WHAT IS IT AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?

A grief support group provides its members with a safe, non-judgemental holding space where each member receives and gives support and connection with others who have lost loved ones. It has been found that sharing with and listening to people who have also experienced loss, offers a different type of emotional support to individual therapy. The group process does not necessarily replace individual counselling, however it provides an environment where healing can evolve through the mutual sharing with others who are also grieving, as well as it providing additional knowledge and skills that help one cope on a day-to-day basis.

“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering.”
– Helen Keller, We Bereaved

BENEFITS OF JOINING A GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP

Some of the benefits of joining a grief support group are:

• A safe environment that is understanding, non-judgmental and supportive, and where stories can be shared and feelings expressed freely.
• Connections with others and a decreased sense of aloneness and isolation that is often experienced in bereavement.
• A setting to explore a variety of grief patterns. This helps to normalise the varied emotional reactions that can often feel “abnormal”, strange or scary.
• Learning the many different ways that people grieve based on cultural, religious, or societal norms.
• The development of new coping skills including learning grounding and relaxation techniques, stress management skills, sleep techniques and useful skills to help with daily life shared by the group.
• Through the process of group sharing, members feel supported and validated. This promotes a sense of strength and builds confidence.
• Healing starts and becomes a supported and shared experience through education and group participation.
• Irrespective of the nature of the loss, the commonality of the loss experience and its complexities of emotions provides enough commonality for growth, learning and healing.

Support for loss through suicide is best with its own support group as the grieving experience through a loved one taking their own life is unique and comprises its own set of grief dynamics.