What is Grief?

What is Grieving?

Common Symptoms to Grief & Griev

What is grief?

Grief is your emotional reaction to a significant loss. The words sorrow and heartache are often used to describe feelings of grief. Whether you lose a beloved person, animal, place, or object, or a valued way of life (such as your job, marriage, or good health), some level of grief will naturally follow.

Anticipatory grief is grief that strikes in advance of an impending loss. You may feel anticipatory grief for a loved one who is sick and dying. Similarly, both children and adults often feel the pain of losses brought on by an upcoming move or divorce. This anticipatory grief helps us prepare for such losses.

What is grieving?

Grieving is the process of emotional and life adjustment you go through after a loss. Grieving after a loved one's death is also known as bereavement. Grieving is a personal experience. Depending on who you are and the nature of your loss, your process of grieving will be different from another person's experience. There is no "normal and expected" period of time for grieving. Some people adjust to a new life within several weeks or months. Others take a year or more, particularly when their daily life has been radically changed or their loss was traumatic and unexpected.

What are common symptoms of grief and grieving?

A wide range of feelings and symptoms are common during grieving. While feeling shock, numbness, sadness, anger, guilt, anxiety, or fear, you may also find moments of relief, peace, or happiness. While grieving is not simply sadness, "the blues," or depression, you may become depressed or overly anxious during the grieving process. The stress of grief and grieving can take a physical toll on your body. Sleeplessness is common, as is a weakened immune system over time. If you have a chronic illness, grieving can make your condition worse.

Although it may be possible to postpone grieving, it is not possible to avoid grieving altogether. If life circumstances make it difficult for you to stop, feel, and live through the grieving process, you can expect grief to eventually erupt sometime in the future. In the meantime, unresolved grief can affect your quality of life and relationships with others.

How is grieving treated?

Social support, good self-care, and the passage of time are usually the best medicine for grieving. But if you find that your grief is making it difficult to function for more than a week or two, contact a grief counselor or bereavement support group for help.

If you have trouble functioning for longer than a couple of weeks because of depression or anxiety, talk to your doctor. Treatment with medicines or counseling can help speed your recovery.

Information Curtsey of WebMD 

How to Write an Obituary

Writing an Obituary for a loved one or friend is one of the hardest things:

1: Description Give details of their date of birth, place of birth, son or daughter

2: Details Give details of the date they died. Include how they died if you wish.

3: Surviving Family Give details of surviving family members.

4: Description of the Individual Give a description of how they lived their lives.

5: A Tribute Add a poem or a prayer that shows your feelings.

6: Service Information Give details of where the service will be held.

7: Terms of Respect Advise people to either send flowers or donation.

8: Contact Details Give contact details for the funeral service or family member that is dealing with any enquiries

Click Here To download a copy of the book

GUIDES

Consumer Guide to Funeral and Cemetery (Department of consumer affairs) Click Here to read the guide

SUPPORT GROUPS

GriefShare
Grief Healing
Google Directory
Good Grief

Bereaved Parents of the USA
Healing Hearts for Bereaved Parents
The Compassionate Friends, Inc.
Empty Arms, Heavy Heart
One Bright Star
TCF Atlanta Chapters
TCF-Northeast Louisiana Chapter
M.I.S.S. - Mothers in Sympathy and Support
KinderMourn
Parents Grieving Children of Suicide Support Group
North Shore/Boston chapter of The Compassionate Friends
Memories Our Precious Angels
The Compassionate Friends of Windom
Open Arms
Empty Cradle Peer Support Group
My Child Loss Grief.org

A funeral is so much more than a way to say goodbye; it’s an opportunity to celebrate the life of someone special.

Today, a funeral can be as unique as the individual who is being honored. From simple touches like displaying personal photographs to events created around a favorite pastime, funerals can reflect any aspect of a person’s life and personality.

Following are questions you can use to help you decide how to personalize a service:

• What did the person like to do?
• What was the person like as an individual?
• What was the person like as a professional?
• Was the person spiritual?
• Was the person proud of their heritage?

