SHARING

What is SHARING?

Sharing Help and Reassurance in Normal Grieving

SHARING is a support group for parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant loss. Our meetings are designed  to help a parent sort through the grief process in a safe environment among others who have experienced similar losses. Each meeting is facilitated by a parent who has experienced loss and a professional (nurse, doctor, social worker, or chaplain).

How can SHARING Help?

Parents who experience the death of a baby often seek to validate their feelings - is what they feel normal and legitimate, or have they responded in an inappropriate manner? They often have many difficult decisions to make without previous experience to guide them.

Often, the grief and loss felt by parents when a baby dies during the pregnancy or in the first few months of life is not understood and/or accepted by society. Even friends and family members sometime have difficult understanding the depth of emotion and grief bereaved parents may be experiencing. Parents are often expected to just pick up the pieces and move on.

Others, who have not seen or touched the baby, do not understand that a very real member of the family has died. Often the grief and loss felt by the parents is not understood. The baby is quickly forgotten by others, leaving parents alone in their grief. The subsequent isolation may create difficulties in the expression of feelings, which can unnecessarily prolong the time of grieving.

SHARING, through mutual-help groups, provides a strong, supportive atmosphere where members can share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Parents learn that the deeply felt, long-lasting feelings are normal. They gain a sense of wholeness when they realize that their pain and grief is not unique, but rather is something which nearly all bereaved parents feel.