Grief Facts

What You Can Do to Help Prevent a Suicide   WATCH FOR WARNING SIGNS Studies have found that more than 75% of all completed suicides did things in the few weeks or months prior to their deaths to indicate to others that they were in deep despair. Anyone expressing suicidal feelings needs immediate attention.  WARNING SIGNS Conditions associated with increased risk of suicide Death or terminal illness of relative or friend  Divorce, separation, broken relationship, stress on family Loss of...

If You Are Feeling Suicidal   WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE FEELING SUICIDAL Please, please, please, take the time to talk to someone.  The taking your life is too final of a decision to not talk about.  There are many groups out there waiting for your call.  While no one can truly understand the depth of the pain that you are currently feeling, there are those who want to listen and want you to know that you are not...

Teen and Young Adult Grief   COPING WITH TEEN GRIEF  Every year thousands of teenagers experience the death of someone they love.  Statistics put the number around one in ten adolescents between the ages of ten and eighteen having experienced the lost of a close loved one.  Many of these losses are sudden, such as a friend or sibling dying in a car crash, or a parent dying of a heart attack.  Due to the fact that teens are in...

Child Grief   TELLING A CHILD ABOUT A DEATH One of the first things to consider when telling a child about a death is what is how you are handling the news of the lost.  If you are an emotional wreck, it may be a good idea to have support there when you talk to the child, such as a family member, close friend, or professional who specializes in grief.  Here are a few guidelines that may help when breaking...

Men and Grief   WHY MEN GRIEVE DIFFERENTLY THAN WOMEN Current scientific research on the brain indicates that men are functionally different from women.  These distinctions account for many of the differences between how men and women process information and the feelings that they have.  Coping with grief and loss are no exception.  While men and women experience the same grief, they will likely process and express it in very different ways. THINGS MEN SHOULD KEEP IN MIND WHEN GRIEVING...

Death of a Child                                            THE DEATH OF A CHILD From the moment a person learns that they will be a parent, they begin to imagine a future for their child.  From mental images of what the baby will look like and feel like in their arms, to flashes of the child playing in the sun, learning to ride a bike, and...

Tips for Caring for a Stillborn Infant   By Bonnie K. Gensch, R.N.Reprinted with permission from WiSSPERs, Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall 1993     Caregivers often are concerned about showing a stillborn baby to the parents, because of the compromised condition of the baby’s body. A baby who has been dead in-utero for even a short time can have macerated and discolored skin and a misshapen head. Cleansing the skin of the compromised baby may often be viewed as...

How to Help Grieving Children   Excerpt from – We Were Gonna Have A Baby, But We Had An Angel Instead By Pat Schwiebert & Illustrated by Taylor Bills     Even as you grieve because of the death of your baby, you will also need to help your other children confront and manage their own grief over the loss of a sibling. Reading this book with your other children can be one way of beginning this process. We offer...

HIV/AIDS   BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS AIDS is caused by the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which originated in non-human primates in Sub-Saharan Africa and was transferred to humans during the late 19th or early 20th century. Two types of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more virulent, is more easily transmitted and is the cause of the vast majority of HIV infections globally. The pandemic strain of HIV-1 is closely related to a virus found in the chimpanzees of the...

What You Can Do For a Person Who is Bereaved   Pat Schwiebert, RNGrief Watch   Immediate needs   Send a card with a list of concrete things that you are able to help with Invitations to coffee, dinner, a walk, a visit or whatever Cards and letters with pictures or memories of their loved one Advice to accept any and all offers of help Information about and attending a grief Support Group (including times, place) A place for relatives...

What Not to Say to a Grieving Person   Pat Schwiebert, RNGrief Watch     What not to say to a grieving person   Snap out of it It wasn’t meant to be You must be strong She lived a good life You must move on God will never give you more than you can handle I understand Be thankful you have other children It’s over with. Let’s not deal with it Get a hold of yourself Keep a stiff...

Normal Reactions to Loss by Pat Schwiebert   The Mourning Process Grief and mourning is often misunderstood by people who have never faced the death of a loved one. If this has happened to you for the first time, I hope the following thoughts and information will help you realize that what you are experiencing is normal. The intense feelings will lessen as you do a variety of things to take care of yourself in the healing process. The healing...