For additional ideas on personalizing a funeral, please contact your local NFDA funeral director.

What did the person like to do?

Often people have hobbies that become more than just a casual pastime. Their activity could have been as much a part of who they were as their smile. Why not showcase that important part of their life during the funeral?

Incorporating a hobby can be as simple as:

• Displaying items used for their hobby; e.g. sports equipment, gardening tools, or collections.
• Personalizing the casket or urn with a symbol of their hobby.
• Displaying trophies or awards they won.
• Creating a picture board or presentation featuring pictures of them engaged in their hobby.
• Having someone speak about the person’s passion for the hobby.

By adding these or other personal touches to a funeral, the service becomes a reflection of the person’s life and personality.

What was the person like as an individual?

One way to enhance a funeral is by bringing a piece of the person’s personality to life. Consider what made that person special, what made them who they were? Then find ways to link their individuality to traditional aspects of a funeral service.

As an example, an avid cowboy or cowgirl may want to ride of into the sunset one last time. Tasteful ways to honor their wish include:

• Using a covered wagon rather than a hearse
• Having their saddle and riding equipment displayed
• Playing western music
• Having their horse walk in the procession
• Having a barbecue after the service

Other themes you may want to consider:

• Military honors for a member of the armed forces
• Tailgate party for a sports enthusiast
• Harley-Davidson rally for the Harley owner

What was the person like as a professional?

Many people take great pride in their career. Perhaps they dedicated a lifetime to a profession that transformed into more than just a job. If this holds true for your loved one, you may want to consider ways to include their professional life into their funeral service.

Following are two examples of how you could incorporate a profession into a service:

For a teacher:

• Have the choir or band from the school perform during the visitation or service.
• Encourage students to write essays about the person, which could be displayed.
• Invite a past student to speak at the service.

For a fire person/police officer:

• Incorporate any honors or traditions that their department has established.
• Use fire trucks or police vehicles in the procession.
• Have bagpipers play at the visitation or service.
• Display their uniform and equipment.

Was the person spiritual?

Through organized religion or personal beliefs, most people have some sense of spirituality in their life. Often those values are from the very core of who the person was in life. Therefore, you may feel it is important to incorporate the individual’s sense of spirituality into their funeral service.

Following are ideas on how to incorporate spirituality into a funeral service:

• Hold the service at the person’s parish or religious facility.
• Have someone read excerpts from a key religious publication (i.e. Bible, Koran, etc.).
• Decorate the funeral home with symbols of the person’s faith.
• Have the person’s cremated remains scattered at a place of spiritual significance to them.
• Read a prayer that touches on their key beliefs.
• Include sacred music from the religion in the service.

Online Resources

AARP Grief and Loss
Provides extensive information, resources and support including chat rooms, consumer tips, online journaling and information on support groups. Additional resources available to all were added after 9/11/02.
http://www.griefandloss.org/

Alive Alone
Alive Alone is an organization for the educational and charitable purposes to benefit bereaved parents, whose only child or all children are deceased, by providing a self-help network and publications to promote communication and healing, to assist in resolving their grief, and a means to reinvest their lives for a positive future.
http://www.alivealone.org/

American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.aap.org/

American Association of Suicidology
http://www.suicidology.org/

American Cancer Society, Inc.
Find everything you need to cope with cancer and its effects.  How to stay healthy after treatment and share your experiences.  Get facts on cancer, risk factors and prevention.
1599 Clifton Rd., N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329; tel. 800-ACS-2345.
http://www.cancer.org

Americans for Better Care of the Dying (ABCD)
Every dying person needs to be able to count on excellent care at the end of life. ABCD aims to improve end-of-life care. Site provides news, public policy, resources, reading room and online conferences.
http://www.abcd-caring.org/

Association for Death Education and Counseling: A multi-disciplinary professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in death  education, bereavement counseling, and care of  the dying.
http://www.adec.org

