Grief Support

It’s important to remember that grief is a natural and normal reaction to loss, and that you are not alone. You will need your village to get through this time: reach out to your support network, whether that is family, friends, colleagues, or your spiritual family.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help or to lean on those who care for you. There will be good days and bad days. While there is no right or wrong way to grieve, there are healthy ways to cope with the pain that, in time, can allow you to heal and resume your regular routines.

Fox Valley Hands of Hope – The mission of Fox Valley Hands of Hope is to enhance the quality of life and to provide HOPE for those experiencing grief or life-threatening illness. Professional staff and trained volunteers are community-funded and provide the best in compassionate care, free of charge. Their programs are designed to provide support for adults, children, and families, regardless of age, income level, race, or religious beliefs. Free support groups and one-on-one counseling are both available.

Your Hospice Provider – If your loved one was receiving hospice care, many local hospice providers offer grief support options for families. Take advantage of these free resources.

Balance Stress Management and Therapy – At Balance, we help you discover and embrace who you are — rather than who should be. We believe that all of you is ok. There are no good or bad parts, dark or light parts. We believe that integrating and embracing the whole person leads to healing. Because you, whole, are beautiful and wonderful — including where the pain is. We do this through creative, full expression and a broad toolbox of therapeutic modalities, including telehealth. We believe that discomfort is a part of life — sorry (not sorry!) — and that it is only through doing the work to understand who we are at the core — as opposed to trying to avoid the pain (which, by the way, never works), that we ultimately feel better. We believe in skills over pills. The process is more important than the product. (It’s about the journey, not the destination.) We respect and revere every individual, regardless of background or preferences, and support all family structures and identities. We accept many insurance plans and have locations in Elgin and St. Charles.

Michael J. Murschel, SD, MA, CH: The Driftwood Center for Spiritual Health and Wellbeing – Sometimes life doesn’t make sense, especially when someone you love dies. Grief, jumbled thoughts, memories, all these and more can send you scrambling to understand what is happening. As a commissioned, multi-faith Spiritual Director, and credentialled Consulting Hypnotist, I provide the spiritual care and sense-making you need to nurture your spirit and bring your life back into balance. Individual and group sessions. All Faiths. All Traditions. All Beliefs. Or None. All Are Welcome. I am here for you when you need it most. For more information, call 224-577-8338.

We live in a modern age where technology can bring people together and build virtual networks of support.

What’s Your Grief – To put it simply, this website is about grief. That probably sounds oversimplified, but grief is a complex, heavy, frustrating, scary, enormous…ahem, big topic. It starts with a death and envelopes everyone from family to friends, to friends of family and friends. Not only is grief an emotional, logistical, and existential nightmare, but it is taxing. It requires us to navigate the world without someone important, deal with complex feelings and emotions, and figure out ways to move forward when everything seems kind bleak.

The site’s founders are two Baltimore-based mental health professionals with 20+ years of experience in grief and bereavement. More importantly, though, they have both experienced the death of a parent and have dealt with life after that loss. They did not know what resources were available and fumbled through the darkness alone. Later they wondered why should anyone have to feel alone when so many of us have been through grief ourselves? For this reason, What’s Your Grief was created to provide a place where people can come to support and be supported.

GriefShare – GriefShare is a friendly, caring group of people who will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences, You don’t have to go through the grieving process alone. GriefShare seminars and support groups are lead by people who understand what you are going through and want to help. You’ll gain access to valuable GriefShare resources to help you recover from your loss and look forward to rebuilding your life.