The “Say Their Name” grief support group will start a new session of meetings Monday, August 19th.
This will be the third year of the meetings. Maggie Pearson and Fran Foland started these meetings in 2022 following the death of Pearson’s daughter, Summer Jo, and Foland’s husband, Len. Pearson says the meetings are for anyone grieving over the loss of a loved one.
“Whether it’s a newer grief, a newer loss, or whether it’s one that has been with you for a period of time, and you just need to talk. We want you to say your person’s name. You love that person, that person is vital to you, and that makes them vital to us also. This is a free program, it’s free, it’s confidential. We ask you to share if you’re comfortable. If you’re not comfortable, we ask you to be an active listener. Tears are welcome, we have lots of Kleenex. Also, there’s lots of laughter. We have found out…As time goes on, there still is joy and there’s still a lot of life worth living.”
There will be seven meetings in all and Foland says each week will feature a different curriculum.
“The first session we share our loved ones story. The second one, we talk about secondary losses and primary losses. The third one, we talk about self care, taking care of yourself. Fourth one is we bring pictures of our loved ones and we tell stories, our happy memories, sad memories about our loved ones. The fifth one, we talk about anniversaries, birthdays, holidays. It’s always hard to get through that first birthday, that first anniversary. Number six is how we know we are getting better. Number seven is our closing session and we just share our stories. We just chat and have a nice time.”
The “Say Their Name” grief support group will meet starting Monday, August 19th at 1:00 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hampton. If you have questions or know someone who would benefit from this group, you can call 641-456-4857.
