/28/2025

💬 Mailbag Series: "The text messages are so in tune with my feelings"

This week, Help Texts CEO Emma Payne and Chief Clinical Officer Melissa Lunardini reach into our mailbag to discuss a message from a 72-year-old woman whose husband died from an illness. She received Help Texts through our donor partner, Sierra Donor Services.

She shares how, whatever she's feeling at the time, the text messages seem so in tune with her feelings. She doesn't have to read a lot or think a lot. "They're not intrusive but so worthwhile."

The clinical insight: "So in tune with my feelings" demonstrates emotional synchronicity—our texts provide support messages that match real-time emotional states, creating receptivity. "Don't have to read a lot or think a lot" shows our texts are designed for grief-impaired cognitive capacity, providing low-demand support that works within grief brain limitations like concentration deficits and cognitive fatigue.

"Not intrusive but so worthwhile" reveals optimal dosing in action. Our texts provide meaningful support without overwhelming already-taxed emotional systems. This is a titrated therapeutic approach—delivering support and education in small, manageable increments that grievers can actually absorb and reflect on when their capacity is limited.

And let's address something important: At 72 years old, this subscriber breaks the misconception that older adults aren't tech-savvy or wouldn't want text-based support. Text messaging transcends age barriers when the content meets people's genuine needs. Good support is good support, regardless of the delivery method.

Watch Emma and Melissa explore how accessible grief support meets people exactly where they are.

10/27/2025

Kathryn Fawcett's son, Toby, died in his sleep 10 months ago. He was just three years old. In the aftermath, Kathryn reached out for support. She tried face-to-face therapy, but "I felt too shy/insecure/embarrassed to open up in front of a stranger," she said.

After losing a child, vulnerability feels impossible. Sitting across from someone and verbalising the unspeakable? For many bereaved parents, it's too much, or too soon. And even if you're ready? The waiting lists are long.

Help Texts was different. "It was instant, as soon as I signed up, there was no waiting list."

No appointments to schedule. No explaining her story to strangers. Just messages arriving when she needed them, ready to read when it was convenient for her.

"I can read them in my own time when I feel ready. They are always in my inbox to refer back to for comfort or advice."

What surprised Kathryn most? The timing: "I could be worried about an upcoming event and then like magic I'll receive a text with advice about social events!"

And this: She shares the messages with her husband when they might resonate for him too. Grief support that helps both partners navigate the unimaginable together.

"The texts help me realize I can't be the only one to have ever felt how I'm feeling."

After child loss, parents need support that meets them where they are—without demanding more than they can give.

To Toby's memory. 💙

Thank you for sharing your story, Kathryn. https://www.facebook.com/share/1XpViax2Ry

10/24/2025

Challenge yourself to complete one thing from this medicine list between now and next week. Your grieving soul will appreciate it. 🌿

Tell us in the comments which one is calling you right now?

10/23/2025

We're excited to share that our CEO, Emma Payne, will be presenting at the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association conference in British Columbia, this Friday at 1 PM!

Canadian hospice friends, if you're attending the conference, we'd love to connect! Please stop by and say hello. Emma will be discussing how Help Texts is transforming bereavement care by providing hospices with a text-based approach that meets grieving families where they are—offering support that's accessible, timely, and compassionate.

10/23/2025

Once you understand these truths about grief, you can finally navigate it with more compassion—for yourself and others.

- Grief is messy.
- Grief doesn't follow a schedule.
- Grief doesn't ask for permission.
- Grief doesn't follow a timeline.
- Grief changes relationships.
- Grief appears during the holidays.

If you understand this, then you understand grief.

There's no "right way" to grieve. No checklist. No finish line.

But when you stop expecting grief to behave and start accepting it for what it is—unpredictable, personal, and profound—you give yourself permission to simply be in it.

You stop judging yourself for the hard days. You stop apologizing for needing more time. You stop forcing yourself to "move on" before you're ready.

Understanding grief doesn't make it easier. But it does make it more bearable.

And that matters.

Remember, you can sign up for expert tips and resources, tailored to your loss and sent straight to your phone, at helptexts.com

We're a thoughtful sympathy gift too.

10/22/2025

The phrase "grief is love with nowhere to go" is beautiful.

It's also incomplete. 💔

It doesn't account for the people grieving relationships that were painful, inconsistent, or marked by harm. The ones carrying both loss and relief. Both sadness and anger.

Their grief is real. It just doesn't fit the tidy narrative we're used to hearing.

