Letting Children Share in Grief

A few decades ago, children often didn’t attend funerals. The thinking was that they should be sheltered from the pain of losing a loved one. And as Americans started living longer, the need to even broach the subject of death was delayed because many grandparents survived deep into their golden years.
But recently, the opposite view — that children should be as involved in the grieving process as adults are — has been taking hold, reflecting an increasingly common belief that children are better off when their grief is acknowledged and they are allowed to mourn in the company of relatives and peers.
Grief centers for children are one example: there are now more than 300 of these nonprofit counseling centers, up from 204 in 2002. And Donna Schuurman, the executive director of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families in Portland, Ore., which helped establish these centers, estimated that there are at least 150 more peer-to-peer programs nationwide that serve a similar function. The rise of hospice care, which provides bereavement services for relatives, including children, has also played a role, as have grief camps for children.
“Twenty-five years ago, children were ‘invisible grievers,’ ” said Vicky Ott, executive director of Fernside, a nonprofit center in Cincinnati that served 1,300 children and adults last year. There was an attitude, she said, that they “are resilient, they will bounce back, we don’t need to talk to them about death. I think that’s changed a lot.”
David Horst’s experience bears that out. When his wife, Jennifer, was dying of leukemia in 2010, hospice workers encouraged him to prepare his children for her death. Two months before she died, Mr. Horst, an antiques dealer in Lebanon, Pa., who is now 40, began reading his 5- and 6-year-old books like “Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children.” He didn’t hesitate to cry in front of them — in fact, he did it “all the time,” he said. And he took them to a support group at Hospice and Community Care in Lancaster, Pa.
Without the encouragement of the hospice workers, he would never have prepared his children that way, Mr. Horst said. But he came to believe that avoiding the subject would have been a mistake. “In the long run, it will be detrimental to the kids,” said Mr. Horst, who recently created a foundation in his wife’s honor. “You have to face it head-on.”
On the day of the burial, while he was sitting at his wife’s grave with his son on his lap, his son said: “You know, Dad, Mom will never suffer anymore, right? The cancer is gone.” That’s when Mr. Horst said he understood that his son had absorbed what he had been trying to communicate to him.
“I lost it,” he said. “They got all the suffering she was going through, or at least he did, and that now it’s over. That’s amazing.”
Trying to protect children from the pain of the death of a relative can actually make matters worse, some experts say. Children pick up “on the message the adults give verbally and nonverbally to ‘not go there,’ ” said Patti Anewalt, a grief counselor at Hospice and Community Care. “As a result, kids are extremely anxious.”
In contrast, a century or more ago, when illness, death and grief all took place at home, children learned to regard them as a natural part of life, said Alan Wolfelt, a psychologist who runs the Center for Loss and Life Transition in Fort Collins, Colo., which has trained a generation of grief counselors. “We included children in the experience because someone was dying in your home, next door or across the street,” he said.
But America has since become a “mourning avoidant” culture, he added, in part because many 40- and 50-year-olds still have living parents. And that longevity, he wrote in an e-mail, has “resulted in a tendency to overprotect children from the realities of grief and loss.” Indeed, death is such a foreign concept to some families, he said, that he has been told, “We just don’t do death.”
Grief camps like Camp Erin or Comfort Zone Camp, however, offer children a place where they can talk about a dead relative without feeling self-conscious or worrying about making schoolmates squeamish. And free support groups offered by nonprofit organizations like the Dougy Center and Fernside have helped to make grief more acceptable. As J. William Worden, a psychologist and one of the key investigators on the 1986 Harvard Child Bereavement Study, said, “The value of bereavement programs for kids is it helps them feel less ‘odd person out.’ ”
For the last four years, Jerry Goldsmith, a volunteer at New Hope for Kids, a grief center in Maitland, Fla., has listened to children ages 7 to 12 talk about parents and siblings they have lost. He has watched them create memory boxes in their relatives’ honor, or take out their frustration in the “hurricane room,” which is equipped with a boxing bag.
It has been a bittersweet experience for Mr. Goldsmith, a retired headhunter for financial services executives, because he lost his father to a heart attack in 1952, when he was 9. And for more than 20 years, he didn’t cry, he said. Now Mr. Goldsmith can’t help but wonder, he said, “How would my life have been different if I had some of today’s resources?”
