Grief support after the death of a child
The mission of
The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive
resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to
provide information to help others be supportive.
The Compassionate Friends is a national nonprofit, self-help support
organization that offers friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved
parents, grandparents and siblings. There is no religious affiliation
and there are no membership dues or fees.
The secret of
TCF's success is simple: As seasoned grievers reach out to the newly
bereaved, energy that has been directed inward begins to flow outward
and both are helped to heal. The vision of The Compassionate Friends is
that everyone who needs us will find us and everyone who find us will be
helped.
"To Live in the Hearts
We Leave Behind is Not To Die"
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Remember how I laughed,
Remember how I loved.
Use me as the reason you embrace life,
Not the reason you don't.
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On Monday,
January 12,
2009,
at 7:00 PM, will be our monthly meeting date. We will meet
at East Jefferson Hospital, in the Esplanade 2 Room. New Members
Come at 6:45 PM.
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Mark your calendar with these dates for
future meetings:
February9; March 9 |
Grief work will have to be done eventually and our
literature tells us it will be worse when put off or delayed.
Fay Harden
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For those of you who are
hurting too deeply, whose pain is too fresh, whose child's death is
still too close to hear me, I'd like to give you the message "Hold
on, hold on tight." Right now for you, there seems to be
little sunshine, little hope and no energy to choose life. So
hang on tight.
And if you know someone who is
struggling just to hang on, reach out to them right now. Loan them
some of your strength, knowing they will loan you some of theirs when
you need it. That's what TCF is all about; helping each other
through the anger, the pain, the emptiness, the silence -- helping each
other rediscover life.
We have to learn to dream new
dreams and hope new hopes, and it is here with the love and support of
our new family of friends that our journey begins.
Author unknown
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The bond among grieving
parents is close. It is unfathomable. It cannot be entered
into by outsiders, but it is known to each of us. A quick look, an
acknowledgment, and we know immediately the agenda of suffering we have
in common and that there is no fact of our lives more important than
this:
I had a child who died.
I Will Not Leave You Desolate
by Martha Whitmore Hickman
You Need Not Walk
Alone: Listening can turn grief into growth. We do
not take grief away from people, we simply help them walk through it --
by talking it out. They need to talk to a good listener. A
good listener is a walking, touching, personal intensive care unit.
Doug
Manning,Comforting Those Who Grieve
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THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS