Grief-Stricken

“You really need to get some kind of grief counseling!” my sister insisted.

Oh no! Another argument coming on. Why couldn’t she just leave me alone? “But it’s not like anyone has actually died,” I told her over and over. It was true. No one had died. My husband, Herb, was sent six hours away to long-term psychiatric hospital for his own safety. He suffered from severe depression and his psychiatrist felt that suicide was a possibility. As his caregiver, I was breaking down and missing sleep, and spent half my time crying.

My sister kept after me until one day I finally went to a grief group at my local hospital with no intention of keeping up the visits. I came to realize there are many reasons a person grieves. Lost loved ones, yes, but also lost jobs, a lost childhood, homes lost in floods or fires. The support I felt from the group kept me returning. I learned the five stages of grief and as a group we worked through each one. Slowly, I began the process of healing from the trauma Herb’s illness had caused in our family.