Trying to avoid dealing with the loss of his father nearly kept him from becoming one, he added. “I was not going to get that close to anyone,” he said. And while he eventually had three children, he said, “I would have loved the opportunity to have fully grieved and started the healing process at age 9 instead of 28,” when he married.
In peer support groups, available for children ages 3 to 18, adults encourage conversation between children and let them mourn as they wish, even if that means recreating a burial with mini-coffins. That’s helpful because, as Ms. Schuurman of the Dougy Center noted, “kids are resilient, but they are not resilient in a vacuum. Kids do better when they see, 'Someone understands what I’m going through.’”
But peer support groups are not therapy. And if a child isn’t gradually improving, it might be worth having the child evaluated by a mental health professional, said Dr. Judith Cohen, a psychiatry professor at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Particularly after a month or two, she said, “if they are still struggling with the way the person died, rather than the fact the person died.”
Hospice centers are a good place to get help early on. They not only focus on the needs of dying patients, but also offer bereavement services for up to a year after the patient’s death.
In 2010, 1.6 million patients received hospice care in the United States, up from 25,000 in 1982, when the Medicare hospice benefit was created. It used to be that after a death, children’s needs were not addressed, said J. Donald Schumacher, the president of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “But now they are identified as part of the care plan in hospice, and their needs are attended to immediately during hospice.”
Moreover, many funeral directors, influenced by grief experts like Rabbi Earl Grollman and Dr. Wolfelt, now have explicit conversations with parents about whether children will attend services. Some have set up children’s lounges to make it clear that children are welcome, and they distribute pamphlets with advice for parents, like “confirm that it’s all right to be sad and to cry.”
Bob Rosson, president-elect of the National Funeral Directors Association and the director of the Waller Funeral Home in Oxford, Miss., said that he tells those who are reluctant to bring their children: “If you deny them the chance to come to a funeral service, you don’t have the option of coming back next week and doing it right.”
Other funeral directors, like Ashley Cozine at Broadway Mortuary in Wichita, Kan., offer tours of the facilities for children, in an effort to demystify death. Scott Macy, a funeral director at Hultgren Funeral Home in Wheaton, Ill., said his hope was that this would encourage discussion between parents and children. “An atmosphere of openness is necessary for the next generation to move forward appropriately in dealing with death,” Mr. Macy said. “We’re hoping we are setting a bit of example by offering a tour that says: ‘Hey, death is a part of life. Everyone will have to deal with it.’ ”
A couple of years ago, Sarah Anderson, 52, a mother of two, organized a tour of the Broadway Mortuary for about 30 elementary-school children. “It was an opportunity for them to learn about death in a nonemotional, factual way,” she said. “Then if they do have to experience it, it won’t be as overpowering.” In a sign of changing times, not one of the parents declined to sign the permission slip.
By contrast, in 1982, when the Dougy Center opened, the reaction among many was not positive. Beverly Chappell, a founder, said people asked, “Why would you want to cram death down kids’ throats, for crying out loud?”
As Rabbi Grollman, 87, who wrote the influential 1967 book “Explaining Death to Children,” said, “Thirty years ago, there was the idea that children couldn’t understand.” But now, after a death in the family, many parents allow children to see their grief, he added. “We try to avoid fairy tales and half-truths.”
Still, for many parents, death is an overwhelming experience, one that is difficult to discuss with their children.
Pamela Gabbay, director of three Mourning Star centers, who also oversees a Camp Erin in Palm Desert, Calif., said she recently had a call from a mother in despair. A few months earlier, the woman’s husband, a frequent traveler, had died in a car accident while he was on a trip, and she had not yet told her children. Ms. Gabbay, who helped her find the words to tell them, said that often people haven’t been forced to talk about death, “because nobody significant in their life has died.”
And unlike the sex talk, the death talk hasn’t been enshrined in the book of parenting musts. Andy McNiel, the first executive director of the National Alliance for Grieving Children, a network for bereavement professionals and volunteers, said, “We don’t give them honest information,” in part because of a sincere desire to protect our children.
