Grieving Alone

This article from Connecticut's courant.com discusses how difficult it can be to grieve the loss of a loved one in isolation.

"Adult children who live far away from home and lose a parent; spouses who have retired far from the community where they spent most of their married life together and become widowed; and elderly individuals who experience a loss and have no nearby support system — all can find themselves experiencing grief in a vacuum."

"That isolation, says Karen Carney, a social worker and bereavement program director at the D'Esopo Resource Center in Wethersfield, intensifies the pain and loneliness caused by the death."

"'When no one in your day-to-day life has a history with the person who has died, you have no way to share stories about the deceased and what they meant to your life,'" says Carney. "'When you are physically removed from the individual's final resting place, you have no 'sacred place' where you can go to connect that person. Those situations leave people feeling very cut off.'"

The article also offers some online resources to those who are grieving alone.

"Area hospice and palliative care programs provide programs and support groups. Many local hospitals offer grief support groups. Some are offered by in-house pastoral services, some by palliative care departments and others are offered by social or nursing services. Churches or other places of worship and senior centers often offer support groups as well. If you're not comfortable with a support group, explore individual counseling. The Association for Death Education and Counseling website, www.adec.org, provides names and contact information for grief counselors and educators."

"A number of online resources offer help as well. At www.webhealing.com, visitors can find articles on loss, links to resources, discussion boards and an "Honor Page," where visitors can post memorials to those they have lost and share thoughts on grief and healing."