South Australia
As grieving people we are rarely prepared for the avalanche of emotions that overtake us on the death of our beloved – some of these emotions are extreme sadness, numbness, paralysis, confusion, fear, guilt and hopelessness. Other responses include insomnia, loss of appetite, withdrawal from society, depression and thoughts of wanting to be with our departed loved one.
We at Solace SA, encourage those with severe and complicated grief to initially seek professional counselling through their GP. Solace is available to be an additional support through this difficult time.
Our Solace Support Groups are essentially self-help programmes consisting of widowed people who are led by a trained facilitator, who is also widowed.
We are all at varying stages of our grief, and through the platform of personal sharing and listening we often experience a sense of oneness, a feeling of acceptance and being understood.
We all know that nothing can take away the deep pain of our loss, but talking about our loved one with other bereaved people often helps on our grief journey particularly when family don’t know what to say or do.
Initially we have no inclination to smile or laugh, but as time goes on we start to see small increments of humour in life again, and eventually feel comfortable to socialise in activities with Solace friends such as morning or afternoon tea, lunch or dinner. It’s about taking one day at a time and travelling the grief journey at our own pace!
David Hearn
SUPPORT WORKER, Solace SA Inc
Contact us at:
Adelaide
- Meets every Tuesday at the CWA Building, 30 Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, Adelaide
- 12:30-1:30pm This hour is set aside for one to one support for members whose loss is recent, new members and those who are dealing with special anniversaries etc.
- At 1.30pm meetings open to the general membership. Group discussion is encouraged with support workers adopting the role of group leaders. Topics are discussed relevant to grief and loss and learning to live alone.
- Telephone contact for Adelaide is 0448 048 416