Association of American Sickle Cell Disease
http://www.sicklecelldisease.org/

Association of Pet Loss and Bereavement
http://www.aplb.org/

After-Death Communication Prayer Wave with Christine Duminiak & Friends is an after-death communication grief support and prayer web site. Their mission is to pray for others desiring to receive a personal after-death communication from their loved ones. It is a non-denominational group where any religious affiliation is welcome. with Christine Duminiak & Friends is an after-death communication grief support and prayer web site. Their mission is to pray for others desiring to receive a personal after-death communication from their loved ones.
http://www.christineduminiak.com/

Aftermath of Murder, This is a War offers many articles of support and resource links for the many complexities of homicidal grief.
http://www.thisisawar.com/GriefMurder.htm

A C C E S S offers AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services and are there to help fill the void that occurs when the emergency and disaster relief organizations disband, the initial shock subsides and the natural grieving process intensifies.

http://www.accesshelp.org/

American Foundations for Suicide Prevention Survivor Groups is a site offering supportive information about support groups and by state, will attempt to assist you in finding a group in your area. Visit their home page to learn how AFSP is the only national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to funding research, developing prevention initiatives and offering educational programs and conferences for survivors, mental health professionals, physicians, and the public

http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=742A015C-D811-979A-AB84379C813F8D93


Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement is an independent, not for profit organisation which opened in January 1996 and is the largest provider of grief and bereavement education in Australia. Registered as a public benevolent institution, the Centre receives operational funding through the state palliative care program of the Victorian Department of Human Services.

http://www.grief.org.au/ 

Before I Die, PBS
Before I Die: Medical Care and Personal Choices premiered on April 22, 1997. The program explores the medical, ethical, and social issues surrounding end-of-life care in America today. This Web companion piece features original reporting (real life stories, sidebars) by health writer Janet Firshein, 1995 Kaiser Media Fellow. 
http://www.thirteen.org/bid/

Bereaved Parents of the USA
This is a nationwide organization designed to aid and support bereaved parents and their families who are struggling to survive their grief after the death of a child. Any bereaved parent, sibling, or grandparent is eligible to become a member of the BP/USA.
http://www.bereavedparentsusa.org/

Bereaved Families of Ontario-Waterloo Region is a community based self-help/mutual aid organization whose purpose is to assist bereaved families with the grieving process. Bereaved Families of Ontario (BFO) was initiated in 1978 by four bereaved mothers as a self-help, mutual aid program under the auspices of the Chaplaincy Department of the Hospital for Sick Children. All programs and services are offered free of charge.
http://bereavedfamilies.net/

Bereavement Publications offers compassion and hope with the most current resources, tools, and perspectives in the bereavement field. Living With Loss™ Magazine: Hope and Healing for the Body, Mind & Spirit features articles, stories, poems and resources for the bereaved by grief educators and presenters, facilitators and caregivers, authors and writers, and most important the bereaved themselves.
http://www.livingwithloss.com/

Beyond Indigo is an upbeat approach to loss offering grief support, and information on end of life issues for family, friends, pets, and loved ones. The site has won Forbes Best of the Web for Grief Support from 2001 to 2005. Their focus is on information and community to help support people during their time of grief.
http://www.beyondindigo.com/

Cancer Care Connection
A non-profit organization that combines compassionate, personalized support with the latest advances in technology. A free public service to help consumers find local services and internet resources. Located at Three Innovation Way, Suite 210 in Newark, DE 19711. Phone:302-266-8050 or 866-266-7008.
http://www.cancercareconnection.org/

Center for Grief provides specialized therapy and education in the areas of complicated grief, trauma, and life transition. Individual, couple, and family therapy is offered to children, teens, and adults who have experienced a significant loss due to death or other life experiences. Therapy is provided by licensed psychologists, marriage and family therapists, social workers, professional counselors, and graduate student interns.

http://www.griefloss.org/

The Center for Grief and Healing is a program run by the Hospice of the North Shore, based in Danvers, MA, offers many diverse resources for all ages.

http://www.hns.org/tabid/89/Default.aspx

Center for Loss and Life Transition is a private organization, founded in 1983 by Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt, dedicated to furthering our understanding of and compassion for, the complex set of emotions we call grief.

