"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”
Ayn Rand
Healing Together Through Shared Grief
Welcome to our Peer-to-Peer Grief Support Group. Here, you’ll find a safe and understanding space to share your feelings and experiences with others who understand what you’re going through. Together, we can navigate the complexities of grief and help each other heal. Join us in fostering connection and support during this challenging time.
Located in Manistee County, Join 0ne of our peer-to-peer support groups or plan to attend one of our "Meet and Greet" gatherings, designed to foster connection support within our community. We invite you to become a part of our private Facebook group, Bonds Beyond Loss, where you can share your experiences and connect with others. If there's enough interest, we will also host Zoom meetings and evening memorial/honor gatherings to deepen our connections. We look forward to seeing you there!
ONLINE RESOURCES/WORK FOR GRIEF
Don't have time to attend a support meeting or a meet or greet coffee hour... try working through the items below, one at a time, preferably with a support/partner to discuss with, as you work through grief.
From our earliest memory of pain or hurt feelings...I bet many of us will remember food being put in our mouths or being told "don't cry over spilled milk". We have been taught to cover up, hide, or bury our feelings under short-term behaviors to burn the energy created by emotional pain.
Here is a list of just a few short-term energy behaviors, that if done for the wrong reasons, can have a negative impact on grieving people.
1. Food
2. Alcohol/drugs
3. Anger
4. Excercise
5. Fantasy (movies, TV, books)
6.Isolation
7. Sex
8. Shopping
9. Workaholism
10. (a subtle not so apparent danger)
visiting grave sites on an extremely regular basis for years following a death.
Using a clean sheet of paper, write down the short-term energy relievers in which you have participated. Then add any others that you discover. It is actually very common in our society to have been socialized with the idea that we should cover up emotional pain rather than confront it directly.
Somewhere in your formative years, you learned to "Compare losses to minimize feelings". Once we establish a habit, we continue to use it unconsciously. We have probably been putting on the same shoe all our life, without even thinking about it! This is probably true of how we've been trying to deal with losses as well. That is why a Loss History Graph is so important. We need to know what our pattern is so we can confront and change it.
The primary reason for creating one is to identify the patterns that have resulted in loss. Another reason is to bring everything up to the surface where we can look at it and resolve forgotten losses that can extend the pain and frustration associated with it.
Another benefit is observing which short-term relievers we have relied upon after losses.
Healing is a Journey we take together
At Bonds Beyond Loss, we believe that no one should walk the path of grief along. Our mission is to provide a nurturing, empathetic space where shared experiences become stepping stones toward healing and mutual resilience. We encourage sharing, healing, and gathering strength through the power of community.
Upcoming Gatherings
Explore our upcoming peer support events and support groups; Each session is a compassionate safe haven designed for mutual healing and shared resilience
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Resources
Community Updates
Deepen your connection with our peer support group through shared stories, healing insights, and news from our latest sessions. You are not alone on this path.
Sharing the Silence
Understanding the value of vulnerability in our shared healing journey and how it binds us together.
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Our members share their personal reflections to normalize the experience of grief and remind us that hope is found together. These gentle voices remind us that we are never truly along on the path to healing.
