Sunday, October 31, 2010

Caregiving and Hospice, October 24 - October 30

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Understanding and Managing Grief, October 24 - October 30

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:
  • Child loss and grief triggers: The Halloween Graveyard | Open to Hope Foundation, http://j.mp/1r9KlZT

Coping with Pet Loss, October 24 - October 30

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Friday, October 29, 2010

Blogs (and Books) for Bereaved Parents

[Reviewed and updated September 18, 2022]

Blogs are becoming increasingly popular and effective as yet another way for the bereaved to process their grief.  Below I've featured four blogs that I think are especially helpful, developed by mothers whose children have died.  (As you can see, some of these bloggers have turned their blog entries into books, or have based their blogs on books they've already written.)

If you've discovered a blog (or book) you would recommend to other bereaved parents, or if you're a parent who's written a blog (or book!) yourself, please feel free to tell us about it in the Comments section beneath this post.
   
I Have No Intention of Saying Goodbye – Offered by bereaved mother and author Sandy Fox, whose 27-year-old daughter Marcy was killed in an automobile accident, this blog is meant "to help bereaved parents move on with their lives."  Sandy’s first publication, I Have No Intention of Saying Goodbye,  lets parents open their hearts and share stories of hope and healing after a child's death.  Her second and most recent book, Creating a New Normal . . . After the Death of a Child, has more than 80 articles on coping techniques to help the bereaved parent, including a huge resource section.
 
Sunshine In a Blue Cup – In the span of 36 months, Diana Doyle  experienced the death of her mother, her sister and her four-year-old daughter.  Today Dee uses her blog “ to write about my everyday comings and goings which I find to be miracles and how my family and friends have become one of my survival tools and give me a reason to smile again . . . I want it to inspire others to realize that you can face any challenge and survive...even become a better person sometimes because of hardship. I want to remind people to look at the joy the little things in life can bring you.”

Gratitude in Grief is a blog journal created by Kelly Buckley to document her journey in the first year of grief following the accidental drowning death of her son Stephen on July 4, 2009. “One thing has helped me breathe, and that is finding at least one little thing to be grateful for each day, in spite of the pain,” says Kelly. She writes in hopes of helping others to find their “one little thing” as well.  Her latest book, Just One Little Thing is an evolution from and a revision of her first book, Gratitude in Grief: Finding Daily Joy and a Life Purpose Following the Death of My Son, which was published early in 2010.

Grief + Creativity – Founded after the death of their son Dakota in 1999 by commercial artists Hawk and Kara LC Jones (aka Mother Henna), KOTA (Knowing Ourselves Through Art) supports bereaved parents and those who care for them after the death of a child, by “exploring the art of healing” –  encouraging the use of art in creative, healing ways.

Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below. If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing NewsletterSign up here

Related:

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Caregiving and Hospice, October 17 - October 23

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:
  

Understanding and Managing Grief, October 17 - October 23

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:
  • Grief: the most available untapped emotional resource for personal transformation,
  • Pieces of Me: Staying connected to deceased loved one, by Dave Roberts | Open to Hope Foundation,  
  • Love remains even as closets are emptied: Meaning of Mementos | Open to Hope Foundation,
  • To help another in grief: Share Memories of the Deceased | Open to Hope Foundation
 

Coping with Pet Loss, October 17 - October 23

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Coping with Pet Loss, October 10 - October 16

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

    Caregiving and Hospice, October 10 - October 16

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:
    • Great read for caregivers,10 Commandments of Caregiving, via @

    Understanding and Managing Grief, October 10 - October 16

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

    Friday, October 15, 2010

    Voices of Experience: Me? Need a Hospice Grief Counselor? No Way!

    At a recent staff meeting, one of our hospice bereavement counselors shared a poem written by one of her clients, who kindly gave us permission to reprint it here:

    "I don't need a counselor," my neighbor friend said.
    "For someone to talk with? You're out of your head."
    "I'd rather just cry -- or take a long walk.
    Anything's better than having to talk."

    "And what could she offer? What could she say?
    To make me feel better? I'm really okay.
    It's just that I'm lonesome, despondent, and blue,
    And I get kind of angry -- a little bit -- too."

    "And I seem so forgetful. How could that be?
    My mind's not the same. It's worrying me."
    I told her the counselor would just hold her hand,
    And wipe away tears, and she'd understand.

    "She'll tell you your feelings are normal these days.
    And she'll make you feel better. She has many ways.
    Just give it a try. You'll like her I know."
    And my friend finally said, "I'll give it a go."

