Supporting Someone Through Grief

You may want to be of some help to a friend when they are grieving. Stop and try to put yourself in their situation. If you have lost a close loved one, this won't be hard to do. You don't want to say the wrong thing. The best thing is to be there for them in the beginning. You have to understand grief before you can help anyone who is grieving.

There are stages of grief to go through. The first stage is disbelief. Then will come anger that your loved one has left you. Then there is depression, thinking you can't go on without them. Then you finally accept the fact that they are gone. If you let yourself go through each stage, the grieving process will last about six months.

Remember that when helping a friend who is grieving, you are to be there as a friend, not their counselor. You can't solve their problem, so just be there and ask if there is anything you can do for them. If they want to cry, let them cry; this is part of the grieving process.

After the funeral, stay in touch. Everyone seems to come around at the beginning, but your friend needs you now more than ever. If your friend is having a really hard time coping with their loss, you may help them find a grief support counselor. The most important thing you can do for your friend is listen. If they want to talk about their departed loved one, listen to what they have to say. This is also a stage of the grief process.