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Overview of the Programs

Transforming Grief Offers Several Courses

 

Four-session Bi-weekly Programs 

  • Peer to Peer 

  • Preparing for Death

  • First Responders Speak

  • Supporting Young People

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Transforming Grief Manual (coming soon)

  • 15-Modules for Group Participation

  • Purchased by Select Organizations

  • Presented by Skilled Facilitators

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Participants commit to the full series and to one another. Groups meet bi-weekly for an hour and a half. Individual sessions are one hour. There are weekly homework assignments.

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Members agree to the following:

  • Complete Confidentiality

  • Emotional Honesty

  • Mutual Respect

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Each session includes a PowerPoint presentation, videos, handouts and a homework assignment.

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To view a short video about Shanti and the Transforming Grief programs:

Sliding scale fees based on available resources.
We are always looking for grants and funding.

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Transforming Grief
Supporting Young People

Supporting Young People is a 4-lesson program for adults to learn how to help young people who are dealing with loss. It provides education on children and grief, drawing on a variety of sources, including stories from Shanti's personal life.

 

The importance of helping children with loss cannot be emphasized enough, especially in these times when so much has been taken away from them. 

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Supporting Young People teaches us how to support children and youth, so they will feel heard and respected.

 

In this photo Julian is painting an angel statue for a family memorial garden. His baby cousin Loki died when he was 4 and his baby brother Vegas died when he was 7. Being able to talk openly about death has been important for him.

 

All children deserve to be cared for with kindness and compassion. In Supporting Young Children, we learn to support them in important ways. 

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Shanti's Great Grandson, Julian

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Julian at the Gravesite of His
Cousin, Loki and Brother, Vegas

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Tips on Supporting Young People

 

There are many experiences in life that produce feelings of grief in a child --- the death or loss of a pet, friend, parent or sibling, moving, being teased or bullied --- and there are some actions we can take that will help them.

 

As adults, we have a responsibility to instill in children the ability to have a lifelong, healthy response to grief and to offer them effective tools for dealing with loss.

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Some guidelines for adults include:

  • Listen with your heart, not your head.

  • Don't judge, criticize, analyze, advise, or interrupt.

  • Allow emotional expression, all of it. Let them cry!

  • Speak truthfully about your own grief. Model honesty.

  • Remember that each person's experience is unique.

  • Be patient. Be quiet. Listen with spaciousness.

  • Allow for sadness and fear as normal and natural.

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As parents and educators, we often have conflicting feelings about the children in our care.

 

If we want healthy, happy children to grow into healthy, happy adults, we must support them in their grief.

 

In Supporting Young People, as adults, we receive valuable information necessary to support them well.     

Transforming Grief-Peer to Peer

Peer to Peer is a 4-lesson bi-weekly program geared toward people who have suffered in the "mental health" system. However, a history of psychosis or a diagnosis is not a requirement for participation in this program. We are all affected by stigma, and it is important that we be well-versed in the information presented herein.

 

As one who has spent time in a mental institution, Shanti understands the trauma that can result from being captive in that system. The result of having psychosis was that she is now one of many "peers" or persons with "lived experience" who can educate the community about the conditions that hold us back and keep us stuck. Her time in the mental hospital opened her eyes to a world of people who are working to end mental health oppression. As we support one another and tell our stories, we are breaking the stigma. While the painful emotions such as guilt, anger, shame and self-pity serve to keep us down, they are common when we are experiencing grief. If we are diagnosed, labeled, and medicated by professionals without lived experience, we are not getting the support and connection that is beneficial to our well-being. 

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As a community of people who understand one another, together we can do our part to change the world.

Transforming Grief - Peer to Peer offers hope to our world. We hope you'll come aboard! 

Transforming Grief Program
15-Module Manual

Currently Under Development
 

Some organizations in the community have requested that we create a program manual that includes a variety of subjects so that different grief-related topics can be addressed and understood. 

Key people in an organization will be trained in the process of Transforming Grief and will be facilitators in their place of work.

This program will be sold as a package that can be used over and over again to support the people in the particular organization or workplace.

Some of the topics that will be included in this curriculum are:

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  • Understanding grief, trauma and loss.

  • Collective grief and social injustice.

  • Why is it so hard to deal with grief?

  • What are the emotions involved in grief?

  • Are there stages of grief?

  • The hurtful things well-meaning people say and do. 

  • Coping mechanisms we develop to deal with grief.

  • I feel so bad. Is there something wrong with me?

  • The "mental health" system and Prolonged Grief Disorder.

  • What helps and what doesn't help?

  • What do I do when I feel like I'm losing faith?

  • How do I make amends?

  • Is it really necessary to forgive?

  • How can I make peace with someone who has died?

  • How do I live my life after a significant loss?

  • Will I ever feel good again? 

  • The arts, creativity, and ritual.

  • How do we help fellow grievers?

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