But even if a child in kindergarten is excluded from a grandfather’s funeral, or a teenager isn’t told that a mother died by suicide, they often know more than their parents give them credit for. And as Mr. McNiel said he often asks parents, “If they already know the reality of what’s going on, would you prefer they deal with it with you — or alone?”
How to Break Bad News
ALAN WOLFELT, a grief counselor and author of dozens of books about loss, likes to say, “Anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve.”
But what’s the best way for grieving parents to explain to children that their father or grandmother is gone? It’s not easy, especially considering that parents are inclined to protect children from pain of any kind, let alone the ultimate type. A few tips from experts:
- Prepare children for what they’ll see at funerals, said Donna Schuurman, the executive director of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families in Portland, Ore., particularly if there’s going to be an open coffin. And make sure to explain why rituals are important. Tell them that it’s a ceremony where “friends and family come together,” she said, and “we’ll be sad, we’ll show pictures of Daddy.”
- Avoid confusing euphemisms like “Grandma passed away” or “Mom went to sleep,” lest a child fear bedtime. Sesame Workshop has videos that parents can watch with preschoolers to help them grasp the permanence of death. (One features Elmo wanting to call his dead uncle.) Experts also suggest offering an explanation like this: “When a person dies, his or her body stops working. The heart stops beating and the body stops moving, eating and breathing.”
- What if your children ask whether you could die? One answer recommended by Rabbi Earl Grollman, a pioneer in the field of death and dying, is to tell them that “anyone can die at any time,” but “I’m healthy and I expect to live a long, long time.”
- If a loved one died by suicide or was killed, straight talk can be especially difficult. But it is still necessary, said Andy McNiel, the executive director of the National Alliance for Grieving Children. He asks parents, “Can you guarantee that your child will never find out the truth for the rest of their life?” And invariably, he said, “I’ve never had anyone say, ‘I can keep that truth.’ ”
- Take the child’s age into consideration, use straightforward language and let the child’s questions guide the discussion. As Rabbi Grollman suggests: “Find out what a child wants to know and when he or she wants to know it. I wouldn’t rush in.”
This article, written by Catherine Saint Louis, was published in the New York Times on September 12, 2012.
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Support Groups for Grief
Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 11:26 pm
This is a support group for adults (18 yrs old+) who have experienced a loss due to suicide. This peer-facilitated group provides much needed help to those experiencing survivor grief. The group is led by two facilitators who are trained by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
CHADS Coalition for Mental Health
4121 Union Road #224
St. Louis, MO 63129
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Michelle Sellers
314-270-2917
Kellen Wolters 309-750-3116
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Meets: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 6:45 - 8:00 p.m.
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 3:22 am
Aiding Mothers and Fathers Experiencing Neonatal Death (AMEND)
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Maureen Connelly
314-487-7582
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Last Modified On: 09-06-2019 7:00 pm
Bereaved Parents of the USA (BPUSA) is a national non-profit self-help group that offers support, understanding, compassion and hope to bereaved parents grandparents or siblings struggling to rebuild their lives after the death of their children, grandchildren or siblings.
Bereaved Parents of the USA, St. Louis
P.O. Box 1115
St. Peters, MO 63376
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 3:59 am
Annie's Hope provides an array of services to address grief in young people. Services and activities for children, teens and adults (parents or guardians) include teen retreats, family social gatherings, resource library, referrals, Hope and Healing Gathering, camps, the Horizons Program and more.
The 8-Week Family Support Group is offered five times each year. Designed for children, teens and the adults in their lives, meet once a week for eight weeks. Each session is 90 minutes. No two sets of group sessions are identical. Each set is custom made to fit the struggles at hand in a way that works best for the families involved. Examples of weekly topics include Change, Grief Rituals, Feelings, Preservation of Memories.
