Could you look at your life right now and say I am fully living? Today I sit down with co-founders and twin sisters Rachel and Jaclyn of Open Frame. A community that Open Frame is a community that cherishes, empowers and connects after loss due to overdose. Rachel and Jaclyn lost their brother due to the ingestion of a synthetic opioid and it changed everything. It was sudden, tragic, and unexpected. As his sisters, they decided to band together in order to shed some light in the darkness of the aftermath.
Throughout their own grief, they felt a lack of space to discuss and simply acknowledge what happened due to the complexity of the issues and the stigma of the cause of death. The inability to acknowledge and discuss the reality of their brother's passing has made it harder to heal and left them both with the feeling that they were alone. That is where the idea began for Open Frame.
Statistics show they were definitely not the only siblings that had experienced a such tragic loss. yet we know (due to statistics) that we are certainly not alone. Rachel and Jaclyn want to give those who have lost due to the Opioid Crisis a way to say, “I lost, but I still love and remember, without guilt and shame, the one I lost.”
100,000 people died of overdose in 2021 in the [United States], that is a football stadium full of people...How we hold those people with love and care? How do we move forward and heal?
It is incredibly important to both of them to have others learn how to heal from each other and continue to live everyday fully. We talk about Justin and their fondest memories of who he was Happy Birthday Justin - you were and continued to be loved!
Justin, Rachel and Jaclyn at Disney World
Reflection Questions:
We may never have the closure we need. But, how can you move past that certain detail and take a step in the direction to see how God is working in your life?
Jaclyn said, "All of our feelings can come out of this deeply holy place." The next time you feel a strong emotion, acknowledge it, listen to it and thank God that He has given you this emotion.
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