What is a GriefShare

13 week session like?

An article by Doris and Bill Russell of First Presbyterian Church, Carthage

“What was GriefShare like?” some have asked. 

 “I have shed my tears, I don’t want to sit around crying,” others said.  

“My loved one’s death was years ago,” some others said.  “My loved one’s death is too recent,” still others have said.

Do we sit around crying for the 2 hours?  NO!!  We laugh, we tear up sometimes as we share a memory, then dry a tear and move on as we take a sip of water and grab a mini Hershey’s chocolate!

We promise on the first session, that we attend, to keep everything confidential.

Each week we watch a 30-45 minutes video and have a discussion afterwards.  No one has to share if they don’t want to share.  The videos present experts, ministers, and Christian counselors discussing grief and recovery subjects. After some videos we have several times commented, “Whew!  That was heavy!”

We have had men in the group and women.  Men and women grieve differently and we respect those differences.

GriefShare first began in 1998.  It is based out of Wake Forest, NC, but is offered all over the world. GriefShare is a network of thousands of grief recovery support groups meeting around the world.

Some people say their loved one passed away many years ago so they are past their grief, or that they were too busy after the loved one’s death and they didn’t have time to grieve. Bill has been surprised to find that GriefShare has helped him walk through the grief of his father who died 44 years ago.  He realized through GriefShare that he really never grieved since our wedding was the very next week. He commented that our nightly prayers together, 44 years ago, helped him get through that time of grief immediately after his father’s death.

Some people have wondered if their grief is too new to attend GriefShare.  The first few sessions will help someone new to grief, to understand that their feelings are totally normal.  As those new to grief attend the middle and final sessions they will see that GriefShare truly helps them move from mourning to joy.

At the end of each session we are reminded to use our weekly workbook. During the week, group members are encouraged to complete the daily Bible Study and practical exercises in their GriefShare workbook. At the beginning of the next session, we discuss which Bible verses spoke to us in that week’s workbook pages.

We also received a journal.  Some of us really felt the journaling helped.

GriefShare has increased our faith, our reading of our Bible, and has helped us enjoy fellowship— building strong, new friendships and bonds with one another. It can be very healing to tell others what you have been going through.

GriefShare has helped us reflect on our grief, helped us understand our feelings, and our responses to grief.

Please talk to God to see if GriefShare is right for you.  We will pray that God sends, to each of our sessions of GriefShare, the people that should attend.