Grief Support

Grief: General

These thoughtful articles provide guidance and direction for anyone touched by grief.

• The Journey Through Grief
• The Mourner's Bill of Rights

Helping Yourself with Grief

Someone you love has died. You are now faced with the difficult, but important, need to mourn. Mourning is the open expression of your thoughts and feelings regarding the death and the person who died. It is an essential part of healing. The following articles provide many practical suggestions to help you move toward healing in your unique grief journey.

Mustering the Courage to Mourn
Love and Grief: In Communion and Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts
Will I Befriend My Feelings Or Will I Deny Them
Will I Grieve or Will I Mourn
Helping Yourself Heal When Someone Dies
Helping Yourself Heal When Your Child Dies
Helping Yourself Heal When Your Spouse Dies
Helping Yourself Heal When a Parent Dies
Helping Yourself When a Baby Dies
Helping Yourself Heal During the Holiday Season
Helping Dispel 5 Common Myths About Grief
Helping Yourself Live When You Are Seriously Ill
Helping Yourself Live When You Are Dying
Exploring the Uniqueness of Your Suicide Grief
Healing Your Traumatized Heart: Seeking Safety, Understanding, and Peace Part 1
Healing Your Traumatized Heart: Seeking Safety, Understanding, and Peace Part 2
Healing Your Grieving Body: Physical Practices for Mourners
The Spiritual Path to Healing: An Introduction
The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 1
The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 2
The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 3
The Spiritual Path to Healing: Mourning Ideas, Part 4
Dispelling the Misconceptions About Suicide and Grief and Mourning
The Capacity to Love Requires the Neccesity to Mourn
Helping Yourself Heal When an Adult Sibling Dies
Helping Your Family Heal After Stillbirth
Healing Your Grief About Getting Older
Embracing the Sadness of Grief
Helping a Friend or Family Member After a Cancer Diagnosis

Helping Others with Grief

A friend has experienced the death of someone loved. How can you help? The following articles provide many practical suggestions for helping others with grief:

Helping a Friend in Grief
Helping a Man Who is Grieving
Helping a Friend Who is Dying
Helping a Friend Who is Seriously Ill
Helping a Suicide Survivor Heal
Helping a Homicide Survivor Heal
Helping a Grandparent Who Is Grieving
Helping a Grieving Friend in the Workplace
Helping AIDS Survivors Heal
Helping SIDS Survivors Heal
Helping Your Family When a Member is Dying
Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
Helping Your Family Cope When a Pet Dies
Helping Your Family Decide if Organ and Tissue Donation is Right for You
Helping a Friend or Family Member After a Cancer Diagnosis

For and About Grieving Children and Teenagers

Children and teenagers have special needs following the death of a friend or family member. The following articles provide wonderful insight in helping children and teens understand and express their grief.

Helping Children Cope with Grief
Helping Teenagers Cope with Grief
Helping Infants and Toddlers When Someone They Love Dies
Helping Children with Funerals
Helping Children Understand Cremation
Helping a Child Who is Seriously Ill
Helping a Child Who is Dying
Helping Grieving Children at School
Helping Bereaved Siblings Heal
Finding the Right Words: Guidelines on how to talk to grieving children about death

Funerals, Memorials, Cremation and Related Topics

The days following the death of a loved one can be filled with sadness and confusion. The following articles can help you understand the importance of the rituals surrounding death.

Helping Your Family Personalize the Funeral
Helping Create a Meaningful Eulogy
Ten Freedoms for Creating a Meaningful Funeral
Why is the Funeral Ritual Important?

For Funeral Directors

Effectively meeting the grief needs of customers in an increasingly impersonal world takes special effort on the part of professionals in the grief industry. The following articles are designed to help funeral directors gauge their own effectiveness and meet the challenges of serving customer needs.

It's the Experience That Counts: Funeral Home Customer Service for Today's Families
And We Wonder Why People Question the Need for Funerals...
Creating Excellence in Customer Service
The Dirty Dozen of Customer Service
E-Serving Families: How Your Website Should Help Your Customers
Listening to (and Satisfying) the Never-Satisfied Customer

For Hospices and Other Caregivers

Caregivers have special needs of their own. The following articles are designed to help caregivers take care of themselves as well as those who are suffering from loss.

Companioning the Bereaved: An Introduction
Tenet 1: Companioning Principle
Tenet 2: Companioning Principle
The Awesome Power of "Telling The Story": Why I'm Proud to be a Grief Counselor
Caregiver as Gardener: A Parable
Companioning vs. Treating: Beyond The Medical Model of Bereavement Caregiving
Growing Through Grief: The Role of Support Groups
Responding to Problems in the Support Group Setting
The Bereavement Caregiver's Self-Care Guidelines