Grief & Bereavement Support Group: ‘Keeping On, Keeping On’

March 6, 2025

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health Offers Grief & Bereavement Support Group: “Keeping On Keeping On.”

Grief is a journey with no “Fast Forward” button, as one television character recently reminded another who was mourning a dear friend. The experience of loss is deeply personal, marked by emotional highs and lows, and each individual’s path through bereavement is unique. The phrase “Keeping on keeping on” captures this ongoing movement through grief — and finding support along the way can make a meaningful difference.
To help members of the community navigate this difficult terrain, Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is sponsoring a Grief & Bereavement Support Group, starting Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 10:30 AM. Meetings will be held in the upstairs art room at the Plymouth Area Regional Senior Center, now fully accessible via elevator. New participants are encouraged to arrive by 10:15 AM to obtain a parking slip from the front desk receptionist.
This free support group offers a compassionate space for individuals to share, reflect, and find comfort among others who understand the complexity of grief. The group will also explore the value of self-care during especially difficult emotional times. Attendees are asked to join the first session on March 18 and to arrive on time to help foster a supportive group dynamic.
Interested persons should pre-register by contacting Guy Tillson, Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Coordinator, at gtillson@pbhha.org or by calling 603-536-2232.

New Grief Support Group ‘Enduring Through Loss’ Starting

December 19, 2024

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health Offers New Grief Support Group ‘Enduring Through Loss’.

As part of its service to our wider community, PEMI-BAKER HOSPICE & HOME HEALTH will be offering a grief and loss support group, beginning on Tuesday, January 14, and continuing through February 18, 2025. This six-week series “Enduring Through Loss” will explore the experiences of grieving and mourning. Individuals who have been bereaved can often feel isolated and alone, unequipped to deal with the emotional upset and turbulence following a loss. Sometimes they feel they are coming unhinged and losing control of their thoughts and behaviors.

This series will seek to validate and normalize some of the various reactions and responses characteristic of grief, while coming to terms with a loss. Suggestions toward coping skills and ways to quell and soften the intensity of the personal and individual features of one’s experience will be part of the support offered.

The experience of loss is not restricted to the death of a loved one, but may include the loss of employment, the severing of a relationship, financial setbacks, or the effects of a natural disaster, or relocation to an unfamiliar area or setting.

The group will meet on Tuesday mornings at 10:30am in the upstairs Art Room at the Plymouth Regional Senior Center. Each session will conclude by 12:00 noon. Unfortunately, the elevator at the Senior Center is currently out of order, so participants need to be able to use the stairs to access the Art Room.

There is no cost to participate in the group. To know how many to prepare for, participants need to pre-register by contacting Guy Tillson, Hospice Chaplain and Bereavement Coordinator at Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health. He can be reached by email at gtillson@pbhha.org or by phone at 603 536-2232.

Grief and Loss Support Group Series Starting January 30, 2024

January 15, 2024

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health Announces Grief and Loss Support Group Series Starting January 30, 2024

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is pleased to announce a six-week Grief and Loss Support Group series, commencing on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. The series, led by Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Coordinator, Guy Tillson, will explore the theme “The Impact of Loss on Our Lives.”

Loss, in its various forms, affects individuals in profound ways, influencing personal and family concerns, physical health, social relationships, financial and material needs, emotional reactions and responses, and self-care and spiritual issues. The support group will feature brief presentations by Mr. Tillson, with the primary focus on fostering open discussions and sharing among participants.

The sessions will be held in the upstairs Art Room at the Plymouth Regional Senior Center, accessible by elevator. The series does not strictly follow a curriculum but serves as a platform for addressing the unique needs of the group participants. The experience of loss, whether through death, sudden unemployment, divorce or separation, or relocation, will be approached with sensitivity and understanding.

Details of the Grief and Loss Support Group Series:

Dates: Every Tuesday, starting January 30, 2024, for six weeks
Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 pm
Location: Upstairs Art Room, Plymouth Regional Senior Center (accessible by elevator)
Address: 8 Depot Street, Plymouth, NH 03264
Registration: Pre-registration is required. Contact Guy Tillson at gtillson@pbhha.org or 603-536-2232.
Cost: There is no cost for participation.

