Page A8 December 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A By Linda Findlay Aftercare difference in how well you get started and keep going! It is not too early to start thinking about how youmay want to reach out to families next year, as part of your aftercare program, providing a support group. It is important that who you choose to facilitate a group needs to have some training. It is not as easy as to just show up and hope people will attend. The first thing you need to do is form a team who will help. I recommend that you have at least two people who will be available to facilitate the sessions. The two people should have some training and if they are bereaved, they should be long enough past their own loss that they themselves do not still need support. There are many grief support group manuals that you can buy. I would start by looking at Centering Corporation. They are a not-for-profit organization that offers a large selection of resources, found at www.centering.org. A manual for leaders, Six Simple Weeks: A Caring Manual for Support Group Leaders, is also on their site at www.centering.org/six-simple-weeks-centering/ Once you are familiar with the manual, you can begin planning. Although the support group manual uses a six-week session format, I would consider starting by offering a once-a-month drop-in group. You can use the same material instead of every week for six weeks, use it once a month for six months. If you start off committing to the six months, it is a great start. Taking on too much and looking too far ahead can be overwhelming. Questions and comments to consider while planning a Support Group: Who will you provide the group for? I would start by offering the group to the families that you serve. Inviting families going back two years is what I recommend. The second year of grief can be very difficult for some people. I find that many people still need the support well into the second year and often, beyond that time. Imagine offering support at that point when no one else is? Once you have more confidence and things are going well, you may want to consider opening it up to your community. Where will you hold the support group sessions? 1. It is very difficult to hold a group at the funeral home. It is hard for families to go there after they have been there when their loved one died. I recently worked with a funeral home where the owner wanted to group to be held at the funeral home and the facilitators did not want it to be held there. My suggestion was, please provide the group, even if the funeral home is the only option. It will be fine. The funeral home I mentioned decided to hold the group sessions at the funeral home. However, they have the participants use a different entrance, avoiding the area where they had been at their time of need. 2. A senior center is a good option. Senior centers love to fill their calendar for their members. A grief support group will always be welcome, and the space is usually donated! 3. A place of worship can be an option. I would suggest that the group maintain a non-denominational focus. This may not be acceptable to some places, but I have run non-denominational groups at a church. 4. Some coffee shops, such as Starbucks, have private meeting space that can be reserved. There is usually no fee! 5. Your local library may have space that can be used. What I have shared can be a good start to planning a grief support group for 2023. You are welcome to call or email me to ask questions. As I have shared, facilitating a grief support group is a very rewarding experience for both you and your families. The times that I have co-facilitated a grief support group with one of my funeral directors, families commented each time about how they never knew the funeral director “did that”! Families continually expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the care and compassion received from “their” funeral director. I have many families who ask me if the funeral home provides a support group. I don’t know how many funeral homes provide a support group, but I would venture to say that most do not. If I am wrong, someone can let me know. When I talk to my funeral directors, I find that most of them do not want to consider running a support group. I can completely understand that. Some think they are not equipped to run a group; most are very busy already and don’t have time or trained staff. Some may not be interested because they don’t feel it is their wheelhouse. Whatever the reason, I do understand. In saying that, I do encourage you to at least consider offering a grief support group. My first suggestion is, if you do not want to run a group, maybe you can sponsor one that is already being provided through a local hospice or faith-based organization. It is nice to have your funeral home name listed as a sponsor. It is always good for business. In all cases, you should know what is being offered in your community to provide an updated listing to give to families and include information on your website and social media. Make sure that the information is correct by confirming contact information at least a couple times a year. The last thing we want is to share information that is not accurate. Families have a hard enough time making that call. We don’t want them meeting with a dead end. If you will at least consider providing a support group, I wanted to share my experience with groups from having run them consistently for over 30 years. I have run groups sponsored by funeral homes, hospices, faith-based organizations, and other organizations interested in grief support. I can tell you that in all the work that I do, facilitating support groups is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had working with grieving families. Second only to talking to families one on one. Running groups can have its challenges, but there are no challenges that we can’t be prepared for. That is why if you want to consider sponsoring a group, it begins with good planning. Good planning will make a big Linda Findlay is the founder of Mourning Discoveries, Grief Support Services. She is a 29-year career Aftercare Coordinator, a published author, and an advocate for bereaved families. She is the founder and co-creator of The Grief Cruises and managing partner with The International Grief Institute. Linda can be reached at 315-725-6132 or Lf6643@yahoo.com. Visit www.mourningdiscoveries.com, www.thegriefcruises.com or www.internationalgriefinstitute.com. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columnsonline at Support Groups SHROUDS Green Burial Cremation www.kinkaraco.com (415) 874-9698 100% American Made PEACHTREE CITY,GA— Rollings Funeral Service is proud to announce their recent addition of RG&GR Harris Funeral Homes with three locations in the Detroit, MI area and the Cremation Society of Michigan. The funeral home, which has been serving their communities for over 110 years, was formerly owned by Thomas “Tom” Rost. Greg Rollings, president and CEO of Rollings Funeral Service, commented “Since its founding over 100 years ago, RG & GR Harris has remained a family business with a longstanding reputation for outstanding service. Tom and his family have built the funeral home and cremation society into the success it is today, and I look forward to continuing that success and quality of care for years to come.” Rollings also added that this marks his first addition in Michigan. The funeral home was founded in 1910 by Rost’s grandfather, Robert G. Harris. Upon Harris’s passing in 1966, ownership then passed onto his son Thomas L. Harris and son-in-law Clarence Rost. When Harris and Rost retired, Rost’s son Tom took over management from his father and uncle. It was during Tom’s time as owner that the Cremation Society of Michigan was founded in the late 1980s. Speaking with Tom Rost, he mentioned that with over 50 years in funeral service and over 40 years of owning the funeral home, it was time to start slowing down and looking at the next chapter in his life. When asked why he decided to sell his firm to Rollings Funeral Service, Rost said “I communicated with past owners now a part of Rollings and they were all very pleased with what took place. Greg’s integrity seems flawless and there was also Rollings Funeral Service Announces Addition of Their First Locations in Michigan Thomas “Tom” Rost RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes, Detroit RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes, Livonia going to be no big disruption to how we serve families.” Seeing how professional everyone at Rollings Funeral Service was during the onboarding process is also something that left Rost feeling he had made the right decision. “The knowledge and expertise of the Rollings staff that trained us was really impressive and they were very well-versed in what they’re doing,” Rost noted. Ultimately, Rost mentioned that he is glad he made the decision with Rollings Funeral Service and that he is looking forward to this new chapter for himself and the funeral home. Combined, RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes and the Cremation Society of Michigan serve around 900 families annually. With nearly 90 locations, Rollings Funeral Service is one of the largest private funeral home owners in the eastern United States. With each of their firms operated on the local level, their managers work directly with Rollings Funeral Service to establish budgets, pricing, and best practices. They also pride themselves on being a great alternative to selling to a publicly traded company and they continue to search for firms that will be a great fit to their growing family funeral of funeral homes 1-888-792-9315 • mymortuarycooler.com Scan QR for our website Cots not included MODEL # TR3 Triple Cot Roll-In Mortuary Cooler AMC N W FAST SHIPPING BY 12/31 ON SELECT PRODUCTS
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