Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service


Grief Education

"There are two choices when a loved one dies - to live in grief, remorse, and guilt covered thinly by a facade; or to face those feelings, work them through, and emerge with an acceptance of death and a commitment to living"

Edith Mize, R.N. in Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's
DEATH: THE FINAL STAGE OF GROWTH (1975)

THE PROCESS OF GRIEVING IS TO CREATE A NEW NORMAL LIFE

Grieving is the process of creating a new normal life. This is hard and painful work for most people. Grief is not a fixable problem; it is about creating new possibilities.

 

Death brings with it struggles and questions. These include making sense of that which makes no sense, surviving the emptiness within a broken heart and rebuilding a life. When we cannot answer these questions, we feel uncomfortable. The Hospice Bereavement Support Staff support this process of creating a new normal life. It is important to deal with the whole picture of surviving and someday even being able to reinvest in life again.

 

GRIEF:

is the emotional reaction to all types of loss. It is an emotional upheaval resulting from loss.

 

MOURNING:

is the expression of grief or that emotional upheaval. It is the process we utilize to adapt and adjust our lives to the loss. It is the process of taking what is inside and bringing it outside. It includes three sets of operations, each with its own particular focus.

 

Mourning goes on forever: Acute grief does not. Grief is to mourning what infancy is to childhood.

SYMPTOMS OF GRIEF

BEHAVIOR SYMPTOMS

  • Change of appetite
  • Crying uncontrollably
  • Change in sleep patterns
  • Extremes in behavior changes
  • Verbal attacks

THOUGHT PATTERNS

  • Confusion
  • Difficulty making decisions
  • Preoccupation with illness, death, or funeral
  • Absent-mindedness
  • Disbelief Inability to concentrate

FEELINGS

  • Intense level of feelings
  • Loneliness
  • Anxiety
  • Sadness
  • Very sudden mood swings
  • Feeling unreal
  • Helplessness
  • Disconnected
  • Fear
  • Guilt
  • Relief

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Tightness in throat
  • Muscle weakness
  • Tightness in chest
  • Heaviness of body
  • Empty feeling in body
  • Shortness of breath

Our Hospice Care Center offers suOur Hospice Care Center offers support programs to help you and your loved ones during a time of need. Please visit our Grief Support Programs  page to learn more about the healthy grieving process and how to gain support during the time of mourning.

 

Grief Brochures

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Coping with Grief
Coping with the Holidays
Helping Yourself through the Grieving Process
Children and the Grieving Process
Transforming Grief Through Sandtray Therapy
Men and the Mourning Process


Bereavement Newsletter
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Spring 2008 - Grief: A Tangled Ball of Emotions... Grieving: A Process of Coping (Part II)
Winter 2008 - Grief: A Tangled Ball of Emotions... Grieving: A Process of Coping
Spring 2007 – Grief: Finding Meaning in the Midst of Pain and Walking Meditation
Summer 2007 Bereavement Support Newsletter
Fall 2007 - Holiday Time: A Time of Old and New

*Would you like to be added to the mailing list? Would you like a past issue of Bereavement Support? Email Kelly Ward-Smith, Communications Specialist, at kward@vnsa.com or call 330-745-1601, Ext. 6410. 


    

If you would like to receive more information about our Bereavement Support Program, please contact our ="HyperLink1" runat="server" NavigateUrl="mailto:RSheppard@vnsa.com">Bereavement Coordinator:

 

Rochelle Sheppard, MA, LPCC-S, Bereavement and Spiritual Services Coordinator

1-800-335-1455

330-668-4662

 

In This Section

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Overview
Benefits
Eligibility
Palliative Care
Grief Education
Grief Support
Our Wish List
Hospice Brochure

2007 HomeCare Elite




Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service and Justin T. Rogers Care Center
3358 Ridgewood Road
Akron, OH 44333
330-665-1455
800-335-1455
330-668-4680 Fax
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