Grief Group Update
In my last post, I told you that I got kicked out of my grief support group. The facilitator cancelled the meeting this week to give us time to "self-evaluate." If we are functioning in the normal world, we are not allowed to return. Since we didn't want to leave the newest member of the group without support at this critical time, we went on a picnic during the regular meeting time. Decided we couldn't do without the group, but we could do without the facilitator.
We're all going to the scheduled meeting next week. (What's he going to do? Give us grief? That doesn't scare us. We've been there.) We want to find out the truth, whether the directive was instigated by hospice, by the facilitator himself because of personal problems, or in response to a complaint from the one member who doesn't get the point of sharing. We just need to find a permanent place to meet. So far we haven't had any luck, but we won't let that stop us. We'll meet at members' houses, maybe at the park occasionally.
I called hospice last week and talked to the director. She professed ignorance of the matter, showed a decided lack of enthusiasm about my request to use the meeting room for our new group, promised to call me back, and never did. She also always seems to be out when I call her.
Strange goings on. Feels like high school. Or worse.
Even more bewildering, we were told they needed to pare down the group to make room for an influx of new members, yet they've been advertising the group on the radio. Huh?
Chances are, if the facilitator had kept his mouth shut, several of us would have left the group in the next couple of months anyway, but this whole situation has brought us closer together. Like disaster survivors.
Perhaps I have stayed with the group longer than absolutely necessary, but even if I'm just there to be around those who understand, what's wrong with that? My grief is dissipating, (though I am troubled by an upsurge in tears the past three weeks). Mostly I feel like I'm disappearing from life. Don't feel quite real.
The truth is, I'm functioning well in the normal world (except for the small matter of being unable to write). It's the abnormal world of grief I have problems with.
Tagged: death, grief, grief support group, loss
