Grief Support Network

Programs: From grief to gratitude 9-month and awakening through grief 6-week programs: this is gsn's signature program creating the greatest impact in our community. This program brings small, intimate groups of people together for a six week or 9 month program to offer them a safe space for their grief to be felt, expressed, shared and healed. Throughout the course of this program, participants learn new skills to move through their grief, heal their pain and find greater joy and gratitude in their lives. In 2017, gsn served 48 participants. Each group is limited to 8 participants to ensure the intimacy, depth and connection that makes the program unique and successful. Quarterly grief rituals: gsn offers a 3 hour community grief ritual once every quarter to offer people a safe and supportive space to grieve in community. Through the african ritual that we have learned from spiritual leaders, sobonfu and maledoma some, we bring the community together to drum, chant, release our grief and support each other to let out our feelings of loss. In 2017, gsn had a total of 75 participants for all four grief rituals. Moving through grief retreats:gsn offered our first intimate grief retreat offering a group of 11 participants a weekend immersion experience together. The weekend included yoga, meditation, movement, journaling, group sharing and ritual to support participants to connect with themselves, feel their grief, talk about their feelings and release in order to heal and move forward in life. In 2017, we served 11 participants in this retreat. Provider dues:gsn first began as a referral network. Over the past several years, we have developed several new programs and services to support people through grief, but we continue to offer the community an online directory with a list of approved gsn providers. The provider network is an interdisciplinary team of holistic practitioners including therapists, medical providers, bodyworkers, acupuncturists, coaches, and more. Providers pay a due of 75 / year to be listed in gsn's directory. In 2017, gsn raised 900 in provider dues.

it takes a village meal delivery program (6-month pilot): this is gsn's newest program, which was created to offer support to people in acute grief. The program combines two important services together to bring much needed support to families and individuals in the first year after a loss. The heart of the program is a volunteer network who has been trained in how to sit with people who are grieving and hold an accepting, loving space for them to be heard. In addition, the community supports this program through the donations of local restaurants. For our pilot, we had five restaurants donating a meal / week, which allowed us to serve five families at a time for an 8 week period. The volunteers would pick up the donated meals and deliver them to the families in need. Over the course of the pilot, gsn served 34 individuals.