Annie's Hope - The Bereavement Center for Kids
1333 West Lockwood #104
St. Louis, MO 63122
Contact Information:
Becky
314-965-5015
kidsgriefmatters@annieshope.org
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Last Modified On: 12-05-2018 8:23 pm
This 4-week support group is open to those over the age of 30 whose spouse/partner has died within the past year. Offers support, information about the grieving process, and coping strategies.Barnes-Jewish/St. Peters
#6 Jungerman Circle
St. Peters, MO 63376
Contact Information:
(636) 916-9733
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Weavings weekend retreat is offered at no cost to mothers who have experienced the death of their son or daughter.BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-953-1676
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St. Anthony's Memorial - Effingham
503 North Maple Street
Effingham, IL 62401
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217-347-1529
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Chapel Hill Mortuary
6300 Highway 30
Cedar Hill, MO 63016
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636-274-4100
855-568-8228 Toll-Free
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Location: Northwest Jefferson County Library, 5680 Highway PP (at Highway 30) High Ridge, MO
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Mercy Hospital South
10010 Kennerly Rd
St. Louis, MO 63128
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314-543-6871
314-543-6873
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Portals is a grief support group open to anyone who has lost a spouse or partner.
BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-872-5050
griefsupport@bjc.org
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Meetings are held in St. Peters and University City, MO. Registration required. Call for more information and to register.
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This group is for newly widowed individuals. Widows and widowers up to two years are invited to discuss challenges common with losing a spouse.
SSM Hospice
12312 Olive Boulevard #400
St Louis, MO 63141
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Ann Suckel
314-625-4036
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Our Lady of The Snows Shrine
442 South De Mazenod Dr.
Belleville, IL 62223
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Fran Caldwell West
618-772-8391
618-632-3899
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 11:27 pm
Threshold is grief support group open to anyone, but most attendees are under the age of 65.
BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-872-5050
griefsupport@bjc.org
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Meetings are held on numerous Tuesdays throughout the year in University City, MO.
Please call for more information and to RSVP.
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Parents Affected by Loss of Child by Suicide (PALS)
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Linda Fehrmann
314-853-7925
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Location: Conference Room A, St. Luke’s Hospital, 232 South Woods Mill Road, Chesterfield, MO
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This support group, offered by the local chapter of POMC, offers support groups, information and advocacy. Support group is for anyone who has lost a loved one to violence. For directions, call St. Alexius at 314-865-3333. The organization's toll-free number is 888-818-7662.
National POMC
4960 Ridge Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45209
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Mata Weber
618-972-0429
513-721-5683 (OH Headquarters)
natlpomc@pomc.org
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Location: St. Alexius Hospital, 3933 South Broadway, St. Louis, MO
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Call or visit website for information on suicide, education and support groups around the country.
American Association of Suicidology
5221 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20015
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202-237-2280
800-273-8255 24/7 Suicide Prevention Hot
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Karla Smith Foundation
14 Park Place Suite B
Belleville, IL 62226
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618-624-5771
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Call or visit https://karlasmithfoundation.org/support-groups for specific meeting dates, location, times and contact information for group coordinators.
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Life Crisis Services at Provident, Inc.
2650 Olive Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
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(314) 446-5158
sos@providentstl.org
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West St. Louis County
Meets: Wednesdays, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Location: Prevent + Ed (formerly NCADA) Building, 9355 Olive Blvd., Olivette, MO 63132 (entrance is in the back of the building)
St. Charles County
Meets: 1st and 3rd Mondays, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Location: Baue Funeral Home, 608 Jefferson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301
Jefferson County
Meets: 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Location: St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 1004 Rock Road, Desoto, MO 63020
Jefferson County for Teens
Meets: 2nd and 4th Thursdays, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Location: St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 1004 Rock Road, Desoto, MO 63020
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Healing Hearts Grief Support, Inc.
220 West Argonne
Kirkwood, MO 63122
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Mary Schrader
314-810-4055
mary@healingheartsgrief.com
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Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
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Children are encouraged to express themselves through group discussion, stories, art, dress-up, and play.
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The children are divided into age-appropriate groups: 4 to 7 years old; 8 to 12 years old; and teens.
- Groups are open-ended; meets every other week for 90 minutes.
- Meets at 301 Sovereign Court, #110 Ballwin, MO 63011
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This group includes adults who have lost spouses/partners, siblings, children or parents.
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Groups are open-ended; meets every other week for 90 minutes.
