Grieving Mom’s Support Group, led by SOTH member, Terry Bogues, meets the second Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at Logger’s Park in Richfield.
I started this group 2 summers ago after losing my son. We didn’t have any support groups in the area that just focus on the grieving mom. When losing a child, a parent feels like their heart has been ripped out and trying to cope with the intense grief while continuing to live their own lives is overwhelming and usually unbearable. Knowing that we’re not alone does make it a bit more bearable. We have approximately 18 moms in our group and usually have 15 in attendance. We have a variety of causes of death and different ages of when they died. Some moms are 6 years out in their grieving while others are much newer. I attempt to make our “Get-togethers” informal with no agendas, but I will have topics ready if needed and to get the discussions going, but that is usually unnecessary. We discuss different ways to cope with the loss, how to survive the “anniversaries”: birthdays, death dates, holidays. We share our ups and downs as well as our coping methods. This group provides a place where we can open up unconditionally and express all those feelings with other mothers having the same emotions in an effort to lessen that pain. We’re THERE for each other when needed, even if it’s just a phone call or going out for coffee. We even do some fun activities in order to stress that life can go on without losing the memories of our children.