AFTER

During the summer of 2021, Spring Green made the decision to launch a support group for those struggling with grief. We recognized through our years of work with individuals of all backgrounds that regardless of who you are, where you came from, what your belief system is, you will lose someone. Every single one of us has and will experience a significant loss in our life. Whether it’s the ‘natural’ journey in life of saying goodbye to parents and grandparents, or the out of order death when we are forced to face the sudden loss of our partner, or what is considered by many to be the worst type of pain experienced; the loss of a child.

It’s a universal experience yet one we speak the least of, why? Why do we avoid the topic of death? Are we afraid of making someone sad? Are we at a loss of words? And what about those grieving? Did you know they are longing to speak of their loved one? Did you know that grief is not contagious, you won’t catch it and yet by avoiding those who are in it we are further isolating an already incredibly lonely time in their lives?

Currently SG hosts an online support group via Zoom so that everyone can attend, regardless of where you are. You can be anonymous or not. You can share your story, or simply listen. Either way, we offer a safe space where we operate under the following grief agreements:

• We are not here to fix pain, we are here to tend to it. Some things cannot be fixed, only carried.
• Grief is not a disorder that needs to be diagnosed.
• Acknowledgement is everything. Acknowledgment of our loss, our inability to be who we were before… all of it.
• Grief is a part of love, what we are living is love in its rawest form
• There isn’t necessarily a reason for everything or a silver lining behind this cloud, platitudes do more harm than good.
• There are no defined stages in any order, each loss is our own, it’s unique, and it’s ours to walk as we so choose; it does not have to make sense to anyone else. Grief is as individual as love.
• Loss is something that is integrated, not overcome. We won’t “get over” this but we can learn to live in this and still experience joy.
• Every loss is valid, every loss is not the same.

Led by our executive director, Dawn Duhaime, who lost her only child Justin in 2019 to an overdose, AFTER meets the second and fourth Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. ET. For more information contact Dawn at 419-250-0810 or email her at dawnduhaimesgef@gmail.com. You can always check our Facebook page AFTER at https://www.facebook.com/AFTER-104446428423938 for updates.

Dawn and her son Justin a few years before he passed away.