Coping After the Death of Your Child
Resources in your community:
Depending on where you are located, you may have access to grief counselors, hospices, grief centers, and many other community resources. To search resources available in your community, head over to Google or Google Maps and type your city name and the type of resources you're looking for. For example, the map below represents a search we conducted to find "Baltimore grief centers".
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For children, teens, and young adults:
If a child, teen, or young adult is impacted by the death, the Moyer Foundation's Resource Center offers a great tool for locating community and online resources.
We also recommend the website for the National Alliance for Grieving Children where you can search for resource listings by state.
Other Sites:
"When Families Grieve is Sesame Workshop’s contribution to those who face the daunting challenge of helping a child cope and heal from the painful reality of a death of a loved one."
"A community of mostly 20- and 30- somethings who've each experienced significant loss and connected around potluck dinner parties to talk about it."
Article: How do I find support as a grieving 20-something?
General Online Resources:
What's Your Grief:
If this is your first time on What's Your Grief, take a little time to look around. We have over 500 articles on grief, loss, and coping.
"OptionB.Org is dedicated to helping you build resilience in the face of adversity—and giving you the tools to help your family, friends, and community build resilience too. Here, you can read and share personal stories, join groups for solidarity and support, and find information from experts."
"OpentoHope.com is an online website where people can share inspirational stories of loss and love. We encourage our visitors to read, listen and share their stories of hope and compassion."
"Healing Blog is aimed at professional and family caregivers who serve the needs of anyone anticipating or coping with significant loss, including animal lovers, the elderly, the seriously ill and dying, and those who are living with disabilities."
Articles About Seeking Grief Support:
Your Guide to Assessing Online Grief Support
Grief Support Groups: Positives and Pitfalls
Seeking Professional Grief Support
Therapist Credentials: What do all those letters mean?
When Grief Goes from Miserable to Problematic
Resources for coping with the death of a child:
"Today TCF has nearly 700 chapters serving all 50 states plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam, that offer friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved parents, siblings, grandparents, and other family members during the natural grieving process after a child has died. Around the world more than 30 countries have a Compassionate Friends presence, encircling the globe with support so desperately needed when the worst has happened."
"Bereaved Parents of the USA is a national non-profit self-help group that offers support, understanding, compassion and hope to bereaved parents grandparents or siblings struggling to rebuild their lives after the death of their children, grandchildren or siblings."
"COPE offers a number of programs and tools designed to help parents and families dealing with the loss of a child to live, as well as to grieve. In addition to our monthly bereavement support groups for parents and siblings, COPE offers art and movement therapy programs as well as special events for our members, such as alternative healing workshops, guest speakers and other inspirational programs. COPE also reaches out to bereaved families with monthly newsletters, member-to-member support (our informal “buddy system”) and other personal communication. As a COPE member, you can take advantage of some, or all, of our programs, which are, with rare exception, free of charge and have no prescribed time limit on their duration."
"A volunteer-based organization providing C.A.R.E. [counseling, advocacy, research, and education] services to families experiencing the death of a child."
"In the face of loss and infertility, our mission is to show the world that we are still standing. Holding fast to resilience and hope. Our mission is to help you embrace life for everything that it is after experiencing the loss of a child or infertility."