“Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow; I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am sunlight on ripened grain; I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there. I do not sleep”
– Unknown
Bereaved Family Support
- Center for Grieving Children, Maine
- Grieving Dad’s Project
- Dougy Center
- National Alliance for Grieving Children
- The Sajni Center at Lucy’s Love Bus
- The TEARS Foundation
- The MISS Foundation – The Selah Retreat
- Hope Floats, Massachusetts
“Especially when you’re grieving… Remember to take care of yourself with kindness, compassion, and without judgement.”
– HealGrief.org
Online Grief Support
Bereaved Parents of Childhood Cancer (Facebook Group)
Parents who lost children to cancer (Facebook Group)
Momcology – Bereaved (Facebook Group)
Compassionate Friends (Facebook Group) – https://www.compassionatefriends.org
Bereaved Parents of the USA (Facebook Group) – https://www.bereavedparentsusa.org/
Southern ME Chapter of Bereaved Parents of the USA (Facebook Group)
Helping Parents Heal (Facebook Group) – https://www.helpingparentsheal.org/
Helping Children with Grief – https://www.wgu.edu/blog/helping-children-grief2004.html
What’s Your Grief (Facebook Group) – www.whatsyourgrief.com
Still Standing Magazine (Facebook Group) – https://stillstandingmag.com/
Coping with Death and Grief – The Bereavement Process Explained
Tom Zuba, Permission to Mourn (Tom Zuba on fb) – https://www.tomzuba.com/
David Kessler, Grief.com (David Kessler on fb) – https://grief.com/
“i. cry.
for the life you lived
and the one you didn’t.”
– Unknown
Bereavement Retreats and Trips
- Camp Sunshine
- Camp Sol Family Retreat Weekend
- Charlie’s Guys (sibling experiences)
- Eva’s Angels (UK)
- Faith’s Lodge
- Healing Hearts Family Bereavement Camp
- Hope & Healing Bereavement Retreat
- Leaps of Love Good Grief Getaway
- Luella’s Lodge
- Jacob’s Heart Forever Loved Retreat
- Momcology Retreats
- Merlin’s Magic Wand
- Rett’s Roost
- Team Campbell Foundation
- Why Me Sherry’s House Healing Retreat
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love.
It’s all the love you want to give but cannot.
All of that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes,
the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest.
Grief is just love with no place to go.”
– Unknown
Bereaved Sibling Camps
- Camp Erin
- Comfort Zone Camp
- Experience Camp
- Camp Good Grief: Alabama, Southern California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, New York, New York (City), North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia
“A mother always carries her children.
Sometimes she carries their life.
Sometimes she carries their death.
But she will always carry them, no matter where they are.”
– Rachel Lewis
Books Dealing With Grief and the Afterlife
- Let me Sow Love: Letters of Hope for Bereaved Parents – Cancer-specific child loss (order here)
It’s Ok That you’re Not Ok. Megan Devine.
On Grief and Grieving. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler
Transcending Loss. Ashley Davis Bush
To Heaven and Back. Mary Neal, MD
Permission to Mourn. Tom Zuba
Becoming Radiant. Tom Zuba
Bearing the Unbearable. Joanne Cacciatore, PhD
Grief Is A Journey. Dr. Kenneth J. Doka.
Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul. Jack Canfield & Mark Hansen
Imagine Heaven. John Burke.
Transcending Loss. Ashley Davis Bush.
The Unspeakable Loss of a Child. Nisha Zenoff.
Living After Losing A Child. Ellen Mitchell.
The Grief Club. Melody Beattie
Please Be Patient I’m Grieving. Gary Roe.
Shattered: Surviving the Loss of a Child. Gary Roe.
From Mother to Mother On the Loss of a Child. Emily R. Long
Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. David Kessler.
Many Lives, Many Masters. Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
Adventures of the Soul. James Van Praagh
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife – Eben Alexander
I Am Enough. Marissa Peer
Signs-The Secret Language of the Universe. Laura Lynne Jackson
A to Z Healing Toolbox. Susan Hannifin-MacNab
When Heaven Calls by Matt Fraser
Through A Season of Grief by Bill Dunn
A Place Called Heaven by Dr. Robert Jeffress
Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa TerKeurst
I Didn’t See That Coming by Lysa TerKeurst
I Wasn’t Ready To Say Goodbye by Brook Noel
Getting Past What You’ll Never Get Over by John Westfall
There is more to life than this by Theresa Caputo
The Grieving Garden by Redfern & Gilbert
When the Bough Breaks by Judith R. Bernstein
Keep Moving by Maggie Smith
Grieving is Loving by Joanne Cacciatore
Navigating Grief: A Guided Journal by Mia Roldan
The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
Speaking in Tears (poems) by Grace Andren
Healing after Loss by Martha Whitmore Hickman
The Other Side of Sadness by George A. Bonanno
How to Carry What Can’t be Fixed: A Journal for Grief by Megan Devine
It’s okay to laugh (crying is cool too) by Nora McInerny
No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny
Books FOR GRIEVING CHILDREN
*sibling-loss specific
- The Dragon Fly Story by Kelly Owen*
- Ben’s Flying Flowers by Inger Maier*
- Finn’s Feather by Rachel Noble and Zoey Abbott*
- Where do they go? By Julia Alvarez
The memory box by Joanna Rowland
Something very sad happened by Bonnie Zucker
A hug from heaven by Anna Whiston-Donaldson
Tear soup by Pat Swiebert
Ida, always by Caron Levis and Charles Santoso
The invisible string by Patrice Karst
Always and forever by Alan Durant
The littlest angel by Charles Tazewell
Where are you? By Laura Olivieri
The empty place by Roberta Temes
Gentle willow by Joyce Mills
The fox and the feather by Kendall Lanning
Grief is a Mess by Jackie Schuld
Maybe Tomorrow by Charlotte Agell (supporting a grieving friend)
The Grief Bubble-Journal by Kerry DeBay
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld (supporting a grieving friend)
The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown
My Heart by Corinna luyken
The Next Place by Warren Hanson
Podcasts
- Terrible, Thanks for Asking
- Grief Out Loud Podcast | Grief Resources | The Dougy Center
- Grief Support For Those Who Like to Listen: What’s Your Grief
- Grief: A Love Story – the podcast on Apple Podcasts
- Grief is a Sneaky Bitch – Lisa Keefauver
TED Talks/Videos
- Nora McInerny: We don’t “move on” from grief. We move forward with it
- Sarah Montana: Why forgiveness is worth it
- Sandeep Jauhar: How your emotions change the shape of your heart
- “I believe in an always life”: a conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert on love, death and grief
- Allen Freeman – Invite a Physicist to your Funeral
- Marissa Peer – How to Control your Brain
- Jocko Willink – Overcoming Loss