SHARE Atlanta Pregnancy and Newborn Loss Grief Support

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SHARE Atlanta's Updatesm 1.09

Dear Friends,

Groups ~ Please join us at our groups.

January Meeting Topic: "Grief and Secondary Losses"

Our primary loss is the death of our baby. Our grief begins as soon as we know that our baby is going to die or has died. Secondary losses arise as we move through our grief. It helps to recognize these losses so we can better cope with them in order to heal. They include: loss of - innocence, hope, role of parenting, communication with others, self-worth, etc. As we share in the group, we will see how these secondary losses influence our grief and how to cope with our feelings and reactions to all of these losses. Grief is a process, and it helps us when we learn more about it.

February's Topic of the Month: "Grief and the Emotions of Grief"

February's meeting topic is "Grief and the Emotions of Grief." We will be discussing how - anger, denial, shock, panic, sadness, etc. (all heart controlled emotions and considered the "stages of grief") influence the way we react each day. These emotions can be very intense, shocking, and scary for us.

Grief causes us to be on a roller coaster ride that goes up and down and is very hard to understand. It is in giving ourselves "permission to grieve," understanding secondary losses and our emotions, and learning how to cope that "hope" gradually surfaces. Then, healing begins and continues.

March's Topic is "Grief and Your Relationships."

We talk about how your grief touches EVERY relationship that you have (from how your respond to yourself to each and everyone you know...and some you don't know!). We will discuss why this is, what this means to us, and how to cope with other's comments (often hurtful when they don't really mean to be) or the lack of support from others. Also, we will share how some of the people around us are supportive and ways to encourage them and to thank them. We will have our brochure for Friends and Family here for you to take to them as well. We will have our March memento - to catch the wind!

The grieving process is one that many don't fully appreciate. As we discuss it, many of our feelings and reactions are validated, and we can learn to cope with them.

For more information about The Grieving Process

The Men and Women's group meets from 7:30 to 9:30 pm on the first Tuesday of each month. The Women's meeting is from 7 to 9 pm on the third Wednesday of each month. Many parents have found supportive SHARE Atlanta friends by attending a group meeting.

Listing of meetings with directions.

Email Marcia's for directions to the Women's meeting.

Online Parent Packet...with information about our groups. This can be mailed to you if you have not had one sent.

Email Melina for Parent Packet

Online Forum

Adrianne, Mindy, myself, and other SA Volunteers keep in touch with many of our members on our SA grief support forum. We address many issues. We have talk about how to handle those people around us who really do not understand, and the deep, intense pain that we each feel. There have been many positive coping ideas shared on our forum. Even if you don't actually participate, you can join us and read all that is shared. Of course, the more that become involved the rounder and more in depth we can discuss a topic.

Come join our forum...you can join IN the discussion or just visit and see what we are "talkin' about"!!

SHARE Atlanta's Outreach...

Since so much has happened over the last year, I will send a more complete update in the coming weeks. Our 5Bs Outreach is blooming, our candlelighting was well attended and beautiful, our inservice at Windy Hill was well received, and several of our members have been on TV and/or in the newspaper, etc. We have 2 big inservices coming up (Kennestone Hospital in January and Windy Hill in April) with others as possibles. Our annual March of Dimes' campaign will begin January 27th with the kickoff luncheon. More about all of this SOON.

Join SA and our March for Babies 2011!

You can walk ANYWHERES in the USA and contribute to SA's TEAM. MODS supports SA's issues and efforts because we have been a TOP TEN FAMILY TEAM for 6 years in a row!

For more information:

SA's March of Dime's Menu or

Email Cindy Ivey - our awesome TEAM leader!

Thank You....

I want to thank those who remembered SHARE Atlanta during the holiday season. Many season's blessings were given to us as a result of people's love for their special baby and in hopes of continuation of SHARE Atlanta's support. We thank those who shared (in so many different ways!) with our group this season and during the last year!

In closing...

I hope to see you on the forum, at our groups, and/or at some of our activities. But, if you are not ready to join us, know that we understand. We offer these as "options" to help you to heal. We have had members join us anywhere from one week to many years after their loss. Healing often comes in stages and over time healing happens.

We are blessed to have such wonderful and willing members that do pull together to make these happen. Many return on anniversaries, special occasions, or as support for the more newly bereaved. Each person is important and we do the best we can to send out support to you. Our group could not be a "group" without its members coming together...thank you!

Take care,

Marcia

The love stays...forever in our hearts.

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