Grief & Bereavement for LGBTQ+ Youth

By: Rachel Melhorn, LCSW In supporting LGBTQ+ youth through grief and loss, it is important to remember the unique experience of these individuals. While it is not unusual for all youth who have experienced a loss to feel alone, a lack of resources and/or support for LGBTQ+ youth can lead to further feelings of isolation,…

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Tips for Coping with Grief at the Holidays

Tip One: For anyone dealing with the death of a loved one, the holidays can be a time of sadness, dread, or pain. It can be difficult to cope, especially when you see the sights and sounds of holiday happiness all around you. One of the best things you can do is give yourself permission to…

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Help Grieving Children Through the Holidays

Helping Grieving Children Through the Holidays Adults play an important role in helping children grieve, especially over the holidays when new emotions and memories can hit with full force. Children often have trouble expressing their emotions, and when they see their parents hurting, they naturally want to protect their parents, so the children may not…

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Dia de los Muertos

By: Allyson England Drake, M.Ed, CT Dia de los Muertos, also known as “Day of the Dead” is a holiday that is celebrated all over the world on November 1st and 2nd each year. This Mexican holiday is full of traditions and ways to honor our deceased loved ones. Dia de los Muertos celebrates both…

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After a Miscarriage or Stillbirth: The Benefits of a Memorial Service

By: Jenny Bliley, LCSW, Bliley’s Funeral Home, Guest Blogger “Sometimes love is for a moment, Sometimes love is for a lifetime, Sometimes a moment is a lifetime.” Over thirty years ago, Bliley Funeral Home created a memorial service called Interment of Angels for families who experience a miscarriage or stillborn loss. The service was originally…

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I Write Letters to the Dead and I Wear Their Clothes

By: Shannon O’Neill, Guest Blogger In the last year and a half, I have lost two of the most important people in my life — my husband and my mother.  Not long after my husband Daryl died in October 2020, I started an open letter to him. It’s titled “Happy Anniversary,” because I started it…

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Easy Yoga for Grief: Two poses. Two minutes.

By: Rachel Machacek, LCSW When talking about self care in grief, yoga and meditation are excellent (and research-backed) strategies for grounding and stabilizing, especially when grief feels like a high speed roller coaster, whipping us around with no end of the ride in sight. It’s a whole body-mind-spirit experience that often takes us out of…

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Continuing Bonds:  How We Can Stay Connected to our Loved Ones

By: Stacia Macklin, LCSW Many of us, both grievers and helpers, are familiar with traditional grief models that focus on “stages” and “tasks” or “closure” and “acceptance”. These suggest there is a linear progression in the grief journey and that there is a final phase or destination. However, there is another grief model to consider. In 1996,…

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