BIDDEFORD — Shock, despair, pain and guilt, anger, loneliness, sadness, and at some point, acceptance are some of the feelings that emerge when a loved one dies.

People are bereft — and grief has no time limit.

Those who have lost loved ones do not have to grieve alone.

An eight-week support group, led by Hope Memorial Chapel’s certified Aftercare Coordinator Deanne Robertson, begins May 3.

Each week will address a specific topic — whether it be how to deal with holidays, physical ailments like insomnia, caring for yourself, communicating with family and friends, and more.

“How to set up a new route to find the new normal,” said Robertson, who is also a certified funeral celebrant at Hope, performing funeral services at the request of families.

The support group will be co-led by Shelly Snow, director of spiritual care at Southern Maine Health Care, said Robertson.

The grief  support group, which people must sign up to join, is free and open to the community. The first 8-week session is designed for 10 people, but there will be more sessions, said Robertson, and some of shorter duration that address specific grief topics.

Robertson joined the funeral home in 2020, working part-time in the office. She later became interested in becoming a funeral celebrant, found online training and completed the course in February 2021.

“Two hours into the class, I knew, overwhelmingly so, that this was exactly what I was supposed to be doing,” she said.

She said she became interested in aftercare simply because she saw a tremendous need in the community and wanted to fill it.

“I’ve experienced great loss myself and would have benefited from this kind of support as I worked through my own grief,” Robertson said. “I wanted to create what I wish I had. In fact, as I was taking the training — through the International Grief Institute — I was able to work through some of my own lingering grief related issues, and I saw exactly how helpful it can be to others. It made me all the more excited to get ‘Hope Heals,’ our support group, up and running.”

“People can comfort each other,” said funeral director Pam Parenteau of the grief support group.

As well, a library is being created to help families, said Robertson, and those resources will be shared with hospice, nursing home staff and others.

Rob Rogers, the managing funeral director at Hope, said the support group and other initiatives are part of the funeral home’s goal to help people with all aspects of the healing process.

The no-cost Hope Heals grief support group will meet in the reception room of the funeral home at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday nights. To register, email: celebrant@hopememorial.com or call 282-6300.

As well, The Center for Grieving Children offers an array of resources for bereaved children and adults. Details are available at: https://www.cgcmaine.org/services. Hospice of Southern Maine offers online grief support groups, also at no charge. Information is available at hospiceofsouthernnmaine.org.

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