Grief Recovery Begins July 8

July 01, 2025

            People who are grieving the loss of a loved one, a marriage, a beloved pet or many other types of losses have a readily available program to help them move to a better place in their grief, thanks to Fitzgibbon Hospital’s Grief Recovery Program, which is made possible by the Fitzgibbon Home Health and Hospice Memorial Fund.

The nine-week program begins with a community meeting for anyone who wants to learn more about grief and what the program entails. The first meeting will be from 6 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 8, in the classroom suite at Fitzgibbon Hospital. The program is completely free, including the book that is provided to each participant.

            During the program, attendees who have experienced every type of grief will learn the tools needed to help heal their broken hearts. And once the tools are learned, they will be able to apply them to any type of grief they have had or will experience. The group is guided with a specific curriculum. Individuals split into small groups for discussion in every session. They are instructed to leave all judgments, analyses or comparisons out of the small group sessions so that a safe environment is created for all, regardless of the source of their grief.

            “Since grief is a matter of the heart, not the mind, we have to move beyond simple knowledge and get to a place where we see how our experiences in the past and the present affect our grief,” said Board-Certified Chaplain Richard DeFord, who received special training in the Grief Recovery Method. “Often, as we work through these very powerful, very simple tools, we begin to see patterns in our lives that have deepened our grief. Many attend to focus and heal from one instance of grief. But they quickly come to realize that the pain they are experiencing is deepened because of previous instances that have not been properly dealt with.”

If you are in the midst of grief and would like to learn tools to help you move through emotionally, Fitzgibbon Hospital’s free Grief Recovery Program runs July 8 through mid-September and consists of eight evening sessions after the initial information meeting. The group meets in the upstairs classroom suite at Fitzgibbon Hospital, 2305 S. 65 Highway in Marshall. To learn more, contact DeFord at (660) 831-3235 or visit www.fitzgibbon.org/grief.