Grief isn’t for sissies – it’s a full contact sport!
You might think grief is a woman’s thing. But men who have come through it tell a different story – grief is genderless and relentless. And patient. It will wait for you, lurk in the shadows for years. Just when you think you’re safe, you’re done, it’s over … it ambushes you. Hits you with all the sorrows you’ve stuffed down for so many years.
Grief isn’t intellectual. It’s an elemental experience. It demands everything from you. It rushes your body, exploding emotions and raging with anger. And it demands words. Demands to be heard.
Travelling the path of grief takes great courage, but the path is shorter when you travel with companions. One fellow who participated in Coast Hospice’s recent grief group said, “You learn there are people who will walk beside you – you are not alone.”
At times it’ll feel like walking through fire, but then you make it to the other side, and realize how strong you’ve become in facing the demons and honouring your feelings. Another man said, “Being part of the grief group has shown me a way to deal with my soul-crushing heartache.”
Some of Rob Todrick’s best friends are the people he met through the grief group he attended a few years ago. He is co-facilitating the January grief group and said, “The people who walk through the fire with you know what it is to have loved deeply and survived.”
Coast Hospice’s next grief groups run from Jan. 11 to March 1 or March 8 to April 26 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. A young adult grief group will run Feb. 2 to March 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. These groups are free, thanks to donations from folks in our community, but registration is required as space is limited.
For more information, or to participate in a grief group, call 604-740-0475 or visit www.coasthospice.com
– Submitted by Bernadette Richards, Manager of Hospice Services, S.C. Hospice Society