http://www.centerforloss.com/              

The Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation® (CCCF)
CCCF is a national nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to educate, support, serve, and advocate for families of children with cancer, survivors of childhood cancer, and the professionals who care for them. Makes available newsletters, bibliographies, and other materials.
http://www.candlelighters.org/  

The Center for Grieving Children and Teenagers
The Children's Room offers hope and quality of life to bereaved children and those who are part of their lives. In this safe and caring environment, children, teenagers, and their families can receive the support they need while grieving the death of a loved one.
http://www.childrensroom.org/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recognized as the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people - at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships.
http://www.cdc.gov/

The Compassionate Friends
The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive. The Compassionate Friends is a national nonprofit, self-help support organization that offers friendship and understanding to bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings. There is no religious affiliation and there are no membership dues or fees.
http://www.compassionatefriends.org/

Corporate Angels Network
Corporate Angels Network provides free air transportation for cancer patients traveling to and from recognized treatment centers in the United States without regard to their financial resources.
http://www.corpangelnetwork.org/

Children's Hospice International offers information on children's hospice care. 1-800-24-CHILD
http://www.chionline.org/

Children's International Project on Palliative/Hospice Services (ChIPPS)
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Offers information on the program to enhance the science and practice of pediatric hospice and palliative care.
http://www.nhpco.org/

City of Hope Palliative Care Resource Center
The purpose of the COHPPRC is to serve as a clearinghouse to disseminate information and resources that will enable other individuals and institutions to improve the quality of pain management. 
http://prc.coh.org/

Compassion Books maintains over 400 resources to help children and adults through serious illness, death, loss, grief and bereavement. Reviewed and selected by knowledgeable professionals.
http://www.compassionbooks.com/

Cremation Association of North America
http://www.cremationassociation.org/

CureSearch
http://www.curesearch.org/

Delaware End-of-Life Coalition
The mission is to strengthen collaboration between the public and professional communities of Delaware regarding end-of-life issues and to serve as an umbrella organization to:

• Share resources and information
• Promote public and professional education
• Foster innovations in provision of care
• Address public policy
• Increase cooperation among various services that provide end-of-life services

http://www.deolc.org

Delaware Hospice
When recovery is no longer possible, Delaware Hospice can help. Focusing on care, not cure, Delaware Hospice ensures that patients and their families receive the care, comfort, and support they need at a time when it's needed most. Pain and symptom management and emotional support are provided in the familiar surroundings of home or a homelike setting (nursing home). The Children's Program provides support to help children and their families who are dealing with the loss of a loved one. "New Hope" is Delaware Hospice's program designed especially for grieving children (see Summer Camps for more information).
http://www.delawarehospice.org/

The Dougy Center was the first center in the US to provide peer support groups for grieving children.  The Center shares what it has learned from over 13,500 children, teens and families they've served since 1982.
http://www.dougy.org/

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the leading worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, funding and conducting pediatric HIV/AIDS research, and now other serious and life-threatening diseases affecting children.
http://www.pedaids.org/

The End of Life: Exploring Death in America
Transcripts; Resources; Bibliography; Readings; Tell Your Story; Feedback.  This program is a special series from National Public Radio's All Things Considered.
http://www.npr.org/programs/death/

End of Life Care for Children and Their Families: Ethical Dimensions
http://www.HELIX.com

End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Project
The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project is a comprehensive, national education program to improve end-of-life care by nurses, and is funded by a major grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Primary project goals are to develop a core of expert nursing educators and to coordinate national nursing education efforts in end-of-life care.
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/elnec/

Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov/

Finding Our Way: Living with Dying in America
Finding Our Way: Living with Dying in America is a fifteen-week newspaper series which ran September 10 through December 17, 2001. The series was distributed throughout the country by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. The Finding Our Way national public education initiative is focused on bringing practical information to the American public regarding end of life and its surrounding issues.
http://www.findingourway.net/

Funeral and Memorial Societies of America (consumer rights organization)
http://www.funerals.org/

Funerals: A Consumer's Guide
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/funeral.htm

