Re: Grief support for young mother

I am so sorry to hear about your neighbor's tragic loss. That is truly awful and how kind of you to find support for her. VNA Hospice has a wonderful bereavement support program. Their phone number for the east bay program is (510) 450-8596. Their website is http://vnahnc.org/support/. Hope this is helpful. Hannah

Re: Grief Counselor

I was part of a grief group for, as I remember, 6 or 8 weeks, put together by the Visiting Nurses Association hospice center. The VNA has these groups going on continuously. It doesn't matter what caused the person's death. The group was very very helpful to me - both the facilitators and the participants are right there with you when you talk about the experience, and one of the things we each did was have a time to tell about the person we had lost, and show pictures, etc. After each "presentation" there was a time for other people in the group to ask questions or talk about what they had heard or seen about the person and your relationship with them. It was incredibly supportive, if scary. It really does seem to allow you to say what you need to say, and what you can't necessarily say to the rest of your family or friends. I was in a group that started about 6 months after my mom's death. I wanted to get into one three months earlier, but didn't understand that you have to go to their Emeryville office and be interviewed to join a group - that just calling to be added to a list is not enough. There were a couple of people who found it too soon to be able to be part of the group, and were not able to continue coming. Anyway, I highly recommend it whether or not you find a good counselor. Susan