Grief Digest Articles

Supporting Families and Medical Professionals through Loss in the COVID-19 PandemicI watched my father draw his last breath via the Ring app on my phone. When I first learned of his stroke, I rushed to sweet home Alabama to be by his side and do everything in my power to help him recover from this particular setback. Little did I know that this was the first domino to fall in a long line of diagnoses that would later result in a trip back home with my entire family to send my father off in a new …

Grieving after the death of a loved one can take away all of your energy and can leave you feeling isolated from those around you. You just can’t seem to connect with colleagues, people from your communities, and sometimes even friends. I know this feeling of being wiped out and isolated by grief after my fourteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, died from a rare bone cancer. I didn’t have the energy to go to work or talk with people who were concerned about me. I was deep in a tunnel of grief.I wi …

Shafts of light cut sharply through the southern facing windows of the greenhouse. Dust particles dance and sway like fairies celebrating the last rays of sun before evening. I sink into the comfortable green couch that was my family’s refuge in times when children’s tears needed comforting, sprained ankles and fevers required rest, and just plain old snuggling was required. I wait for my son, Ryan, to finish dressing for bed, and join me for our nightly story time ritual. No longer a toddler, h …

Having now entered year 2021, this short piece is a reflection on what may be the fullness of the past year and what may be usefully carried into the current one. Perhaps like your own experience, dear reader, I had a relative to die from COVID-19 complications and several extended family members who suffered from the virus but, thankfully, recovered. In my broader social circles, including the workplace, many more deaths and suffering as a result of COVID-19 have happened. What I initially imag …

What You Need to Know About Participating in OnePrior to the Pandemic, I wrote an article Should I or Shouldn’t I Join a Grief Support Group referring to in-person groups. Our lives have changed since then. Our new reality is that a virtual connection is the safest way to communicate with others.My original article was all about getting the courage to walk through the door and sit down among strangers to share your inner most thoughts and feelings as you struggled to heal your grief. In the even …