- Meets at 211 N. Woodlawn, Kirkwood, MO 63122
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Mothers Against Drunk Driving
2040 Woodson Road #201
St. Louis, MO 63114
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Meghan Carter
314-426-1595
877-623-3435
mo.state@madd.org
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Labyrinth - Growing Through Grief Bereavement is a one-day retreat at Camp Wyman, offered in the spring, focuses on helping teens ages 13-19 cope with loss. Call for more information.
BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-953-1676
griefsupport@bjc.org
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BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-953-1676
griefsupport@bjc.org
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 4:42 am
BJC Hospice/St. Louis
1935 Beltway Dr
St. Louis, MO 63114
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314-953-1676
griefsupport@bjc.org
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:18 pm
As part of the services offered by Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care, the Grief Recovery Method® Outreach Program teaches action choices to help people move beyond the pain caused by loss. This seven-to-twelve week bereavement support program creates a safe environment to look at old beliefs about dealing with loss, look at other losses that have affected your life, and to take new actions that lead to completion.
The program was created by Grief Recovery® Institute founders, John W. James and Russell Friedman. It is led by an individual who has been trained and certified by the Grief Recovery® Institute.
Because each session builds on the previous one, attendance and commitment are essential. There is no fee to participate in the program. A complimentary copy of the handbook: The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce, and Other Losses, (released by Harper Collins in 1998), is provided to all participants.
If you have experienced a loss and wish to move beyond the pain, a bereavement support program offers you the probability of a richer and more rewarding life.
Groups are offered in numerous states; click here for a listing.
Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care
15450 South Outer Forty Drive #100
Chesterfield, MO 63017
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(636) 735-2000
(855) 327-4677
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Last Modified On: 10-25-2018 7:13 pm
This support group is for those grieving the loss of a loved one. Although the support groups are facilitated by a chaplain from DePaul Health Center, the group is not a program of or sponsored by the health center. No pre-registration is required. Open to public.Contact Information:
314-344-7080
314-344-6873
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Location: Bridgeton Trails Library 3455 McKelvey Road Bridgeton, MO
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:19 pm
This organization offers 4-week sessions, once every three months, in the afternoons. Writing Workshops are also offered. These groups are for anyone who has experienced a loss. Focus is on understanding the grief process through grief education and emotional support in a small group setting. Groups are open to the community at large.Heartland Hospice
12101 Woodcrest Executive Drive
St. Louis, MO 63141
Contact Information:
Bereavement Department
314-453-0990
hillary.finch@heartlandhospice.com
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:23 pm
This is a bereavement support group open to all.Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery
10101 West Main
Belleville, IL 62223
Contact Information:
618-397-0181
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Last Modified On: 12-05-2018 9:10 pm
Baue Funeral Home
608 Jefferson Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
Contact Information:
Kelly
636-328-0878
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:26 pm
This is a bereavement support group open to all.Southwest Illinois College PSOP
Contact Information:
618-234-4410, x7056
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:27 pm
GriefShare
P.O. Box 1739
Wake Forest, NC 27588
Contact Information:
800-395-5755
info@griefshare.org
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Last Modified On: 12-20-2019 10:42 pm
Heartlinks Grief Center at Family Hospice
5110 West Main Street
Belleville, IL 62226
Contact Information:
Diana or Lisa
618-277-1800
info@myheartlinks.com
Meeting Details
Meets: 1st Monday, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Call to register before attendance.
- Preschool children (Little Bear)
- Elementary school age children (Shooting Stars)
- Preteens (Rhapsody group)
- Teens (Brat Pack group)
- Adults (Caregiver and Parenting Alone group)
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Aching Arms/Compassionate Friends (parents grieving the loss of a child of any age)
- Addiction Loss Group meets 2nd Tuesday, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at Heartlinks; This group is for parents, adult siblings or other adults grieving the loss of someone due to addiction-related causes.
- Facing the Future Adult Group meets 3rd Monday, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. at Programs and Services for Older Persons 201 North Church St., Belleville, IL
- TAG (Teens and Grief); this support group is offered in local schools.
