We are sorry you have a need for this list of resources. We are sorry that you are in an unbearable amount of pain. We want you to know that you are not alone.
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May these suggested readings, podcasts, and other resources provide you some relief and aid you in choosing to live in the light.
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"I closed my eyes and spoke to you in a thousand silent ways. In that darkness I created my own light." - Rumi
Suggested Reading
Reading can help us cope with grief and lessen the sense of feeling alone. Loss of a child can be isolating in its enormity. Stories of how others before us have carried the loss of their child can bring hope to the recently bereaved parent.
The loss of a child is traumatic, no matter how or at what age it occurs.
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When Harold Kushner’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease that meant the boy would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of life’s most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being.
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When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable—especially in the case of a traumatizing death that leaves us shouting, “NO!” with every fiber of our body. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear—and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should.
Organized into fifty-two short chapters, Bearing the Unbearable is a companion for life’s most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. Dr. Joanne Cacciatore—bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field—accompanies us along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities—as well as her own experience with loss—Cacciatore opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.
When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your world, here is the first thing to know: there is nothing wrong with grief. "Grief is simply love in its most wild and painful form," says Megan Devine. "It is a natural and sane response to loss."
So, why does our culture treat grief like a disease to be cured as quickly as possible?
In It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides―as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner―Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, "happy" life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it.
The death of a child is a loss like no other. Parents experience the symptoms of grief more intensely and for far longer than with any other loss. For the dead child's siblings, their family is never the same again. How do families survive this worst loss? What helps people heal? What have families and clinicians learned that will help others through their loss and enable them to rebuild their lives?
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Barbara Rosof draws on families' own stories as well as groundbreaking research on grieving to answer these and other questions in this compassionate book. The Worst Loss will help families who have experienced the death of a child to know what they are facing, understand what they are feeling, and appreciate their own needs and timetables.
Suggested Podcasts & Talks
Listening to stories of those carrying grief and their conversations with others exploring grief can result in unexpected connection and hope for a way to step forward into the light.
Other Resources
It can be overwhelming trying to find an organization that is specific to bereaved parents. Here are a couple of them.
Please contact us if you are a bereaved parent struggling with helping your surviving child(ren) and we can help connect you with an age appropriate organization.