Support Group

Many find great comfort in a support group or survivor group for those who have lost a loved one. One way to cope with grief is to support a non profit or join a group which addresses the disease or affliction that your loved one suffered. Your involvement could range from financial support and fund raising, to helping out on special events (e.g. MADD) or to getting very involved in the organization, perhaps holding an officer position or even joining the board.

Adversity often activates a strength we did not know we had. Loss, tragedy and crisis can become meaningful instruments for change, activating a strength many do not know they possess. First by giving the person something to focus on to get them through the tragedy and then by giving him or her a purpose to keep going. For many it is a way of turning the negative emotions and feelings into something positive--a way of finding or making some meaning out of the loss.

In tragic situations many survivors find that investing their energies to create change or form advocacy organizations can be a positive way of channeling the intense energy, often anger, experienced in grief. Turning tragedy into a tribute is one of the ways that people can keep going and not only survive a traumatic experience, but thrive in spite of the loss.

Survivors must decide how the adversity will affect and what role the loss will play their lives - will the tragedy become a powerful disabling force, or a powerful motivator. Most survivors eventually come to realize that they may never "get over" the loss. Some losses are so devastating and tragic they can result in grieving for a lifetime. Instead of allowing the grief to paralyze them, survivors learn how to adjust to the loss in a life forever changed by the loss, live a different life and assimilate the loss into a new life. The loss or significant change becomes part of the new life story as survivors recognize that life goes on and they keep living.

Survivors of loss can become thrivers by looking for or creating opportunities in the apparent adversity. A thriver is able to take difficulties and grow in new directions, develop personally and professionally and evolve after facing a loss trauma or tragedy. Those who survive loss frequently become stronger, more sensitive, more aware and more understanding of the suffering of others. Thrivers are able to rise above their own pain and reach out to share their insights or stories to lessen the grief of others. They learn how to turn adversity into something positive, an enabling force.

Groups with an Origin in Tragedy or Personal Loss

Many support organizations and survivor groups had their origins as a response to a tragedy, a personal loss, or a death as a way of making some meaning out of the tragedy.

Several of the most notable include:

Support Groups To Address Diseases

Sometimes it helps to support a non profit or join a group which addresses the disease that your loved one suffered. There are many survivor groups out there to help in your time of need. Below are a few links that might help:

Survivor Groups for the Loss of a Child

For people that have experienced the loss of a child, this can be particularly painful. Below are a few links that might help:


  • March of Dimes: Pregnancy and Newborn Loss - One of the special topics sections of the March of Dimes Health Education Center www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/572.asp
  • Aiding Mothers and Fathers Experiencing Neonatal Death (AMEND) - Offers support and encouragement to parents having a normal grief reaction to the loss of their baby. www.amendgroup.com
  • A Place to Remember - For those who have been touched by a crisis in pregnancy or death of a baby www.aplacetoremember.com
  • Angel Babies Forever Loved - Various resources for parents, grandparents and friends of those who lose a babies and must cope with the shattered dream. www.angels4ever.com/index.html
  • The Hygeia Foundation, Inc. and Institute for Perinatal Loss and Bereavement (Hygeia) - A global community for perinatal health, loss, and bereavement. www.hygeia.org
  • MEND (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) - A Christian, non-profit organization that reaches out to families who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. www.mend.org
  • Share - Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support - A National organization that serves those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or in the first few months of life. www.nationalshareoffice.com
  • The Compassionate Friends - Assists families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age. www.compassionatefriends.org
  • The MISS foundation Mothers in Sympathy and Support - A volunteer based organization committed to providing crisis support and long term aid to families after the death of a child from any cause, for parents, professionals, and friends/caregivers. www.missfoundation.org
  • AGAST - Alliance of Grandparents - A volunteer organization dedicated to helping grandparents through the trauma, stress and grief after the loss of a grandchild to deal with the double loss--lost of a grandchild and how to help the parents of the child (their own child). www.agast.org


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Newly Widowed Death of a Child Death of a Friend