Spirituality and Bereavement
by Chaplain Julia Rajtar, BCC Someone said this of the dying: Most people are not afraid of the dying, they are afraid of not having lived. … what they desperately...
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How to Use Exercise to Manage Grief
Most of us spend our days following a similar pattern day to day, based on our jobs, children’s or grandchildren’s activities, and hobbies we enjoy. When a death in the...
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3 Simple Ways to Comfort Those Grieving from Afar
In today’s world, we have many friends and family spread across the nation, with limited opportunity to see them. This can be an especially difficult predicament if you aren’t able...
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When I Lost My Father
Recently, I lost my father. He passed away after a very long illness and decline. His death was not unexpected and he welcomed the thought of moving on. I thought...
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Learning the Language of Suicide, Words That Can Help
by Chaplain Julia Rajtar, MAPS, BCC When someone dies, we struggle with what to say, “I’m sorry for your loss, They are at peace, I can’t even imagine how...
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How to Talk to Your Kids About Death
In many households with children, when something dies it is often in reference to a tablet that runs out of battery or a video game character that runs into a...
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5 Ways to Beat Winter Grieving
The winter season can compound the difficulty of managing grief. The shorter and darker days of winter decrease the sunlight we experience and this can impact our mood. The feelings of grief may intensify for no other reason than the decreased...
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How the Bereaved Can Respond to Hurtful Words
In a grief groups I often hear the bereaved say that family and friends often try to console with words, but rather than being helpful, these words hurt. Supporters say...
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Grieving the “Right Way”
“Aren’t you over it yet?” “Are you still crying?” “Why aren’t you crying, didn’t you love him?” “How long are you going to tell that story?” “When are you going...
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How to Enjoy Christmas While Grieving
It may seem impossible, but here are some helpful hints to find the joy in Christmas even while you’re grieving. Joy and grief can coexist. Each moment of each day has something new within it and when a person is grieving it is okay to feel...
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Children and Holidays
With the holidays quickly approaching, and the anticipation of all the merriment to come, hearts beat gleefully for most of us as we begin the preparations and celebrate the honored rituals of family time together. In a family, whose parent...
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Grieving Dementia
Someone once told me, think of Dementia as a bicycle wheel. There are many spokes on that wheel, some of them are, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewie body disease, neurovascular disease, etc. Dementia is the broad term to describe a disease that causes...
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