(Some resources focus on providing the
survivor support services, while others focus on providing guidance or
instructions on how healthcare professionals can support survivors of grief and
loss.)
BOOKS:
(Just a few. I suggest visiting your local book store or
doing a Google search. I prefer looking in the store as I can better decide
what book is best for me.)
Checklist for Family & Survivors,
by Sally Balch Hurme (2 books: 2014 or 2015) Published by AARP.
This book provides many helpful
suggestions in checklist format very useful for those going through the grieving
process. I wish I would have known about this resource sooner.
Heart Humor Healing,
by Patty Wooten, RN (1994). Published by Commune-a-key.
This book offers patients, their
families, and health care providers an alternative perspective to the sometimes
frightening and frustrating experience of hospitalization and the challenges of
illness. It is a collection of quotes about heart, humor, and healing that will
touch, tickle and titillate everyone.
Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backward:
Rising above life’s challenges with humor, hope, and courage, by
Brian Luke Seaward, PhD (2007). Published by Whole Person Associates.
This book contains stories of love and
humor, shared by real people — their stories of stress, survival, and peace. A
good read for anyone.
The Art of Calm: Relaxation Through
the Five Senses, by Brian Luke Seaward, PhD (1999).
Published by Health Communications, Inc.
This book takes you on a journey
through the five senses and provides examples in each of how you can use
everyday experiences of the senses to achieve relaxation.
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice
for Difficult Times, by Perma Chodron
(1997). Published by Random House, Inc.
This book provides heart advice for
difficult times: ways to use painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion,
and courage; methods for communicating that lead to openness and true intimacy
with others; practices for reversing negative habitual patterns and techniques
for working with chaotic situations. (A more spiritual view.)
WEBSITES:
(There are numerous websites to consider. These are only a
few.)
Dying in America
at (www.dyinginamerica.org) is a multimedia documentary project,
directed by award-winning filmmaker Carolyn Jones,
that examines the dying experience through the eyes of nurses.
“It is our greatest hope that this
website will offer some direction, comfort, and community for anyone facing
these difficult times. Our Topics Page seeks to help you address specific
issues you may be grappling with, or questions you may have. Our Tools Page
seeks to help you discern, document and discuss your end of life wishes
through a series of document-based steps.”
“We will never defeat death, but we
can prepare ourselves and our loved ones for what lies ahead and make the
experience of dying as rich and as meaningful as the experience of living.”
International Nurse Coach Association
at (www.inurse.com) is an organization that provides training to nurses
interested in becoming certified nurse coaches. These nurse coaches are trained
to provide a person-centered, holistic, integrated body-mind-spirit perspective
to healing along the continuum of life. Some have had special training in
nutrition as well as end-of-life care. Nurses can visit this site to find out
more about how to become a certified nurse coach. Anyone interested in
contracting with a nurse coach can visit the site and go to “contact us” to
request the names of nurse coaches in your area.
National Home Funeral Alliance at
(homefuneralalliance.org) — The NHFA empowers families to care for their
own dead by providing educational opportunities and connections to resources
that promote environmentally sound and culturally nurturing death practices.
This is the place to find information about home funerals, including directories
for where to find home funeral guides, home funeral education programs,
home-funeral-friendly funeral directors, celebrants and clergy, and groups
who will help families when needed.
Sacred Crossings at
(sacredcrossings.com) — Their mission is to educate and support individuals
toward a conscious, peaceful transition and to empower and guide families to
reclaim the healing ritual of a home funeral. To explore this option, review
their FAQs.
Huntington Meditation and Imagery
Center at (huntingtonmeditation.com) — is an
organization dedicated to bringing transpersonal understanding and
transpersonal skills into the health and helping professions. By knowing how to
awaken these qualities in your patients, clients, students, employees,
congregants and others who come to you for help, you bring an added healing
dimension to your work. Visit their website for details and class options for
health care professionals, social workers, clergy and others. I used a lot of
their techniques to assist me in my grief work.
Grief Share at
(griefshare.org) — There
are many websites to provide support for various grief and loss categories:
loss of a spouse, partner, child, pet. They may even be called GriefShare
groups. These may be located in a hospital, a church or a residential home.
