Loss is part of life, but it isn’t easy at all. Navigating grief is one of the most challenging journeys that people face, especially with people they love. Grief manifests in different ways and when family caregivers find themselves at the end of a caregiving journey with someone they love, it can be exceptionally difficult to manage. Bereavement services offer strategies and tools that help families to cope with loss.
Feel the Feelings
For family caregivers in particular, they are often so busy caring for the people they love that they put their feelings aside. When coping with loss, it’s important to take the time to feel those feelings. That’s the only way to be able to work through them.
Get Support Sooner Instead of Later
Families often wait longer than they should to try to deal with the loss they’re about to experience. Anticipatory grief often starts fairly early in the end-of-life process. Working with bereavement services earlier on can help families to have easier access to the support they need.
Practice Self-care Throughout the Process
When family caregivers prioritize self-care, they’re better able to engage with the changes occurring in the caregiving journey. The types of self-care for family members to prioritize include getting plenty of sleep, eating right, and moving their bodies regularly. Knowing that their seniors have someone there with them can help family members to be more willing to spend the time to take better care of themselves.
Honor the Lost Person
It’s important to find ways to honor the person who is passing away. Bereavement services can help families find ways to create a memorial or tribute that celebrates the person who is passing away. Starting to plan for this before the person passes away can be a powerful way to deal with anticipatory grief.
Establish Routines
Caregiving causes families to build up a set of routines around taking care of the person they love. Over time, these routines are a normal part of everyday life. As someone passes away, those routines don’t offer the same support anymore. It becomes important for family caregivers to develop new routines that can support their new needs. This is often very difficult to do, so it can help to talk with therapists or even other caregivers in a group support setting.
Practice Acceptance
Ultimately, dealing with grief means accepting the new reality and finding a new purpose in life. This is especially important for family caregivers because they spend so much time and energy caring for the seniors they love. Bereavement services can help family caregivers to find the tools they need to start accepting this new reality.
Coping with loss looks different for every person experiencing the grief. Hospice care offers holistic, hands-on care to people who are passing away. But hospice providers are also there to help families deal with the feelings they’re experiencing as they lose people that they love. Leaning on those tools can make it easier to manage the grief and come to terms with the loss.
If you or your aging loved one could benefit from Bereavement Services in St. Matthews SC, contact the caring staff at Grove Park Hospice, at (803)536-6644.
Providing Hospice & Palliative Care in Orangeburg, Bamberg, & Calhoun Counties.
Our team provides care tailored to each patient and family’s individual needs and preferences. Our commitment to promoting comfort and dignity to persons living with a life‐limiting illness is demonstrated daily by our caring team of professionals and volunteers. Grove Park Hospice provides pain management and symptom control, allowing families to focus on what matters most. Our team of nurses certified nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains and volunteers spend quality time with patients, ensuring they are comfortable and at peace.
Choosing Grove Park Hospice means choosing to live life to its fullest. We focus on enhancing quality of life by offering an array of services to our patients and their families.
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