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How Support Groups Can Be Beneficial:
Verbalizing thoughts and emotions helps to connect people with their feelings
(no matter how "crazy" those feelings seem.)
A forum is provided for airing grief and seeking direction and support.
Grieving persons learn that all of us have resources within for helping
ourselves and others.
Members have the opportunity to become friends with people who have suffered
similar losses. This reverses the tendency toward isolation and provides a sense
of belonging and community.
It is a relief to learn that we are not going crazy, we are just grieving.
These feelings, no matter what they are, are normal. It may be the only place
where survivors feel understood. There, true feelings of anger and/or guilt can
be expressed without judgment.
It helps to realize that no one is alone in grief.
The longer-bereaved survivors can be models of hope.
There is a sense of doing something positive about grief. Grief can't be
ignored.
This is a place to meet people who truly care about you. Everyone needs hugs
and a support group is a good place to get them.
The self-esteem of a grieving person can be very low. Studies show that based
on a scale of 100, an average person's self-esteem is in the 70's, whereas a
grieving person's self-esteem ranks in the teens. Self-esteem is enhanced by
being able to help others, which happens in support groups. By providing support
and suggestions for coping, you receive a sense that you are of value to others.
Other people in the group provide assurances that they too have faced similar
grief experiences and yet survived.
Being able to speak to others about problems without encountering rejection
reinforces feelings of self-worth. Support groups provide the opportunity to
volunteer. Grieving persons feel worthwhile when they realize that even though
they are grieving they can help. The process of learning to be of help to
another person can develop self-esteem and self-confidence.
(Reprinted from: LEGACY, Ogden/Layton, Utah, September, 1994)
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