Mailings

Scheduled to reach the bereaved periodically through the first year, letters are mailed 18-21 days after the death, at 2,4,6,8,10, and 12 months.

Information in the mailings helps bereaved people to cope with difficult emotions and experiences that often surface during these times.

Individual Support

Available through our Bereavement Coordinators or through a referral to another community resource.

Depression, loneliness, loss of appetite, withdrawal from others, guilt and many other emotions, physical reactions, and experiences are all normal reactions. Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed by these feelings or experiences. Please fell free to call Valley Hospice and speak to one of our Bereavement Coordinators who are qualified to help during these difficult times.

Lifelines Grief Education Classes

Offered twice a year by our Bereavement Coordinators; scheduled over 6 weeks. In sharing experiences, members find they are not alone in their grief. Topics covered: empowerment, goals, the loss process, the "new" normal, balance, loneliness, self-awareness, and adjustment. Many former members have decided to meet informally on their own following the conclusion of the class in order to continue the friendship and support they have found.

Support Groups

Various groups supporting parents, teens, or survivors of suicide are offered at different times throughout the year by Valley Hospice. Please contact us for dates and locations.

Memorial Services

Within the year following the patient's death a memorial service program is held. The program involves releasing a butterfly to commemorate a loved one's life. The program is open to all Valley Hospice families and to members of the community.

Getting Through the Holidays

During the month of November a Holiday Grief Seminar is offered. Holiday dinners are also scheduled in early December for our families and the community. Holidays are difficulty times to get through because we are "Meaning Makers." We work ar organizing and anticipating life events through anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays. Not a month goes by that we do not encounter some holiday. The following nine tips may be helpful to you when approaching your holidays and specials events.

1. Accept the likelihood of pain: You will have difficult moments, but they do not have to be absolute catastrophes.
2. Plan ahead: Plan your day ahead of time, preparing yourself for what you think may be a difficult situation, and decide how you will handle it. Know that you have choices.
3. Express yourself: speak about your emotions and experiences to those who will listen. Begin journal writing. This helps to get things off your chest and assists you in clarifying your thinking.
4. Take charge where you can: Take control of your life in specific ways. Don't permit yourself to be passive. Remain flexible in your decision-making. Keep up or start exercising, and eat and drink healthily.
5. Remember to remember: You may want to choose to create time during the holidays to remember your loved one with rituals and other activities.
6. Search out & count your blessings: Remain open to what you have to appreciate. Don't be afraid to laugh--you won't be dishonoring the memory of your loved one; you'll be doing your own healing.
7. Do something for others: Reach out and offer something of what you have and something of who you are to others. Grief can sometimes make us self-centered, because the loss is overwhelming, and the tasks of overcoming the hurt are all-encompassing.
8. Encounter your faith: Make the time of grappling with your grief also a time of encountering a deeper faith. You may find yourself shaken in your beliefs--many do! Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, go farther. Oftentimes, the answers you seek aren't mysteriously hidden far away, but lie deep within you.
9. Be gentle with yourself: Treat yourself lovingly. Give yourself plenty of rest. Find ways to ease the holiday demands such as shopping from catalogs, shopping early and giving money. Remember, you are a beginner in this process, and success takes time!

For more information, call us toll free: 1.877.HOSPICE