Grief and Loss Resource Center
It is the hope of this site to provide a place where the issues of grief, grieving, transition, recovery and healing are addressed. Resources for ministers, police, EMS personnel, doctors, nurses, counselors, and other professionals are provided.
http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/grief/griefA1.html

Grief Healing
If you are anticipating or coping with a significant loss in your life and wish to better understand the grief that accompanies such loss, this site has been created to offer you the information, comfort and support that you need.  As you proceed along your grief journey, what you'll find on these pages is meant to acknowledge and honor you as a person in mourning, to help you make some sense out of what you may be feeling, to prepare you for what to expect in grief, and to help you find meaning, growth, and healing along the way.
http://www.griefhealing.com/

GriefNet
An Internet community of persons dealing with grief, death, and major loss. They have 37 e-mail support groups and two web sites. GriefNet has an integrated approach to on-line grief support providing help to people working through loss and grief issues of all  kinds. Their companion site, KIDSAID, provides a safe environment for kids and their parents to find information and ask questions.
http://griefnet.org/

Griefs Heart
Many have stories to tell of journeys in grief toward lasting love for a family member, companion or friend. Surely these are among the most precious stories we hold within us. Please share a story on this web site about finding lasting love through grieving. Tell what it has been like to: know and love an irreplaceable someone who has died; reach through the pain of separation; reclaim meaning not canceled by death; and embrace and use legacies left to you.
http://www.griefsheart.com

Growth House is an award winning site with resources about life-threatening illness and end of life care. Their primary mission is to improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying through  public education and global professional collaboration.  Includes information on helping children with grief and serious illness. 
http://www.growthhouse.org/

GayandLesbianWidows.com is a private on-line community offering support, understanding, and friendship for gays and lesbians who have lost a partner or spouse.
http://www.gayandlesbianwidows.com/

Gili's Place is the website created by Henya Shanun-Klein, Ph.D. in her grief for her daughter, Gili. Ms. Orna Yakir, a renowned Israeli radio broadcaster, wrote a play "Gili" in Hebrew based on Dr. Henya Shanun-Klein's "Gili's Book." The play continues to run in Israel and is being translated into English and Norwegian. Dr. Shanun-Klein presently practices in Houston, offering grief counseling services in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish.
http://www.gilisplace.com/

Good Intentions is an organization committed to providing a network of resources and education to individuals, companies, and community groups experiencing difficult times related to the common life experiences of illness, divorce, death, and loss. Visit their Myths Exposed page.
http://www.goodintentionsonline.org/

GriefAndLossHelp.com is a website offering a gentle approach to healing grief and loss which supports spirit, mind, body, and heart. Empowering, practical tools and resources for the healing journey are offered to help you cope with any grief, loss, or change that you face.
http://www.griefandlosshelp.com/

Grief and Loss Resource Center is divided into three sets of links. The first set includes grief and bereavement resources, called "Grief Links." The second set is devoted to various "losses" in our lives, other than death, that involve varying degrees of grief, called "Loss Links." The third set is comprised of links to Memorial collections.

http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/grief/griefA1.html

griefandrenewal.com is a site dedicated to the belief that our personal grief can lead to our personal growth and a widening of awareness and caring for all of those around us who suffer loss. The process of bereavement leads us on a path to greater understanding and acceptance of the cycle of life and death. Site owner, Laura Slap-Shelton, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist. Her interest in grief was stimulated by the tragic loss of her husband when she was 35 years old, thus becoming the sole parent of her 13-month-old daughter.

http://griefandrenewal.com/

Grief, Loss & Recovery offers emotional support and friendship, and provides a safe haven for bereaved persons to share their grief. This is a safe place for people to mourn--emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

http://www.grieflossrecovery.com/
 
Grief Steps offers support services for families in transition. In their E-Share Group you share your thoughts, challenges, stories, and journeys. You can post e-mails and others respond. They offer fee based online courses led by Brook Noel to assist you in your journey through grief.

http://www.griefsteps.com/

GROWW a site not just about "grieving," but also about recovery, educating, and exposure to all resources available that pertain to online safety for all, but most especially, for the children.

