Pain from the death of a loved one can be softened by the programs of Caring Connections in the College of Nursing.
Caring Connections was started by Beth Cole, U professor of nursing, in 1998, after a U Hospital quality-control survey revealed a need for a grief and bereavement center.
Cole was serving on a hospital task force to assess the “end of life needs” of patients and their families and sensed the growing interest in having a grief center. She put the interests of the hospital and nursing school together to organize Caring Connections. The program allows a smooth flow from dying to after death services, Cole said. It sponsors quarterly grief-support group sessions that meet once a week for eight weeks.
Hundreds of people participate in the grief groups each year, Cole said. Social workers and therapists act as facilitators. Grief groups are regularly organized for children, adolescents, friends and family of suicide victims, survivors of homicide victims and parents who’ve suffered perinatal loss. Sessions are occasionally offered in Spanish.
The most important message to share with people is that everything they’re feeling during the grieving process, from anger to depression, is normal.
Twice a year, large mourning services are held. Grief Awareness Day, held on Sept. 11 this year, and also Seeds of Remembrance Day, allows people to meet together for a brief program to honor the deceased.