Dealing With Grief During The Holidays
If you've lost a loved one or have dealt with a tragic event, the holidays can often serve as yet another reminder of the loss. We can feel as though there's nothing to celebrate, or feel survivor's guilt. These are normal parts of the grieving process, and it's not unusual to feel the need for some kind of support at this time of year.
Just as there are many types of grief, there are many different types of support resources available. It's important to feel that it's okay to grieve, talk, cry, be happy or sad, and to live a full life, even though you are grieving.
Here are some highly recommended resources that we hope will help you:
- Open To Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. You are invited to read or listen to others' stories, or share your own.
- The National Alliance for Grieving Children promotes awareness of the needs of children and teens grieving a death and provides education and resources for anyone who wants to support them.
- The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivor's (TAPS) offers comfort and hope 24 hours a day, seven days a week to all those grieving the death of a loved one serving in our Armed Forces.
- The Grief Recovery Method site will help you find grief support groups in your area—whether the cause of your loss is through death, divorce, or any other cause, they will give you the tools to help your recover.
- Unspoken Grief is a safe place to share, talk, support and learn about the impact of miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal loss in our lives.
- Losing Your Parents connects people who have lost parents at any age (whether through cancer, illness, sudden death, divorce, separation, adoption, etc.) through art, writing, and focusing on the positive.
- Grieving Dads aims to bring awareness to the impact that child loss has on fathers and is designed to reach out to all bereaved dads and provide a conduit to share their stories.
- Stunned by Grief is the website of author Judy Brizendine. Her mission is to educate, encourage, inspire, and motivate anyone facing grief and loss, to step into the process that empowers them to move from pain to living expectantly again.
- Hello, Grief offers an online community of real people, articles, personal stories, interactive Memorial Walls, as well as other resources.
Friends and family love us, but that doesn't mean they always know what to say or how to help us when we've experienced a loss. Help them help you by asking for any assistance you may need, even if it's only a reassuring hug.