Helping Others Deal With Grief (pdf download): Friend lost a sister :(

Hey everyone,

Have had several deaths around me lately, including one of my best friends' sister who died in a house fire. This came as shocking news to everyone.

Am sure everyone deals with losing a loved one in some sort of fashion and I pray this will help you out. Sometimes I'm at a loss of what to do or how to help... listening is best and just being there , I know means a lot

... hoping this will help me to help my friend through the loss of her sister and help you guys out as well. May she rest in peace...

Helping Others Deal with Grief/Loss

After a grief/loss event, many people will experience the stages of grief. This is a normal life process, which can cause conflicting feelings. The goal is to help the person through the steps providing them support. Moving through the steps has no specific length of time. Each person will react individually. What may cause difficulties is when the person has stopped processing and begins gets stuck in their reactions or feelings. In this case it will take longer for the healing to take place.

Here are some common reactions that express the grief process.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ Do not offer clichés such as: “It was God’s will”, “It is all for the best”, or “You’ll heal with time”. ♦♦♦♦
Mood swings-irritability, short-tempered
Increase/Decrease in social isolation
Changes in sleep and eating patterns

For many, the loss may trigger reactions to previous losses in their lives and they may experience the stages of grief again. Those individuals will likely experience intense feelings if the initial loss was not processed in a healthy way. This can lead to more traumatic stress. Here are some common indicators for a person that might need support.

Recurrence or reliving the event for a month or longer
Avoidance of situations that are reminders of the event
Sleep disruption
Anxiety and irritability
Significant social, occupational distress
Suggestions:
Validate the individual responses to loss
Look for ways of providing support to the family
Communicate and keep in touch
Encourage them to take care of themselves
Recommend that they seek appropriate resources for help

you can download the rest and it has an 800 number you can call....

www.pennbehavioralhealth.org...

Maybe you know of special ways to help someone through the loss of a loved one?
....
Love and peace , all...