For anyone coping with loss or life transition, here is a guide to the support group process.
If you need help coping with loss--of a loved one, a marriage, or a way of life--Harriet Sarnoff Schiff offers wise, compassionate guidance in The Support Group Manual. Here is straightforward advice on finding participants, locating or becoming a facilitator, and establishing effective ground rules. Schiff also provides a flexible agenda for seven group sessions--focusing on the topics of denial, anger, religion, guilt, depression, powerlessness, and acceptance--designed to give participants an understanding of what they are going through and a format for exploring and sharing their feelings and experiences. There is special focus on the unique issues affecting gay people and their families, and on losses in one's own life--such as job loss or loss of independence--that do not involve the loss of another person.
The Support Group Manual is the ideal companion for anyone seeking support, healing, and affirmation that "no one walks alone who chooses to share his or her life with others."