Chesapeake Life Center has planned programs through the fall to help adult grievers in the community work through their loss in ways that best meet their needs.
- The Anne Arundel County Walking Group for Grievers will meet from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 25, at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, Maryland. It will begin with an easy walk suitable for most fitness levels. After, all will pause to share their experience and talk about ways to use the outdoors as a means of healing. The cost to participate is $10 to help with pavilion rental.
- The Prince George’s County Walking Group for Grievers affords another opportunity for a peaceful autumn walk around beautiful Lake Artemesia in Berwyn Heights in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Join one of the center’s bereavement counselors from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, for this free and easy walk and reflect on this season of change and nature’s capacity to provide healing in times of grief.
- Someone once said that another part of grief is learning to cook for oneself. Cooking While Grieving is an opportunity to share a meal and conversation about what it’s like to cook and dine after a loss. In partnership with Whole Foods Market in the Annapolis Town Center, join a small group of other grievers for a chef-prepared dinner in the market’s Culinary and Community Center from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29. The cost is $25. Space is limited.
- Writing through Your Grief is a workshop that will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 9 in the nonprofit’s bereavement center at Hospice of Charles County, 2505 Davis Road in Waldorf, Maryland. This healing exercise will allow participants to explore their grief in a safe and supportive environment. By writing our grief stories and sharing them, we no longer feel so alone. This workshop provides the opportunity to use therapeutic writing prompts to process and get to know yourself in grief. The cost is $10.
- Living with Suicide Loss is a workshop designed for adults grieving a loved one due to suicide. Living with loss after a suicide death brings an intense range of emotions along with many questions that may be impossible to answer. Because this loss is sudden and often unexpected, coming to terms with it may be made even more difficult by the challenges it presents to the griever’s basic beliefs about how life should unfold. Share in a safe space and explore together what helps and what remains after a loss like no other. It will take place in person from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13 on the John & Cathy Belcher Campus, 90 Ritchie Highway, Pasadena, Maryland. The cost is $10. Light refreshments will be served.
- Grief Yoga Monthly Support Group is a virtual offering for past participants of the four-week yoga workshop who are looking for continued support for mind and body during their grief journey. Only those who have participated in the Nurturing the Grieving Heart through Yoga program can enroll. It will meet from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Oct. 14, Nov. 11 and Dec. 9, via Zoom for Healthcare.
- The center’s free Quarterly Book Group is for bereaved adults to share in conversations about where grief meets life in literature. This quarter’s book choice is “The 4 Facets of Grief: Heal Your Heart, Rebuild Your World, and Find New Pathways to Joy,” by Ruth E. Field, LCSW. It will meet from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, Nov. 3, both in person at the center’s Prince George’s County office, 9500 Medical Center Road, Suite 250, Largo, Maryland, and virtually, via Zoom for Healthcare.
- Nurturing the Grieving Heart through Yoga returns for adult grievers. This four-week program that will meet online from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Nov. 3, 10 and 17, and Dec. 1. Facilitated by Cathy Rees, a registered nurse and certified yoga instructor with the Yoga Center of Columbia, participants remember their loved ones with more love than pain through targeted breathwork, very gentle movement and guided meditation. No yoga experience is necessary. The yoga can be practiced seated on a chair or from a mat on the floor. The cost is $40 for the four weeks.
For events occurring in person, participation is limited and restrictions will be updated prior to the event using the most recent Centers for Disease Control guidelines and organizational policies.
Registration is required and can be completed by calling 888-501-7077 or emailing griefinfo@chesapeakelifecenter.org. Visit www.hospicechesapeake.org/events for a complete listing of in-person and virtual groups and workshops for adults and children.
