Finding the right grief support group
22 Mar 2019, 12:35 pm
Hi:
I was wondering if any of you in here have joined a grief support group because I just went to one that is offered for free on Tuesday. After wondering what it was going to be like, I walked away feeling this sense of disappointment instead of feeling a little more uplifted afterward being that I can share things with people revolving around grief. The people were nice but I still felt this sense of feeling that it was not the right fit.
However, I realized that I don't have to put my eggs into one basket, rather, I am doing lots of digging around until I can find the best fit.
What is your advice about that?
29 Mar 2019, 5:26 am
I was wondering if any of you in here have joined a grief support group because I just went to one that is offered for free on Tuesday. After wondering what it was going to be like, I walked away feeling this sense of disappointment instead of feeling a little more uplifted afterward being that I can share things with people revolving around grief. The people were nice but I still felt this sense of feeling that it was not the right fit.
However, I realized that I don't have to put my eggs into one basket, rather, I am doing lots of digging around until I can find the best fit.
What is your advice about that?
Every group is different. It's hard to say specifically that a group will be like this, or like that. But I'll tell you about my own experience, just so you'll know what's out there.
I attended several grief support groups after my husband passed away. My favorite group was geared toward younger widows/widowers, and was run by a woman who was a social worker, who had also been widowed.
We'd sit in a circle and each person took their turn introducing themselves, and telling the group how they they were feeling that night...IF they wanted to share.
Try not to quit if the group doesn't "click" with your first meeting. Sometimes you need to go two or three times to be sure if the group is (or is not) for you.They ARE very different, and it might take some time to find the right one for you.
_________________
As long as you keep going, you'll keep getting better. And as you get better, you gain more confidence. That alone is success.
-- Tamara Taylor
29 Mar 2019, 11:28 am
I was wondering if any of you in here have joined a grief support group because I just went to one that is offered for free on Tuesday. After wondering what it was going to be like, I walked away feeling this sense of disappointment instead of feeling a little more uplifted afterward being that I can share things with people revolving around grief. The people were nice but I still felt this sense of feeling that it was not the right fit.
However, I realized that I don't have to put my eggs into one basket, rather, I am doing lots of digging around until I can find the best fit.
What is your advice about that?
Every group is different. It's hard to say specifically that a group will be like this, or like that. But I'll tell you about my own experience, just so you'll know what's out there.
I attended several grief support groups after my husband passed away. My favorite group was geared toward younger widows/widowers, and was run by a woman who was a social worker, who had also been widowed.
We'd sit in a circle and each person took their turn introducing themselves, and telling the group how they they were feeling that night...IF they wanted to share.
Try not to quit if the group doesn't "click" with your first meeting. Sometimes you need to go two or three times to be sure if the group is (or is not) for you. They ARE very different, and it might take some time to find the right one for you.
The issue with this group is that
1. Yes, it is on the bus line but because they limited the number of buses on this route, it's limited during off-peak hours. It took me almost 2 hours getting home which was really late.
2. The licensed therapist only seemed to come for the group session and just left afterward. She didn't even stay to see if anyone had any questions and feedback. I just wish that she would have told me "My office hours are X and if anyone wants to make an appointment individually, I am at such in such."
01 Apr 2019, 5:55 pm
I'm 45 and I lost my Dad in 2006 and mother in 2011, but was only diagnosed w/ASD 2 years ago. I have a half sister (through my Dad), but we haven't spoken since she and her (then fiance) were yelling at me on the phone as I was alone dealing w/cleaning/selling my Mom's house and all the chaos around that. I was offered some sort of bereavement counseling through the Catholic hospice my mother spent her last day in before passing away. As an atheist, that obviously wasn't what I was looking for at all. I have had several therapists since then, although only now am I finally starting to work w/one who specializes in ASD. But during the last 8 years, there've just been too many other problems in my life to have ever found the time to deal w/bereavement issues that I still totally have (part of my personal baggage). I've never even really had more than passing throughts about looking for some sort of group support for bereavement and I only started going to ASD support groups a couple months ago.
I'm sorry that I don't have any constructive suggestions to offer you, other than to suggest that yes, this is an extremely important area of one's life to address in support groups, therapy and wherever else you can and I'm sure that at least for some issues having some sort of support system for the bereavement process is vital. And it sadly gets harder to deal with as you age and can f**k up every other area of your life (or many of them anyway) if you don't deal with it. I know this from experience and I still don't feel I have the time to deal with it myself for the same reasons as before: so many other problems wrecking my life.
02 Apr 2019, 4:07 pm
I'm sorry that I don't have any constructive suggestions to offer you, other than to suggest that yes, this is an extremely important area of one's life to address in support groups, therapy and wherever else you can and I'm sure that at least for some issues having some sort of support system for the bereavement process is vital. And it sadly gets harder to deal with as you age and can f**k up every other area of your life (or many of them anyway) if you don't deal with it. I know this from experience and I still don't feel I have the time to deal with it myself for the same reasons as before: so many other problems wrecking my life.
I can't try the hospice where my aunt was placed after she had her stroke because it's too far away and not on public transit. I could go back tonight but I don't really want to since I was not that impressed with the last one though it might be good to get my feelings out tonight since I some things related to her death last weekend.
20 Apr 2019, 2:33 am
If the hospice doesn't work for you, then you might wanna try something else. I don't know what's available in your area, but maybe try looking for a group of some kind, if that's what you're after.
I'm sorry for your loss, but wish you all the success in finding the kind of support you're looking for!
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