What is Grief?

The feelings of grief can be caused by a multitude of circumstances such as chronic illnesses, trauma, relationships, substance abuse, and other life circumstances and situations.

However, the content and services on “A Pathway From Grief” are primarily created to address the emotional experiences by a mother, guardian, foster mother, adopted mother, care-taker, and etc. after the death of a child.

Grief

Grief is a normal and natural internal reaction due to the death of your child, and; no two people will ever grieve the same.  The death of a child can cause a Mother to experience conflicting feelings.  To name a few, you can experience rock bottom sadness, uncontrollable tears, an outburst of anger, or complete shutdown without any conversation for days.

High blood pressure is known to be a silent killer.  Guess what?  Grief too can be a silent killer if not addressed.  Avoiding grief can lead to addictions such as substance abuse, anxiety, depression, inability to focus and maintain your job and household responsibilities, panic attacks and much more, all of these symptoms can change the life you have worked so hard to establish.

The only escape from grief is to ...actually go through the grief!

Mourning

Mourning is grief inside out.  Mourning is showing and doing by taking steps towards your healing; steps away from the grief. 

You are mourning when you cry, talk to someone about the death, write in a journal, put together a photo display, or write a thank-you note for a casserole you received.  These are all acts of mourning.

Grief is what you think and feel on the inside, and mourning is when you express that grief outside of yourself.

Still have questions?  Email me at and I will be happy to answer any questions you have.