This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
05/07/2020 12:01 AMGriefShare, a 13-week faith-based bereavement support group, offers help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member, or friend. Sponsored by Christ Chapel of Madison, this support group meets remotely via Zoom on Sunday afternoons from 1 to 3 p.m. The group will continue to meet remotely, with no break between cycles, until further notice.
The weekly format includes supportive discussion about video content and a journaling book reinforcing each week’s topics. An online workbook is available at no charge to those who register for the group through the www.GriefShare.org Find-A-Group page.
Past and current participants have come from all points along the shoreline, and as far inland as Wallingford. All are welcome.
Joanne Baker Deal, a master’s-level licensed professional counselor and nationally certified counselor, has been the church’s GriefShare Ministry coordinator for the past seven years. She says there is no limit on how recently the loss must have taken place.
“The husband of one participant had died by suicide 10 years earlier, but due to survival needs of getting her children launched into adulthood and then needing to earn a graduate degree to retain her job, it took the full 10 years before she could begin to process and grieve the loss of her husband,” she says. “My then-84-year-old mother, visiting from out-of-state, attended some GriefShare meetings with me. She realized that she had never adequately processed the sudden death of her own father when she had just turned 14, some 70 years earlier.”
The 13 sessions follow a logical progression from initial grief to the process of eventually moving on.
“GriefShare’s emphasis is that we are traveling a path from mourning to joy. And yes, pain and joy do co-exist,” Deal says.
For more information, call Deal at 860-304-5695.