Resources
Additional resources will be added to this page in the coming weeks. Please come again for even more information.
For Sharing Our Stories readers and facilitators:
General Resources About Grief:
For Sharing Our Stories readers and facilitators:
General Questions to Consider:
- What did your loved one teach you by the way he or she lived?
- What did your loved one teach you by the way he or she died?
- Do you feel anything was left undone or unsaid with your loved one? If so, what can you do now that might help heal that for you? If you could say just one more thing to your loved one, what would that be?
- If your loved one is still alive, what would help you do or say what you feel you need to so that later there are no, or at least fewer, regrets?
- What do you miss the most about your loved? Why?
- What techniques have you tried or might you try to ease the ache where those things are missing?
- How might you keep their memory alive, or continue their legacy in some way, by continuing some of their best habits or practices, without taking on undue or burdensome responsibility?
- What do you not miss about him or her? Why?
- If there were ways your loved one was challenging for you, how might you find gifts even in those struggles, not as a way to minimize or deny your pain, but to find new freedom for yourself?
Closing Questions to Consider:
These “Closing Questions to Explore” for either journaling or discussion may be used by individuals after completing the Sharing Our Stories workbook, by groups at the end of each group meeting, or by a group after all the meetings are over.
- Which story (or stories) spoke to your own experience, and how so?
- Which story (or stories) did not speak to your experience? Why not?
- Which story was the hardest for you to hear? Why do you believe that is the case?
- Which did you find had the greatest impact on you? How so?
- Which, if any, most closely mirrored your own? In what way?
- What insight or healing did you gain from the story or stories you reviewed?
General Resources About Grief:
Articles
Robert A. Neimeyer, Laurie A. Burke, Michael M. Mackay, & Jessica G. van Dyke Stringer. “Grief Therapy and the Reconstruction of Meaning: From Principles to Practice” Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy DOI 10.1007/s10879-009-9135-3
Excellent article discussing the role of recreating meaning in the process of grief.
Downloadable PDF.
E. Buglass (2010) “Grief and bereavement theories”. Nursing Standard. 24, 41, 44-47.
Great review of grief theories
Downloadable PDF.
Books
- Paul D’Arcy’s book, Song for Sarah
- William Worden’s book, Grief Counseling & Grief Therapy
- Hospice Foundation of America’s, New Perspectives on Death, Dying, and Grief: Beyond Kubler-Ross
- The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Guidelines for Bereavement Care in Hospice
Websites
- The well-respected Center for Loss and Life Transition, led by grief expert, Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
- What’s Your Grief. An excellent source of trusted information about grief.
- Association for Death Education and Counseling
- National Alliance for Grieving Children
- Hospice Foundation of America