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Sally avatar

Several of my residents have said they would be interested in a grief support group. Have any of you set something like this up? What are the pros and cons???

Thank you for any suggestions.

Susan avatar

Hi Sally

Here are some examples of support groups for your residents and families

https://www.goldencarers.com/12-examples-of-support-groups-for-your-community/7838/

What I have done for a grief is every few months we honored those who have passed on

We had a memorial service

Here are some other ideas

https://www.goldencarers.com/20-ways-to-honor-loss-in-your-community/5611/

Kaylene avatar
Kaylene Leisure & Lifestyle Coordinator

Hi Sally - we have what we call 'Memory Bowl' sessions. We hold these about every 3 months for each of our 4 communities (wings). It's an opportunity for Residents and staff to share their memories of the Residents who have passed away. We have a large glass bowl that has beautiful butterflies (fabric) in it and we have a smaller bowl of butterflies. After the group have shared their memories about the particular Resident, a person (usually either a Resident or staff member who was close to the person or who had the most memories to share) chooses a butterfly from the smaller bowl and places it in the larger bowl in memory of the Resident.

The large bowl of butterflies sits on a table under a beautiful patchwork quilt we have on a wall in our foyer. We pin the butterflies on the quilt with the Residents first name. Those butterflies stay on the quilt for the remainder of the year. We find these sessions are a great comfort and support to the Residents and the staff. Sometimes, family members will attend as well. Posted by Sharon

Susan avatar

Wow, Kaylene

What a wonderful thing to do. Thank you for sharing this.

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Sherrie Gardner
Recreational Therapist United States Flag
Sherrie Gardner

Your site is easy to use, I use it more often than the one our consultant has set up! I use so many of your ideas and love the Facebook page where everyone shares ideas, concerns and triumphs! I feel connected to a big wonderful caring society! I am always telling my co-workers how awesome Golden Carers is. I feel it is more in touch with the needs of my residents than many of the other Recreational Therapy sites.