    Then, later she asked me, "How come you could tell
    She'd be all that helpful and make me feel well?
    How could you know -- on her I'd depend?"
    I smiled and said softly, "I've been there, my friend."

    Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below.
    If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing NewsletterSign up here


    Related Articles:

    Sunday, October 10, 2010

    Coping with Pet Loss, October 3 - October 9, 2010

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

    Caregiving and Hospice, October 3 - October 9

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

    Understanding and Managing Grief, October 3 - October 9

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:
    • National Day of Healing for Survivors of Suicide Loss, AFSP: Saturday, November 20,

    Friday, October 8, 2010

    Afterlife Awareness Conference

    You may recall that an earlier post concerning After-Death Communication included an announcement from Terri Daniel about the formation of the Afterlife Education Foundation -- a group of renowned spiritual teachers, afterlife researchers, psychics, grief counselors and educators who recognized the need for, and got together to plan, an official nation-wide conference on the Afterlife.

    Terri Daniel has now confirmed that the first annual Afterlife Awareness Conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona from noon on Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1, 2011

    The conference features noted researchers, counselors, authors and teachers who will address everything from grief recovery to scientific evidence of the afterlife.  It presents an opportunity for participants to learn from presenters experienced in after-death communication, out-of-body experience, near-death experience, psychic research, grief processing and related studies.  Registration is now open.   

    Monday, October 4, 2010

    Finding Reliable Grief Information and Support on the Internet

    [Reviewed and updated October 29, 2021]

    Be careful about reading health books.  You may die of a misprint.  ~ Mark Twain

    In her online article entitled The Way We Grieve Now, journalist Piper Weiss describes various “cathartic gestures” bereaved individuals use to maintain contact with their deceased loved ones, concluding that such activities not only are normal and common, but also quite helpful in processing grief. “On one online grief forum,” the author writes, “members anonymously share their unusual habits: buying annual Christmas presents for a deceased father, doing word puzzles once relished by a mother, calling non-working numbers just to go through the motions of contacting a lost friend. All members then pose the same question: ‘Is this normal?’”

    As it happens, the one online grief forum the author referenced in her article was our own Grief Healing Discussion Groups. Not only did the article generate over 1100 comments from readers; it also resulted in a striking “bump” in activity on our Discussion Groups site, bringing more than 60 new membership applications in the first 24 hours following the article’s appearance on the Web, and significantly affecting our overall statistics for that week. At that point our site had over 4300 registered members and more than 42,000 posts, leaving no doubt that bereaved individuals are actively searching for, finding and responding to valid and reliable grief information and support on the Internet. (As of April 2020, we have over 10,000 registered members.)

    If you are among the thousands of individuals looking to participate in an online grief forum or message board, it’s important to recognize that not all websites are of equal quality.  

    How can you be reasonably certain that the site you find is safe and reliable, and that the information it offers is accurate?
    Before you decide to join any online chat, grief forum or message board, you are wise to consider these precautions:
    • Investigate before you participate. Notice whether the service is sponsored by a reputable organization, and learn whether the moderators are qualified to offer information and support.
    • Read about the moderators to learn about their background, education, training, licensure and certification. Make sure they have experience in facilitating groups and knowledge about the normal grief process. Read some posts written by the moderators to get a sense of their approach to grieving people.
    • When health information is offered, check to see that references are cited.
    • Make certain that the group or forum you select is made up of mourners with whom you can identify. Read some of the posts in a given forum to decide if you can relate to the people gathered there.
    • Look for an option that enables you to report to the moderator(s) any post that you find objectionable.
    • Use your own good judgment and common sense. If something doesn’t feel right, if you don’t feel safe, accepted or understood, trust your instincts, leave immediately and find another group.
    Note that many reliable websites display a seal of certification from a trusted accrediting organization, such as the one you see on this blog (and on our Grief Healing Discussion Groups site as well) from the Health On the Net (HON) Foundation. This seal certifies that the site provides transparency regarding authority, authorship, confidentiality and funding, is up-to date, honest about advertising, and provides clear distinction between advertisement and editorial content. Visitors need only to click on the seal to make sure that certification is still valid.

    Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below. If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing NewsletterSign up here

    Related:

    Sunday, October 3, 2010

    Caregiving and Hospice, September 26 - October 2

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

    Understanding and Managing Grief, September 25 - October 2

    Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week: