Monthly Grief Support Group To Begin in Hood River Jan 4th
Self-help column
by Donna Henderson, LCSW
Donna Henderson
For those who have experienced the loss of a loved one, the winter holiday season can be especially difficult to navigate, for many reasons.
The absence of a loved can feel especially “present” during the holiday season, when memories and gatherings make that absence especially acutely-felt.
At the same time, winter weather itself and shorter days cold can be isolating at best, and may also trigger or exacerbate depression.
Add to this fact that, for reasons not entirely understood but which multiple studies have shown, the number of people who die on Christmas, the day after Christmas, and on New Year’s Day (especially from cardiac-related conditions) is higher by far than any other day of the year. As a result, for a great many of us, the holiday season itself is directly connected with the anniversary of a loved one’s death.
With this in mind, I reached out to Bristol Hospice (Previously “Heart of Hospice”) in Hood River, hoping to find out about what kind of grief support might be available in the Gorge community. The representative I spoke to put me in touch in turn with Maggie Converse, an End-of-Life Doula and Grief Companion, who serves as the Bereavement Coordinator for Bristol Hospice in Hood River.
It turns out that my inquiry was timely, as Maggie is planning to lead a monthly, community grief support group at the Hood River Library, beginning January 4. Weather permitting, the group will meet in person for about an hour each month from 4:00-5:00 pm. In case of inclement weather, she said, it will meet instead on Zoom. There is no fee, and no requirement for participants to have received hospice services from Bristol Hospice. Rather, the group is a community service, open to all who may be able to benefit from it. And as an open group (and not a closed, time-limited series), attendees can start in January, or at any later month.
When I asked Maggie about what attendees might expect to experience, she replied that “each gathering will have some kind of a theme, or topic related to grief that I’ll give a brief presentation on,” but that the main purpose of the group is for grievers “to come together in community, around what tends to be an isolating and lonely experience, to share and be listened to, or simply to listen.”
For more information (and to be put on Maggie’s list for updates and Zoom links, if and when a meeting is held virtually), contact maggie@maggieconverse. com. She can also be reached by phone at 503-395-4738.