http://www.groww.org/

Hospice Foundation of America
Offers information to professionals and families about caregiving, terminal illness, loss and bereavement.
http://www.hospicefoundation.org/

Hospice & Palliative Care Federation
The Hospice Federation of Massachusetts provides this booklet to answer your questions and help you navigate this new phase of life. Hospice, they note, may well become one of your most important resources, whether you are a patient, family member or friend seeking to help someone dear to you. Site sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
http://www.hospicefed.org/

Hospice Net addresses patients and families facing life threatening illness.  Resources for patients, caregivers and specific information on children and teenagers experiencing grief.
http://hospicenet.org/

International Association of Pet Cemeteries
http://www.iaopc.com/

Kennedy Institute of Ethics
Resource for ethical issue related to death and dying. Has links to the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature and the BIOETHICSLINE database containing over 9,000 citations related to death and dying issues.
http://georgetown.edu/research/kie/site/index.html

KIDSAID is a safe place for kids to share and to help each other deal with grief about any of their losses. It's a place to share and deal with  feelings, to show artwork and stories, to talk about pets, to meet with one's peers. Owned and run by griefnet.org.
http://kidsaid.com/

Leukemia Society of America
http://www.leukemia.org/

Living Wills
http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/

Locks of Love
A charity that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged
children under the age of eighteen with medical hair loss. 
http://www.locksoflove.org/

Love, Josh
The fifth documentary in HBO Family’s Parent Handbook series, Love, Josh documents a year in the life of a fifteen year old whose father has died from liver cancer. Over the course of a year, starting at his dad’s memorial service, Josh reveals his feelings to the camera: pain, disbelief, anger, emptiness, as he tries to rearrange the world without his father. As the year passes, Josh comes to realize that memories are his treasures for they're all he has to connect to his father.
http://www.hbofamily.com/programs/parent_handbook/love_josh.html

The Living With Loss Foundation has been established to provide grief resources to the many non-funded community support groups (e.g. hospice and hospital bereavement services, funeral home aftercare services, bereavement care through churches, local support groups and emergency grief support services) on a need basis at no cost through the help of donations.

http://www.livingwithloss.org/

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) looks for effective solutions to the drunk driving and underage drinking problems, while supporting those who have already experienced the pain of these senseless crimes.
http://www.madd.org/home/

Make a Wish Foundation
Make a Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy.
1-800-722-WISH
http://www.wish.org/

National Cemetery Administration
Information on the Veteran's Administration National Cemeteries and other burial benefits.
http://www.cem.va.gov./

National Society for Military Widows was founded in 1968 by Theresa (Tess) Alexander to serve the interests of women whose husbands died while on active military duty, of a service-connected illness, or during disability or regular retirement from the armed forces. SMW is a nonprofit organization chartered in the State of California under section 504 (c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
http://www.militarywidows.org/

New Hope Center for Grief Support has groups for adults, children, and teens are led by professionals or trained volunteer facilitators. Most of them have been through a loss of their own and they find facilitating to be a source of their own healing and a way to "give back." Based in SE Michigan, their philosophy is based on Christian principles.
http://www.newhopecenter.net/

National Center for Death Education
The National Center for Death Education (NCDE) promotes, creates, and disseminates understanding and research in thanatology, the science of death studies. Their mission is to assist people in caregiving professions to develop creative and useful skills for coping and growing with dying, death, bereavement, and loss. The resources of the National Center library are open to students, researchers, and practitioners. The National Center also academically supports the curriculum of The New England Institute of Funeral Service Education at Mount Ida College and individuals seeking continuing professional education in related career fields.
http://www.mountida.edu/sp.cfm?pageid= 307

National Funeral Directors Association (provides links to caregiving websites)
http://www.nfda.org/resources/

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Provides a search for hospice and palliative care, as well as statistics, resources and information. 
http://www.NHPCO.org/

National Children's Cancer Society
http://www.nationalchildrenscancersociety.com

National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health offer Medline Plus Health Information on death and dying.  Includes news, research, laws and policies, children issues and resources in Spanish.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/deathanddying.html