Many sites to look through to find one that fits your needs.
Facebook — If
you search “grief support groups” on Facebook, you will find a list of options
to explore. This venue provides broader access for connecting to others
experiencing grief. This is quite public with interactions from unknown
sources. Some may choose this, while others prefer a more personal support
group.
Bereavement Support Group
— Another term to google for options of grief support online.
Hospice Foundation at
(hospicefoundation.org).Then go to the section on End-of-Life-Support-and-Resources/Grief-Support/Support-Groups
— They provide some education about
grief and loss. There is also a list of Support Group Resources:
The Compassionate Friends ––
Support after the death of a child.
AARP Grief and Loss Resource ––
Support after the death of a senior.
National Widower’s Organization
–– Support for men grieving a loss.
American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention –– Support for suicide survivors.
Griefnet –– An organization of
support for adults grieving a loss.
Hellogrief –– An organization of
support for adults and kids grieving a loss.
OTHER: (Community
resources)
Physician referrals to certified
counselors: Your physician can offer you support,
as well as direct you to qualified counselors certified in supporting emotional
and psychological issues during grief and loss.
Friends and family: Consider
this option as a strategy for real-time 24/7 support as your base of support,
if it is available to you. Make a list of those who would be good resources in
your time of need so it is readily available.
Local Churches
Hospital Support Groups
About
the Author
Cheryl
A. Barrett, MSN, RN, NC-BC, has been a nurse for over 30 years and is a
board-certified nurse coach by the American Holistic Nurses Association
Credentialing Center. As a nurse, she was always drawn to the psychosocial
needs of patients recognizing that the patient was much more than their illness.
She
believes that stress can have a significant impact on the mind/body/spirit
resulting in distress of the “whole person.” No one is exempt from stress!
However, stress can be modified, controlled, and in some cases — eliminated.
Through her training as a Holistic Stress Management Instructor, Cheryl gained
invaluable skills to support herself and others to decrease stress and achieve
work-life balance. She promotes self-care as an essential component of any
stress management program and has used many of the stress management techniques
during her own life challenges, most recently coping with the death of her
spouse. She has also been a speaker on this topic to local senior citizen
groups.
In
her role as a nurse coach, she has mentored students pursuing their bachelor’s
and master’s degree in nursing to successful completion. She helped them feel
more confident; improve decision-making, communication and leadership skills;
and increase their personal effectiveness in accomplishing personal goals. Both
academic learning expertise and guidance for achieving work-life balance were
provided and supported self-care as an integral component of practice.
Writing
has always been an interest of Cheryl’s. She has created newsletters, poems,
and published articles in issues of Phi Kappa Phi’s Forum and the
American Holistic Nurses Association’s Beginnings.
Currently,
she is an active member of the Mooresville Art Gallery in Mooresville, NC, and
supports the town’s soup kitchen with profits from her paper crafts.
Cheryl
resides in North Carolina with her daughter, Bonnie.
For
more information, contact her at:
Gmail —
c.a.barrett116@gmail.com
Linkedin.com —
Cheryl Ann Barrett, RN, MSN, NC-BC
Outskirts
Press Author Webpage — www.outskirtspress.com/
goodgrief
FACEBOOK —
fb.me/GoodGrief.CherylABarrett
Review
This Book
Please consider reviewing Good Grief. Reviewers help
writers and their audience find each other.
Cheryl A. Barrett and her potential readers would benefit from having
you review this book on, for example: amazon.com or at OutSkirts Press Author
Page — outskirtspress.com/goodgrief.
Please visit Cheryl’s FaceBook page to provide a review, ask questions,
make comments, share posts with others and take advantage of helpful content related
to grief and loss.
FaceBook —
fb.me/GoodGrief.CherylABarrett.
###
With her permission, I am serializing here a near-final version of nurse Cheryl Barrett's valuable book on transcending grief. I had the pleasure of being her coach and editor through my Write Your Book with Me enterprise.
Douglas Winslow Cooper, PhD
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