Grief, Grieving and Grief Support Conference on April 27th ~ More Advocacy and Awareness! Volunteers to help are needed.

Since November, I have been on the planning committee, and several of our SA members (Lynne Anderson, group facilitator and board member; Mark Ritter, the Ritter family was highlighted in our Fall newsletter) will be on a morning panel. Lynne and I are going to facilitate two sessions on grief during the afternoon.

Support for First Responders - First Encounters Matter

This conference is focused on "First Responders": policemen, nurses, doctors, social workers, firemen, chaplains, etc. These caregivers are usually the first individuals to come in contact with a family when their child has died.

Obviously, for most caregivers, the medical and physical trauma is their priority concern. But, it is crucial to understand that "grief begins at the beginning" and that grief has "many faces." As soon as the tragic event begins, shock and panic (stages of grief) can cause many different reactions (from total numbness/silence to overt loud reactions). The caregiver can be confused as to how to respond to family members. The emotional part of an horrible experience influences both the caregiver and the family members.

Overview of Goals and Sessions..

Our goal is to give more support to the caregiver to help themselves as well as the family members during this time. Understanding the grief process is critical for supporting someone who is grieving.

Sessions will cover what grief looks like; how to respond to grief; how to respond to personal confusion around the process of grief; and what coping mechanisms can be encouraged during the initial loss. Exhibits and description of possible community resources will also be presented.

When the first responders embrace the grief process, they open the door for the family to express their feelings. Then, the family members are more likely to give themselves "permission to grieve" to heal.

When grieving is embraced and healing is experienced by a family, there may be meaningful outreach with projects similar to those that SA supports (MODs Walk, Festival of Tree's Memorial Tree, 4Bs, Foster Care Donations, etc.). Then, the caregiver's gift of understanding tied with the encouragement to heal brings a new strength to what support can mean within a community.

Bereaved Parent Participation, Volunteering, and Memorial Service...

Bereaved Parents are invited to join us - especially during the afternoon sessions. These sessions include: Spiritually and Grief, Family Support and Grief, Grief and Grief Support. There can be a respectful exchange of thoughts between the caregivers and the parents, and more understanding can be shared.

There will be a memorial service that will include music by a bereaved father, a memorial slide presentation of children and memorial ideas (mementos, outreach, etc) that parents have found that helped them to heal. The program will conclude with the dedication of a memorial bench in the park/lake area at Clayton College.

We need parents to meet and greet and to be there for other parents who might benefit from supportive listeners. SA will have our display boards and table in the exhibit room, and we need people who can answer questions about SA.

The cost for the entire conference is $30 (to cover the expense of food), but for parents who wish to join for the afternoon sessions the cost is $5.

If you can plan to volunteer, or if you have any questions about this conference, please email me.

SA Newsletters

Finally, our next newsletter is about ready to go to press. From now on, we will print a few of each issue for those who wish a hard copy and for information purposes at inservices and conferences, etc. Otherwise, a link will be emailed to you and, the newsletter, in pdf form, will be posted on our website. Thank you for your patience as we have made this transition.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments. We hope to see you on the forum, at a meeting, an event, etc., but "whenever or whatever" know that we hope for your healing...