Oregon Hospice Association, Inc.
The Oregon Hospice Association is a 501(c)(3) public benefit membership organization dedicated to ensuring that all Oregonians have access to high quality hospice and comfort care.
http://www.oregonhospice.org/

Open to Hope Foundation offers support for many loss types. The mission of the Open to Hope Foundation is to help those who have suffered a loss to cope with their pain and find hope for the future. Among their offering are blogs and Thursday night, Healing the Grieving Heart, podcasts.
http://opentohope.com/

Parents of Murdered Children
POMC® provides the ongoing emotional support needed to help parents and other survivors facilitate the reconstruction of a "new life" and to promote a healthy resolution. Not only does POMC help survivors deal with their acute grief, but with the criminal justice system as well.
http://www.pomc.com/

Partnership for Caring: America's Voices for the Dying
A nonprofit organization devoted to raising consumer expectations for excellent end of life care. Provides counseling information, publications and videos, advance directives tailored to each state's legal requirements.
http://www.partnershipforcaring.org/

Pediatric Pain-Science Helping Children
Offers resources, inormation and self-help for parents.
http://is.dal.ca/~pedpain/pedpain.html

Project on Death in America has a mission to understand and  transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement through initiatives in research, scholarship, the humanities, and the arts, and to foster innovations in the provision of care, public education, professional   education, and public policy.
http://www.soros.org/death/

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The RWJ Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and health care of all Americans.
http://www.rwjf.org/

SLAM (Students Learn about Mortality)
Slam is a prevention initiative of the New Castle County Police Department Emergency Medical Services Section. The program is powerful and graphic, and uses the perspective of paramedics and law enforcement officers to illustrate the consequences of motor vehicle crashes in our community.
http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/ems/home/webpage3.asp

Sickle Cell Information Center
http://www.scinfo.org/

Supporting Kidds: The Center for Grieving Children and Their Families
Resources to help parents understand what children are going through concerning death and grieving. The mission of Supporting KIDDS is to provide a compassionate pathway to healing for grieving children and their families, and to empower the community to support them in the grieving process.
http://www.supportingkidds.org

Thanatolinks (links related to death and dying)
http://www.lsds.com/death/

Touchstones
Touchstone provides a supportive environment for children, adolescents and their families who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or close family member. Offers adults page, kids page and an area to ask questions or post artwork and writing/poetry.
http://www.touchstonecenter.org/

The Wellness Community - Delaware
A free program of support, education and hope for people with cancer and their loved ones. The Wellness Community - Delaware is dedicated to helping people with cancer and their loved ones by providing professionally led programs of emotional support, education and hope as an integral part of conventional medical treatment. More than 80% of the money they raise goes directly to programs, and all of their programs are provided free of charge
.http://www.wellnessdelaware.org/

United Network for Organ Sharing (includes become a donor)
http://www.unos.org/

WHYY Wider Horizons
A wealth of resource information about caring for the dying and bereaved including a regional listing of support groups, consumer and professional education, books on end of life and grief. Resources related to On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying in America.
http://www.widerhorizons.org

Willowgreen Resources for Loss and Grief (includes videotapes)
http://www.willowgreen.com/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Tips for Talking to Children and Adolescents about Disasters.
http://www.mentalhealth.org/cmhs/EmergencyServices/after.asp

YoungWidow.org is the original and only interactive website and nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to young widows and widowers. Chapter Two is a range of innovative programs designed to help you move forward. We are here to help you find the support you need. Please contact us for suggestions and information.

http://www.ywbb.org/index.shtml/

Young Widows and Widowers is operated by and for its members with the assistance of qualified facilitators. It is not affiliated with any other organization. Widows and widowers in the group range in age from 20 to 58, about 20 years younger than the traditional widowed population. Many are parents of very young or school-age children and all subscribe to our philosophy of turning grief into growth. Younger widowed persons have needs not addressed by other groups, a fact that led to the formation of YWW in 1983. This group is located in Andover, MA

http://www.youngwidowsandwidowers.org/