The Understanding Your Grief Support Group Guide

This guide to facilitating support groups offers bereavement caregivers practical strategies for creating and maintaining a productive environment for mourners. Logistical considerations such as setting up and publicizing a new group are discussed, as is the importance of prescreening new members. Tips for creating a set of ground rules are provided, and the pros and cons of creating structured and unstructured meetings are considered. Responding constructively to problems in the group is also discussed, with helpful, time-proven models provided for evaluating group and individual progress.

Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD, serves as the director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition. He writes the “Children and Grief” column for Bereavement Magazine and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and Today. He is the author of Healing Your Grieving Heart, Healing a Teen's Grieving Heart, and Understanding Your Grief. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.