Looking for materials and information to help make sense of your experience, feel less alone, or support others when they are grieving? Explore the pages below to learn about grief, listen to stories from others, and make supportive connections.
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We scattered Robert’s cremated remains this past weekend in his favorite spot in Vail, along the river walk that he loved. A family friend of ours, who is also a minister, said to us as we gathered together, “It’s not for Robert that we grieve but for ourselves. We grieve so deeply because we loved so deeply”. I thought a lot about my own experience with losing Robert. This is what I now know, almost six months since he died: Grief is permission.
Next to my husband Dan, my dad was my second-best friend. When told that dad had six months to a year to live, the news tore my soul. I silently suffered anticipatory grief. Even though I was trained as an end-of-life doula a year prior, I was not prepared to practice on dad everything that I had learned. I went to my hometown on Valentine’s Day to care for dad while on hospice. Dad died from prostate cancer in April of 2020. I thought I would never laugh again. Losing dad at the beginning of a devastating pandemic did not help. The loneliness and isolation from family and friends left me numb.
Dear Fellow Human, May is “Mental Health Awareness Month”. In sharing from personal experience, I recall the first time I confided in someone that I was struggling, and I remember the heartbreak I felt when the reaction I received was irritation and the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” sentiment.
Presented by Harold Ivan Smith, MA, ED.S., FT, DMin The Heroes You Never See: Bringing Your Whole Self to Compassionate Care Settings Presentation for Professionals...
How can we respond graciously to funeral traditions that are not part of our way of “doing” ritual and grief? Article by Harold Ivan Smith
Dear Fellow Griever, I found some voice through haiku as I was processing some of the depths of my grief. The cadence of 5-7-5 worked for me. I wanted to share in case haiku may be useful to you, too.
March is Social Work Appreciation Month, and it is the perfect time to thank social workers for all they do. I want to offer a sincere thanks to all of my fellow Social Workers.
It can be hard to thank someone for doing so much, and difficult to put into words the gratitude felt for the many things social workers do. As a social worker, I know firsthand how crucial and important social workers are in our world, and how a little recognition can go a long way.
I’ve been in the wellness industry for over 10 years, and it is still hard for me to talk about self-care. The main issue is this: nothing anyone else has to say can answer for the most critical aspect of self-care practices, the Self.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of articles, blogs and lists of what to say and what not to say to someone who is grieving. In nearly every grief group we facilitate the topic of, “I can’t believe he/she said that…” comes up.
Why is it that when we are supporting someone who is grieving, we cannot figure out what to say and when we are grieving we are often offended by what people say, despite the hundreds of quotes, phrases and advice columns?
When grief lands in our lives, our bodies feel it all. Everything we have lost, our bodies have lost. Our nervous system often regulates our emotions into waves – reaching our capacity of how much we can feel and helping us, over time, to process and integrate the new reality of our lives without.