The Light of Dr. Steven Southwick Shines Brightly

1948-2022- Gone too soon, always remembered at Modern Widows Club.

(Photo Credit: 2018 Widow Empowerment Event- Orlando, FL)

Today, I honor the memory of my cherished friend, Dr. Steve Southwick, on the anniversary of his passing, April 20, 2022.

Our story began in March 2015 when the Modern Widows Club gained attention from the Wall Street Journal in an article titled, “Resilience Can Be Learned: How a widow traced a long path back toward optimism.” This exposure introduced me to a pivotal work by Dr. Charney and Dr. Southwick, titled Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, now in its third edition. Dr. Southwick notably included Modern Widows Club as a featured organization in this edition, spotlighting our role in empowering widowed women to foster resilience. His posthumous acknowledgment was a bittersweet tribute.

Dr. Southwick, a distinguished psychiatrist at Yale University School of Medicine, alongside Dr. Dennis Charney, Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, pioneered an encompassing approach to human resilience, blen…