This 4-week interactive support group is an opportunity to move through grief in a warm, caring environment connected with others who have lost loved ones.

Register at: jewishfamilyservice.org/services/counseling-groups

The purpose of this group is to help members through their personal grief journeys by using thought-provoking tools and creative projects to help them express their feelings, find meaning, and transition into life after loss. Each week includes reflection on Jewish tradition, beliefs and customs surrounding loss, in an open and inclusive way for all members regardless of religious identity. This group connects those who have lost loved ones in a safe, caring environment to bond with others, build new friendships and share their stories.

Structure of Group

You can expect the following in this support group:

• This interactive support group will help with the grieving process by combining a welcoming, caring approach with psycho-education and weekly activities.
• Each week will introduce a custom, belief, poem or idea from Jewish ritual surrounding loss, for members to reflect on as they continue in their grief journey.
• Group members will be encouraged to participate actively each week, but will never be pressured to do so.
• Homework will be assigned at the end of each session to engage with at the level that feels right to each participant and to share in the next session as much as feels comfortable. These will not be checked or "graded," and will be a starting point for each participant's unique experience.
• Group members will respect the confidentiality of whatever is discussed in the group.
• Socializing among group members outside the group sessions is encouraged.

Topics for each week

1. Keeping Your Memories Alive
2. Letter Writing
3. Journaling Your Thoughts
4. Working toward the future

About the Facilitator

D. Hope Tola is a nationally recognized, board-certified psychotherapist (MA, NCC, LPCC) who specializes in relationship & individual therapy. She offers grief counseling for bereavement and non-bereavement losses, as well as for anxiety and family conflict that stems from grief. Her private practice, Hope Counseling & Family Therapy, treats adults, couples & families with compassion, empathy and humor, and she blends her background in grief work with her training in positive psychology (Harvard Medical School), existential & psychodynamic psychotherapy (Northwestern University), and a deep belief in the innate power and strength of every human being. She brings a range of life & professional experiences to this field, having changed careers in her 40s to honor a lifelong passion to help real people navigate the challenges, struggles, pain & grief of real life. She is honored to join and support people through their unique grief experiences, and to help hold hope when it can be hard to find.