Here are some organizations and groups that provide excellent resources for those who are grieving.

 Soaring Spirits International is all about building community with peer-based grief support programs for widowed men and women around the world. They help “to ensure that no one need grieve alone.” 

Soaring Spirits has a number of programs that are meant to connect widowed people with each other while focusing on hope for the future and healing through the grieving process.  They “believe that access to hope changes lives” and that “hope matters.” Resources available through Soaring Spirits include:

• • • • Camp Widow®, Soaring Spirits’ signature program, is a weekend-long event, hosted three times a year that brings together widowed people from around the world to celebrate the healing power of community. The focus of Camp Widow® is recreating the future while honoring the past. The weekend is packed with useful
        tools, reliable resources, and the invaluable experience of being surrounded by peers in this unlikely, but incredible, community. 
      • Regional Groups provide an opportunity for in-person gatherings with other widowed people within local communities for understanding, friendship, and peer-support. 
      • Widowed Pen Pal program will match widowed people with each other for one-on-one supportive e-mail correspondence.
      • Widow’s Voice Blog is written by eight different widowed people who share the ups and downs of their own widowed journeys, as they live them. The blog features a new post every day.
      • Widowed Village is an online community that provides access to other widowed people around the clock, each and every day from the comfort of home. 
      • You Are Not Alone: Easy to carry business cards designed to quickly share Soaring Spirits program information with any widowed person you meet.

 The Compassionate Friends is an organization created to help support families after the loss of a child, at any age. They know that with loss “the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated.” The Compassionate Friends provides “highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.” Resources include:

• • • • The Compassionate Friends offers “virtual chapters” through an Online Support Community (live chats). This program was established to encourage connecting and sharing among parents, grandparents, and siblings (over the age of 18) grieving the death of a child. The rooms supply support, encouragement, and friendship. The friendly atmosphere encourages conversation among friends; friends who understand the emotions you’re experiencing.  Read More
      • When a child has died, we as parents, siblings, grandparents, relatives, friends, coworkers, professionals, and simply caring people want to know what to do and how to help. A series of brochures available from The Compassionate Friends have been written just for this purpose, covering many aspects of the grief process experienced by the family and those who care about them. All brochures have been written by bereaved parents, siblings, and/or grandparents and have gone through a review process often in conjunction with professionals in the field.  Interested persons have the opportunity to sponsor a brochure in memory of a loved one or to honor a special person. Brochures Available
      • The national magazine of The Compassionate Friends, We Need Not Walk Alone, has been described as “a support group in print,” featuring articles by and for parents, siblings, and grandparents who have experienced the death of a child in their family.  Read More
      • A weekly web-radio series at www.opentohope.com  featuring Dr. Gloria Horsley, TCF’s Professional Advisor, and Heidi Horsley, MS, MSW, Psy.D. is currently being broadcast every Thursday.
      • National Conference – This three-day healing event rotates to a different city each year. In
        an environment that encourages parents to talk about their missing children and bond with a community of similarly grieving families, the conference also provides more than 100 workshops, special programs, ceremonies, and some of the top speakers on grief and loss.
      • Walk to Remember – Started 17 years ago on the final day of our National Conference, more than 1,000 parents, grandparents and siblings carrying pictures, banners and signs with the names of their lost children participate in our Annual Walk to Remember. At the same time, hundreds of our Chapters host an annual walk in their local communities.
      • Worldwide Candle Lighting – On the 2nd Sunday in December every year, The Compassionate Friends hosts the largest continuous lighting of candles in the world. Started in 1997 to commemorate the first Children’s National Memorial Day, TCF initiated the Worldwide Candle Lighting. What began as a few gatherings throughout the United States has grown into a worldwide commemoration featuring thousands of events around the world. At 7 PM local time, candles are lighted in each time zone creating a virtual ring of light around the globe.

• • • Bereaved Parents of the USA (BPUSA) is a non-profit organization that focuses on offering support, compassion, and hope to those parents and families that have suffered the death of a child. There are local chapters across the USA and an annual conference.  In addition, they also offer other resources on their website.

We are continually updating this page to include more resources. Please check back soon and subscribe to the newsletter for updates!