Everyone experiences grief in their life—especially when losing a loved one. How that grief is processed has a direct impact on individuals and those around them.
Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare is offering a seven-week adult grief group beginning September 13.
The free series, open to the public, is called Faces of Grief. Registration is required. It’s being held at the Marilyn B. and Mark E. Gustafson Center for Supportive Care at Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare at 1900 Akron Road in Wooster.
David Hargrave, a bereavement counseling processional with Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare, is leading the series.
He appeared on Good Morning Cleveland on Saturday.
“There is a lot of grief and a lot of loss that we've all experienced in our society,” Hargrave said. “This group is an opportunity to help adults that are grieving, or supporting someone who is grieving, process that grief.”
Hargrave said it's common for those who are grieving to say, ‘I’m not myself.’
“Grief blocks untold human potential and growth opportunities,” he said. “When a person is grieving unprocessed or unintegrated loss, it impacts our interpersonal relationships (and) our ability to focus- creativity. So, it’s important that we have healthy opportunities and avenues to process and acknowledge that grief.”
“Our society, in general, is grief and death averse. We're uncomfortable. It makes us feel awkward. But the path forward is really being able to integrate those losses.”
Topics covered during the group sessions will include:
- Myths About Grief
- Common and Normal Grief Reactions
- Different Grieving Styles
- The Four Tasks of Mourning
- Acknowledging the Secondary Losses
- Factors That Influence the Grief Journey
- Taking Care of Yourself During the Journey of Grief.
Hargrave said in terms of myths, “One of those is that talking about our deceased person only makes the pain last longer. Another common myth is that if to work through our grief means putting our loved one out of our minds and moving forward. That’s a myth. In fact, in order to move forward in a healthy way, it's about finding those ways to keep a sense of connection or show that our loved one matter.”
Another common myth, he said, revolves around children.
“There's this idea that it's better to shield and protect children from loss. But that is untrue. The research shows that if a child is old enough to love, they're old enough to grieve. And so, providing those opportunities to address these myths to normalize the grieving process is a significant part of grief integration.”
Additional information and resources:
- National Alliance for Grieving Children
- Center for Loss & Life Transition
- The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families
- Open to Hope
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