Yolo Hospice offers a twice-monthly support group for young adults grieving a loss. Whoever you are, we have a place for you. One of the young women in the group shared the story below about her experience.
I discovered Yolo Hospice upon losing my mom to a bone marrow disease in 2014 when I was twenty years old. After being her caregiver, daughter, and friend, I had no idea how to react or recover from such a devastating loss. My mom was the one who pushed me out of the nest, made me try new things, and was always a phone call away when I had even the smallest question. Losing her made me question my identity, since I no longer had her to look to as my role model and confidant.
Since I didn’t have close friends my age who had gone through this type of loss, I felt alone in the experience. As a college student without much financial stability, I started searching for free grief resources and came across the Yolo Hospice Young Adult support group. It was geared towards people my age who were trying to maneuver through their twenties while simultaneously grieving the loss someone close to them. Young adults grieve differently than teens and adults because they are often in transitional periods of life but aren’t completely independent in their lives yet. I read up on the support group, hoping it would be a positive place to voice my confusion and pain.
Since joining a year and a half ago, I have made genuine friendships with my group members who all have common experiences, struggles, and fears. Together, we learn how to laugh through the pain, support one another, and share our personal stories. We now have a set of tools that we can use in those moments where it feels like the grief takes over.
This is a journey that everyone goes through sooner or later, and for us it just happened to be sooner. Grief should not be experienced alone, which is why Yolo Hospice has been so instrumental in helping me accept my new normal. I will forever be grateful for the counselors and support system I have gained from it.
We’re gathering stories to share with the community as we approach the Big Day of Giving on May 3rd. If you have been touched by one of these stories, we hope you will consider supporting the work of Yolo Hospice, helping people like the bereaved daughter who bravely shared her experience. Join our Facebook event to continue hearing more stories.
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