Crisis Support

There are times when it’s okay for your world to stop turning; when grief is so great it presses the very breath from your lungs. That sort of grief doesn’t come immediately following a loss. That bone-crushing-all-consuming grief comes later….
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I work with death on one level or another every day. As a hospice RN I am often privileged to be at the bedside of those who die and I generally remain for some time with the family members following…
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“Every single sprout shows that there is really no death” is a quote from Walt Whitman that I love. Whenever there is death, there is overwhelming sadness and grief, as well as anger and denial, and even guilt. Guilt that…
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Flowers, A Card, Money just to me was not enough!The hurt is deeper than anyone could touch!But God! I was deeply concerned and saddened by the news from friends and family that loved ones had passed on in the recent…
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Honestly, there is no black and white when it comes to dealing with death. Every situation is different and every individual who had to come to terms with death will have their own way to comfort themselves. Some people try…
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My father’s mind died two years before his body did. He was 86 years old and had Alzheimer’s Disease. Accordingly, my grief process started long before my dad had actually passed. There was no denial – frequent visits to the…
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Just imagine if you are standing in a Post Office that you have been going to for twenty years to pick up your mail, and all of a sudden your throat is slit by a complete stranger. That happened in…
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In the modern medical world it is possible to prolong the life of the body even if the brain is dead. Once we had developed this capability to keep the body alive past the point of brain activity, it became…
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I believe it is the right, and even the responsibility, of the patient in advance about the use of life support and direct what choices will be made through the use of a living will. The issue never arises unless…
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No matter what the age of the child, when a parent experiences the death of their offspring, the world forever changes. Truly giving support to a parent who has lost a child to death means being there for them, hearing…
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We don’t have a say in coming to the world, so why should we decide when to leave it? I think that the main issue that revolves around suicide is the concept that life and death are beyond the realm…
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Suicide is the most painful loss a person can experience. It is an unexplainable death that you will never understand. There is no real answer to coping with the suicide of a loved one. The only thing that you can…
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My 16 year old son was emptying the groceries from the car. I had just finished doing an errand outside. It was dark enough that he apparently didn’t see me coming back towards the house. It seemed to be the…
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Should the patient’s family have the right to relieve his own suffering over the patient’s right? No. Let’s not forget the repect of the patient, it was not someone else’s choice to make, the indiviual made his and the family…
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Sympathy letters can be difficult to compose often because words can’t seem to speak to the depths of someone’s loss and grief. A letter certainly can’t bring someone back, but it can give bereaved individuals comfort and peace, especially in…
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My father left this earth when I was just entering the first grade. My life was just beginning and he chose to end his. I never actually knew it was a suicide at that time. Explaining suicide to a first…
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Every day in this world someone is dealing with the grief wrung out by losing a loved one. We deal with death in different ways. Some cry with no end in sight. Some shut down to the world surrounding us….
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How do you deal with loss when what you and your family are grieving about is not considered socially acceptable? In many cases you do it alone. Recently our family has had to deal with the tragedy of a person…
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Many of us know and understand that in life, you live and then you die. Though we are aware of this, it still does not prepare of for a death of a loved one. In my experience of losing a…
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God forbid I will ever find myself in a situation where I am asked either choose to end a loved ones life or accept that person’s choice to end his own suffering.I don’t think it is morally wrong to do…
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Some people can let a certain day of the year go by without giving it a second thought. I am not one of those people. I know on September 18th every year, I will mourn the loss of my father….
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Suicide the act of taking your own life, to relieve the emotional, mental, and sometimes the physical pain that a person could carry around with them day after day, and night after night sometimes carrying around feelings of depression, hopelessness,…
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How would you support a friend or someone you know who is grieving?.Your support for someone who is grieving must come without any baggage, or that person will feel threatened, and won’t feel the benefit of your support. Not everyone…
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The best way to cope with death or the inevitability of it is to understand why we are so fearful of it to begin with. The core reason that people are so jilted by mortality is the sheer finality of…
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Have you ever wondered how much our past can keep us fromentering open doors that God has provided? Sometimes thefear from a past incident makes me hesitant to enter into anew door. There is one incident that stands out above…
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Since attending a funeral for the first time when I was thirteen, I have decided that funerals are morbid ritual to be practiced. While I have been argued with continually that funerals being for the living and not the deceased,…
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Being a parent is the most amazing and challenging roles anyone can have. I can remember wanting to be a mother since I was a little girl. After being married for almost a year we were blessed with a son,…
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Is suicide something that can be justified? I have heard this argument a few times before. Well, in the sense that the question is being asked here, no, it cannot be justified. Killing yourself in the name of fear, depression,…
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While the resources for those suffering from mental illness are much more plentiful in the present time than in previous years, people need to remember these resources are not magic; mental illness is a vicious opponent in the suicide battle…
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“Nobody gets out alive.” So says the villain holding bank employees and customers hostage in a crime drama. But, this terse sentence doesn’t just apply to crime victims. It also sums up the cold truth every one of us human…
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