Important Note: Participants without parking slips are advised to arrive early to obtain one at the front desk. Please be attentive to weather conditions. In the event of Plymouth school closures, the Senior Center will also be closed, and the group meeting will be canceled.

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health encourages individuals seeking support in their grief journey to join this compassionate and understanding community. The series aims to provide a safe space for healing, sharing, and finding solace in the company of others who understand the impact of loss on our lives.

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is a trusted, nonprofit agency proudly serving 32 towns in central and northern NH since 1967. Expert services include at-home healthcare and physical therapies (VNA), hospice and palliative care, and community programs including: American Red Cross CPR/AED/FA, Caregiver and Bereavement Support Groups and Ask A Pemi-Baker Nurse days at your local senior centers. Providing compassionate care with experienced staff who are trained, certified professionals and also your neighbors. In your time of need, we’re right where you need us.

Pemi-Baker is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Suite 3, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org Like our Facebook Page: @pemibakerhospicehomehealth

Grief & Loss Support Group Offers Comfort and Connection for Those in Need

April 1, 2023

6 Week Series Offered by Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health

Beginning Tuesday, April 25th, 2023

Pemi-Baker Hospice and Home Health will begin a new Bereavement Support Group series on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Our Bereavement Support Groups include a brief educational component to stimulate sharing and discussion among participants who are seeking to process grief from any kind of loss. In an effort to be available to a wider sector of our communities, Pemi-Baker’s Bereavement Support Groups are offered in the morning in-person at the Plymouth Area Senior Center at 11:00am. The group will meet for six weeks.

Kubler-Ross: 5 Stages of Grief

This particular series offering is entitled “KUBLER-ROSS: BEFORE AND BEYOND”. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) have filtered down into our common awareness since they were first proposed in the 1960s.

There were other grief theorists prior to her work, including Sigmund Freud himself, “the father of modern psychology”, in the 1920s. In the 1940s, Erich Lindemann suggested moving toward an emotional detachment from the deceased, readjusting to one’s environment where the deceased is no longer present, and establishing new relationships as a plan toward dealing with loss. Coming after Kubler-Ross, in the 1970s, John Bowlby and Colin Murray Parkes developed their four-stage grief work model. In the 1980s, J. William Worden described four tasks of mourning and Therese Rando formulated her six R’s of Bereavement (recognize, react, recollect, relinquish, readjust, and reinvest).

Simon Rubin, in the 1990s, submitted for consideration his notion of two tracks of bereavement while Margaret Stroebe and Henk Schut proposed their dual process model wherein the bereaved person is challenged both by loss-related stress and the stress of moving toward restoration as life around the bereaved continues to go on. Alan D. Wolfelt devised a listing of six needs of mourning.

As grief studies continue to develop, we are learning that the process of mourning is unique and profoundly personal. Though there may be common elements in the process, no two persons will grieve in the same way at the same pace.

Pemi-Baker’s Bereavement Support Groups hope to provide a safe setting in which mourning persons can meet and speak their experience of working through their grief. Listening to others share their own discovery of what has been helpful, can provide group members with points of commonality and connection which may help in ongoing growth and healing.

Again, the groups are intended to assist in the processing of any loss, not just loss occurring following upon a death. There is no cost for attendance. Interested persons MUST pre-register prior to the first session on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Please contact the group facilitator, Guy Tillson, Pemi-Baker Hospice and Home Health Bereavement Services Coordinator by email at gtillson@pbhha.org or leave a phone message at 603 536-2232.

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is a trusted, nonprofit agency proudly serving 29 towns in central and northern NH since 1967. Expert services include at-home healthcare and physical therapies (VNA), hospice and palliative care, and community programs including: American Red Cross CPR/AED/FA, Caregiver and Bereavement Support Groups and ‘Ask A Pemi-Baker Nurse’ days at your local senior centers. Providing compassionate care with experienced staff who are trained, certified professionals and also your neighbors. In your time of need, we’re right where you need us.

Pemi-Baker is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Suite 3, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org Like our Facebook Page: @pemibakerhospicehomehealth

~written by Guy Tillson