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 6:04 pm
Chapel Hill Mortuary
6300 Highway 30
Cedar Hill, MO 63016
Contact Information:
636-274-4100
855-568-8228
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Location: Northwest Jefferson County Library, 5680 Highway PP (at Highway 30) High Ridge, MO
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 6:05 pm
Mercy Hospital Jefferson
Highway 61 South
Crystal City, MO 63019
Contact Information:
Laurie Wigger
636-933-5779
laura.wigger@mercy.net
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Location: Mercy Hospice (behind hospital), 5 Industrial Drive Festus, MO 63028
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Last Modified On: 12-02-2018 6:22 pm
This social support group of men and women welcomes all who mourn the loss of a spouse. Organized and sponsored by St. Louis Funeral and Cremation at Chapel Hill Mortuary. Call for more information.
Chapel Hill Mortuary
6300 Highway 30
Cedar Hill, MO 63016
Contact Information:
636-274-4100
855-568-8228
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Location: Pegg's on the Boulevard
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 6:55 pm
Mercy Grief Support Groups are free and open to the community.
Mercy Hospice-Saint Louis
1000 Des Peres Road
Saint Louis, MO 63131
Contact Information:
Mercy Hospice Bereavement
314-729-4419
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Location: Mercy Hospice
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 7:05 pm
Mercy Hospital St. Louis
615 South New Ballas Road
St. Louis, MO 63141
Contact Information:
Maggie Loyet
314-251-6878
Meeting Details
Location: Cafeteria Classroom
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Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 7:53 pm
Open to anyone at anytime following a loss. This group focuses on supporting one another.
Mercy Hospital South
10010 Kennerly Rd
St. Louis, MO 63128
Contact Information:
Pastoral Care
314-543-6874
314-543-6871
Meeting Details
2nd & 4th Wednesday, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
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Last Modified On: 12-02-2018 6:47 pm
Share addresses a wide range of issues relevant for parents, family members and significant friends who are affected by the death of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or death of a newborn. Several types of support groups are offered: Grief Support Group, Loss of a Multiple Birth Support Meetings, and Subsequent Choices Support Meeting. Share is open and free to the public.
National Share Office
402 Jackson Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
Contact Information:
636-947-6164
800-821-6819
info@nationalshare.org
Meeting Details
Call or visit web site for more information. Meetings held throughout MO and IL.
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Last Modified On: 12-02-2018 6:55 pm
SIDS Resources, Inc.
1120 South 6th Street
St. Louis, MO 63104
Contact Information:
Lori Behrens
314-241-SIDS (7437)
lbehrens@sidsresources.org
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Last Modified On: 12-02-2018 7:00 pm
This group is sponsored by the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation and the St. Louis North City/County Resilience Coalition.
Demetrious Johnson Foundation
Contact Information:
Ellen Kratz
314-615-9105 x104
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Last Modified On: 03-11-2020 4:32 pm
This group is a local chapter of a national organization for women of any age whose spouse has died. Modern Widows Club is focused on growing friendships and connections between widows of all ages through regular meetings, community education, service and outreach. Social events are planned from time to time.Meeting Details
Meets: 2nd Sunday of month, 2:30 - 4:30pmLocation: Send an email to the group leaders, Cyndi and Destiny, for more details
Suggest an Update for the Group
Last Modified On: 11-29-2018 5:13 pm
This support group is for anyone grieving the loss of a loved who has died by any type of substance (alcohol, heroin, cocaine, etc.). The website listed is for the national organization where visitors can search for local support groups around the country. The contact information listed is for the St. Louis area organizer.Pre-registration is required for new attendees. Contact local organizer to register.
GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing)
40569 Calle Balderas
Indio, CA 92203
Contact Information:
Mary Ann Lemonds
(314) 330-7586
grasp.stl@gmail.com
Meeting Details
Meets: Sundays, 5:00 - 6:00 pmLocation: Speak with organizer regarding location.
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Last Modified On: 11-09-2018 12:08 am
This spiritual-based support group is for anyone whose loved one (family or friend) has died due to drug use, alcohol use or suicide.Contact Information:
Jack Wilcox
(618) 407-9879
justkeepwalkin37@gmail.com
Meeting Details
Meets: Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.Location: Cafeteria B, Alton Memorial Hospital, #1 Memorial Drive, Alton IL