Grief Digest Articles

Jan Borgman, MSW, LISW-S, FTPerhaps the most challenging experience anyone will ever face is dealing with the death of a loved one. No prior knowledge, no book, no other difficulty can truly prepare some one to deal with the grief that comes when a loved one dies. There are no simple ways to “get through the grief” and one will never truly “get over it.” Learning to live with your loss can be similar to someone preparing for a marathon.No matter how strong or fast the runner may be, they still n …

By Bob Baugher, Ph.D.I have a question for you: Following the death of your loved one, who have you been most worried about? Say the name now in your mind. See this person’s face as they first responded to the loss. Now, think about how this person has been continuing to react (or not seeming to react) to the death. If you are like most people, simply focusing on this right now is causing you some discomfort. Stay with me as we look at this.How does it feel knowing that, day after day, you canno …

Being members of The Compassionate Friends of Rockville Centre, we have discovered simple gifts that have enhanced our lives and helped us on our grief journey:1. A support group for bereaved parents. My husband Joe and I founded The Compassionate Friends of Rockville Centre (NY), holding our first meeting welcoming 36 bereaved parents on Oct. 9, 1987 at a local college, when there was nothing out there for bereaved parents.2. Grief Education. In those early days, when Joe and I as Chapter Leade …

This summer we’ll commemorate the seventeenth anniversary of Peter’s death. It doesn’t seem possible that seventeen years have passed; that I have seventeen years of experiences that don’t include Peter; that I am even alive. The truth is that seventeen years doesn’t feel any different than ten years or fifteen years or, probably, twenty years. It does feel very different than one or two years or, even three, four or five years.Mostly, people think I’m “over it.” Well, in the words of a recent e …

On January 10, 2007, my family received the most tragic and shocking news of our lives. My nephew, Christopher, had completed suicide. When I received the phone call, I jumped in my car immediately, telling myself over and over again for the entire drive to my sister's house, "It's not too late...."How surreal; only eleven days before his sixteenth birthday, he had taken his own life. At first, we couldn't breathe; we couldn't think. We couldn't process this. I felt helpless for my sister, only …