What Can I do to Help the Grief Process?
- Specific suggestions for resolving your grief (adapted from Rando):
- Give yourself permission to feel your loss and to grieve over it.
- Accept social support and tell others what you need - find others you can talk to.
- Be realistic in your expectations of yourself as a griever - give yourself some slack. Don't expect yourself to perform at peak capacity while you are grieving.
- Take care of yourself - allow yourself time to do special things for yourself.
- Give some form of expression to all your feelings.
- Participate in social and cultural rituals - funerals, personal rituals, etc.
- Be patient - take whatever time you need. Don't give yourself a deadline to be "over it".
- Allow yourself to have good times and enjoy yourself without guilt.
- Maintain contact with others who have experienced the same loss. If you are a college student away from home and have lost a family member, keep in close contact with those at home experiencing the same loss.
- Talk to a professional or your clergy.