Support Groups and Workshops: How Haven Can Help

by Janice Moody

When a person loses a loved one, there is often a need to reach out to someone to talk to and share their grief. This can be a family member or friend. In addition to individual support, people find joining a group can bring a sense of normalcy to the loss. We discover that our thoughts, our feelings, and our sense of a future are often the same as those of others.

Here at Haven of Northern Virginia the staff of volunteers have been busy developing workshops and support groups for specific losses. We continue to adapt and modify these to fit the needs of our participants. We offer both one-day workshops and two-hour presentations on grief. Meeting here in house provides a cozy, safe and friendly environment.

We are holding one-day workshops for parent loss, sibling loss and suicide loss.

A Widow/Widower/Partner Support Group is held over the course of four Saturdays.

The second Saturday of each month our in-person Suicide Loss Support Group welcomes clients to talk about their suicide loss.

Zoom Suicide Support Group is held on the first and third Saturday of each month.

Many of the participants in these support groups and workshops have found common ground and stay in touch with each other after the session. Friendships have developed based on common experiences.

As Julian Barnes stated in his book, Levels of Life, after the loss of his wife: “Only we know what we know.” Several of our volunteers have come from people who attended one of the group sessions. They have found a place where they can pay it forward by helping others who have had to deal with the loss of a loved one.