In her latest blog, Rah Adams, one of Help Texts' Clinical Leads, explores what it means to grieve when the relationship was complicated—and why that grief deserves just as much recognition.

Blog: https://loom.ly/NpbVr0A

10/21/2025

For many men, traditional grief support can often feel performative. You have to show up, talk it out, and articulate feelings on demand. But with text-based support you receive, you process, and you don't have to respond.

Geoff Clark-Tosca, 47, was with his dad, Gary, when he suddenly fell ill. He had to fly home. Five days later, his 75-year-old father was gone.

Separated from his mom and sister while grieving, Geoff knew he needed support. He tried therapy—both in-person and virtual. The sessions were "OK," but something was missing.

"They didn't really get to the heart of the grief - only treating symptoms. Because they were scheduled in advance, I also didn't have help when grief surfaced - they weren't 'in the moment," Geoff shared.

Then he tried Help Texts. Initially skeptical ("I didn't know how personal the messages would be - I didn't think they would be very useful"), Geoff discovered something that actually worked: "I love the appropriate timing of the texts - they arrive during the waves of grief and provide simple, easy-to-follow instructions."

Geoff also shared: "I'm able to take the written messages and process them, and I don't need to form a response."

Grief doesn't follow a schedule. Your support shouldn't either. Thanks, Geoff, for sharing some of your story with us.

10/20/2025

💬 Mailbag Series: "The texts have given validity to the many emotions I have felt"

This week, CEO Emma Payne and Chief Clinical Officer Melissa Lunardini reach into the Help Texts mailbag to discuss a message we received from a 54-year-old man whose wife died from substance use.

He shares how our texts have validated his emotions over these difficult months, given him new perspectives on himself and his family and, most importantly, helped him support his children.

The clinical insight: From a male perspective, having texts validate your grief experience helps to de-stigmatize loss and removes the self-imposed pressure to grieve "the right way." We see an expansion of his coping strategies and a powerful ripple effect—the support he receives enables him to better support his children.

But there's something profound happening here. When we help one person process their grief more effectively, we're not just healing them—we're strengthening entire family systems and breaking cycles of unprocessed loss.

Watch Emma and Melissa explore how accessible, evidence-based grief support creates expanding circles of healing that reach far beyond the individual subscriber.

10/17/2025

Grief can often bring feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. But did you know there's a difference?

Helplessness is about the situation - feeling unable to change what has happened.
Hopelessness is about the future - struggling to see a way forward.

Many grieving people experience both separately or simultaneously, which can be overwhelming.

That's where Help Texts comes in. Our supportive messages offer:
🤝Companionship in difficult moments
📲Gentle guidance through the grief journey
💫Reminders that hope exists, even when it's hard to see

By providing regular, compassionate support, Help Texts can alleviate feelings of isolation and offer small glimmers of hope. We can't change the past, but we can walk beside you towards a future that feels more manageable.

If you or someone you know is struggling with grief, consider Help Texts as a source of ongoing support and gentle reminders that you're not alone.

10/16/2025

Listening leads to better products. 👂

When Help Texts subscribers told us they wanted more flexibility with the timing of their text messages, we got to work.

Starting today, our subscribers can choose what time they receive their texts—whether that's first thing in the morning, during lunch, or right before bed.

Because everyone's routine is different, and support should fit your life, not the other way around.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share feedback. This new feature is for you. ✨

10/16/2025

💬 Mailbag Series: "Just when I think nobody cares, you guys send me a text message that lifts my day"

This week, Help Texts CEO Emma Payne and Chief Clinical Officer Melissa Lunardini reach into our mailbag to discuss a message from a 45-year-old woman whose son died suddenly in an accident.

She shares how our texts arrive at exactly the right moments—when she feels like nobody cares or she doesn't have anyone to talk to, our messages lift her day and remind her she's not alone in her grief.

The clinical insight: Our texts address both forms of loneliness that grievers experience—emotional loneliness (the deep, existential isolation of loss) and social loneliness (feeling disconnected from others who may not understand). Simple text messages can genuinely move the needle on loneliness and create a connection where none existed before.

In a world where sudden loss can leave people feeling utterly invisible and forgotten, Help Texts' messages become a lifeline—not replacing human connection, but creating it when it's needed most. Every text becomes a gentle reminder: you matter, your grief matters, and you are not alone.

Watch Emma and Melissa explore how accessible grief support can break through the profound isolation that follows sudden loss, one perfectly timed message at a time.

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