Grief Support
An ongoing Bereavement Support Group will be held the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 6-7:30 pm at Blair Park in Williston, VT.
The support group is free of charge and open to anyone in the community who is grieving the death of a loved one.
For more information, please contact Pamela Jensen, M.S.,
Bereavement Support Group Coordinator, at Hospice of the
Champlain Valley, 860-4410
The group is sponsored by Hospice of the Champlain Valley, a program of the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties
The Compassionate Friends
Grief support after the death of a child: Click Here
The Compassionate Friends: Champlain Valley-East Chapter –
Support group for bereaved parents & families/Sibling support group:
Meetings: 3rd Tuesday of each month from 7-9 pm
At: Christ Church Presbyterian, Redstone Campus, UVM
Free of charge
Contact: Marti or Julien Shoemaker (802) 482-5319 – support group for
Bereaved parents and families
Claire Groleau (802) 425-2711 – sibling support group
Widows & Widowers support group:
Meetings: 1st Sunday of each month from 1-4 pm
At: O’Brien Center, South Burlington, VT
Informal social gathering, Free of charge
Contact: Pat Dartt (h) (802) 527-1046, (wk) (802) 656-3280
pdartt@surfglobal.net, patricia.dartt@uvm.edu Survivors of suicide support group:
Meetings: 4th Wednesday of each month from 5-7pm
At: Central Vermont Hospital – Boardroom
Free of charge
Contact: Cory Gould, M.A.,Psychologist-Master (802) 223-4111
Cgould1136@earthlink.net
Grief support group:
Meetings: 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month from 6:15 – 7:45 pm
At: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
Free of charge
Contact: Gail Hanson, M.S., LCMHC (802) 434-4159 or 654-7607 ext. 7
Bereavement support group:
Meetings: Every Wednesday morning from 9:30 – 11 am
At: The Wells-Richardson Building, 125 College St., Burlington, VT
$45 each meeting
Contact: Barbara Kester, PhD, Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate
(802) 657-3668
We have provided some helpful grief support links below:
Webhealing.com, the first interactive grief website on the internet, offers discussion boards, articles, book suggestions, and advice for men and women working through every aspect of grief. The site’s founder, Tom Golden LCSW, has provided book excerpts and contact information to help those healing from loss.
Willowgreen offers support and information for those dealing with life transition & aging, illness & caregiving, loss & grief, and hope & spirituality. The site offers advice, products, and inspirational materials.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) website contains a Grief & Loss section with grief-related articles and information.
Growth House is an award-winning website that offers international resources for life-threatening illnesses and end of life care. The site features hypertext topic pages that explain major issues across the spectrum of hospice and home care, palliative care, pain management, grief, death with dignity, and quality improvement. It also offers disease-specific guides, an online bookstore, and even their own radio station.
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s website provides a host of information and resources for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury and their caregivers.
TEN WAYS TO HELP YOU COPE WITH GRIEF
1. Plant flowers either at the cemetery or in your own yard to help heal grief and create beauty.
2. Plant a tree in the community, your yard or at a location special to you and your loved one. This helps to give a consistant, growing reminder of life’s cycles and the continuation of life.
3. Light a candle in a window or special place every night in your loved one's memory. Symbolically it represents the continuation of the light of love.
4. Write in a special journal your expressions of grief and various feelings. Journaling offers a secret, safe and healing way to deal with your grief.
5. Make a memory box by decorating a small box to hold memories that remind you of your loved one. You can keep it for yourself or give it to a loved one.
6. Celebrate with a special meal on the eve of a loved one's birthday or anniversary date. Invite family, friends, neighbors to share your loved one’s favorite foods. Pass around pictures and tell stories about your loved one. Stories help you to treasure the memories and pass on messages to others. Love shines through stories.
7. Share your photos and stories with grandchildren and ask them to draw a picture about it. Frame their pictures and hang them up with the children.
8. Volunteer to work for a cause that held special meaning for your loved one and dedicate that service to their memory.
9.Donate money to a local school for a scholarship in your loved one's name. Each year a student will receive the award in memory of your loved one.
10. On the anniversary of your loss, sing songs and play music that your loved one enjoyed.
| 209 Falls Road
| Shelburne, VT 05482
| Tel: 1-802-985-3370
| 9 Pleasant Street
| Essex Jct., VT 05452
| Tel: 1-802-878-5802
