Bereavement Support for Adults
Anticipatory grief counseling is periodically provided for family members whose loved ones are under HPH Hospice’s (HPH) care. Upon request, HPH bereavement counselors are available to provide one on one or family counseling pertaining to feelings related to the pending loss.
Individual counseling is extended to adults who have lost a loved one under HPH’s care. Typically, such counseling takes place at a HPH facility or in the individual’s residence.
Ongoing and eight-week bereavement support groups are offered at various times and locations. They are facilitated by one of our experienced bereavement counselors. Eight week groups are designed for the newly bereaved and focus on education of coping with the grief process. Ongoing groups are open to anyone who has experienced a death (including those who did not use HPH Hospice’s services) and would benefit from receiving support and guidance. Participants have the opportunity to share feelings, thoughts and ideas with one another regarding the grief process. Pre-registration for groups is required so that they can remain reasonable in size. Click here for a list of upcoming bereavement support groups.
The Bereavement Telephone Support Program consists of trained HPH volunteers who make monthly phone calls to persons who have lost a loved one under our hospice’s care. Referrals for this service are based on the assessment of need and wishes determined by our survivors and their bereavement counselor.
Holiday support groups in November and December are led by HPH Hospice bereavement counselors and are open HPH Hospice survivors and individuals in the community. The support groups are designed to offer helpful suggestions on how to cope with grief during the holiday season. Please visit this site again to get a list of our 2009 holiday support groups.
Time for Remembrance ceremonies are hosted by HPH Hospice in the spring and autumn throughout Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Led by our hospice chaplains with support from the agency’s bereavement counselors, anyone who would like to remember and honor their loved one is cordially invited to attend. The ceremonies are conducted outdoors in a tranquil setting and include music, readings and poetry. Children are welcome. Information will be posted when the times, dates and locations for the autumn 2009 Time for Remembrance ceremonies are determined.
The following lettter is from one of HPH Hospice’s bereavement groups and is written to their counselor.
…a Blessing for our Counselor
There is no doubt that if love alone could have saved our lost ones, they would have never died. When they left, they did not leave alone; part of each of us went with them as God called them back home. The part that was left was wounded, lonely and frightened.
You never told us that you knew how badly we mourned or that we would eventually be whole again. You never gave us answers – answers that can only come from within ourselves. You never promised that our grief would pass. Most of us did not really learn how to suffer or even how to cry. But we shared with you and each other – our grief and our caring.
Somehow, from the sound of your voice, your insistence on remaining always in the background as you directed us through these few weeks and from your God-given insight, you offered a tender guidance as we leaned on each other, our memories and our very own strength.
As we stumbled and groped to understand our own misery, you listened patiently, constantly offering us a glimpse of who we were, who we are and who we could be … a glimpse so unique because you forced it to come personally from each of us in our own words. We came to learn that without grief there is no healing … that although ours is not a path we wished to take, it was a journey we had to make.
As we came to you, we offered you a life without music or poetry. Its very rhythm was erratic. From days of unconsciousness, moments of terror and nights of despair, we asked you to help us understand ourselves. None of us knew what we needed and most of us followed our grief to your table, looking for some kind of miracle.
Well, you taught us that life after the death of a loved-one goes on for everyone around us. That together with you and each other, we will work our way through our sorrow. That our grief is a personal medicine – a part of our healing. That although we are doing this together, we are really learning to help ourselves. You planted the seeds of recovery, but let it be known that we had to grow our own garden of peace.
You are blessed with an unusual talent … one that calms our confusion … that instills the desire and opportunity for relief from our grief … that encourages our own participation in our own healing. With your help behind us, we will seek and find our way to a normal and healthy future, knowing that the task ahead of us could never be as strong as the power behind us. Our hope is that your ultimate success will find its own reward as we, your students, learn to live by your counsel.
Your grateful Thursday Nighters!
June 20 to August 5, 2010
