Greetings, all,

My church, St. Paul the Apostle, Chino Hills, California, has just started a GriefShare group as part of their Bereavement Ministry.

I have been having individual sessions twice monthly with the hospice counselor for the last 10 months, and they have been very helpful. I went to the group's first meeting this past Monday (5/3/2010) evening - they have a video, materials, a group of facilitators.

The materials are right on, with accurate information, etc. I would think some non-Christians might not be into all the Scriptural references, perhaps.

I did not say anything in this group, because I just found myself feeling angrier and angrier and angrier - I heard the real pain expressed by several people who had lost children, spouses, parents - but it just seemed TOO neat, TOO controlled, TOO packaged.

And I feel badly for saying this, because these types of groups DO help quite a few people - my hospice counselor did tell me (he's a MFT Intern, and I've come to respect him greatly; my husband was a Psy.D.) that he felt that because of the issues I had before Byron died that he felt individual sessions would be better for me - and I can see that he was right.

With the hospice counselor - I can be VERY angry - scream, yell, cry, and he can deal with it. In a group, there are all kinds of people - some express their grief quietly, softly - I just cannot, and I would not want to make others uncomfortable or upset because of _my_ need to be _extremely_ angry and vocal and loud.

Peace, healing, comfort and blessing be with and upon you all - Yaca Attwood Perkins