How to Cope with Grief

Recovering from grief is never easy, whether your caregiving role extended for months or years or was the result of an unexpected death. Your grief is real, and it's compounded by new demands, new feelings, new responsibilities, new people to comfort or contact, and big empty spaces in your heart and life.

27 Ways to Heal When Dealing with a Loss

When someone you love dies, feelings of hurt, loneliness and sadness are normal. The following suggestions may help you identify your feelings of sadness and help you heal from a loss.

Coping with Anxiety While Grieving

Learn more about what anxiety is and get tips on how to lessen its effect on your everyday life.

Coping with Loss and Grief During the Coronavirus Crisis

Grief is a natural response to loss, and feelings of loss can be compounded during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coping With Public Tragedies and Natural Disasters

Survivors of public tragedies and natural disasters typically display a range of emotional, physical and cognitive reactions in the aftermath of the event. Understanding the reactions can help with grief.

Don't Let Grief Become Depression

If you find your grief or depression are spiraling out of control, talk to your doctor or seek the help of a mental health professional, either through counseling, medication or a combination of both.

Feelings and Reactions to a Significant Loss

There are no scripts about how to grieve or how long to grieve. But all people who experience a significant loss share a range of common emotions and feelings.

How To Rebuild Self-Esteem After Losing a Loved One

You may feel incomplete or “less than” without your loved one. If he or she made you feel special and loved, you may not feel those things now. There are ways to rebuild yourself.

Learning to Accept the Unacceptable

Embracing the painful reality does not happen quickly or easily, and it can be exhausting. When the loss finally sinks in, it can be surrounded by profound sadness and other emotions. Can you ever accept the loss?

Practical Tasks Following the Death of a Loved One

After the death of a loved one, families are faced with sudden changes and a staggering amount of details involved in making final arrangements. Review this list and see how hospice can help.

The Normal Physical and Mental Symptoms of Grief

Following the death of a loved one, people experience physical symptoms which can last days, months or years. Here are some of the common symptoms of grief.

There Is No Right or Wrong When it Comes to Grief

Even if your grief is different, it’s still grief, and you have a right to grieve. You have a right to feel better eventually.

Ways to Honor a Deceased Loved One

Any time you stop and think of them—you honor them. If you'd like to do something more tangible, here are some ideas to get you started.

What Should I Expect as I Grieve

There are many ways grief may surprise you. Our response varies depending on the meaning we make of our loss, our own personal characteristics, the type of death, and the quality of our social support.

When Grief Becomes Dangerous

If you experience feelings so intensely or for so long that you or others become alarmed by your reaction, you need to seek professional help.

Care Where You Need It

Hospice isn't a place. The VITAS interdisciplinary hospice team delivers care to wherever you call home:

a private residence
assisted living community
nursing home

Call VITAS at 800.582.9533