Goal: The SIBKL Grief Support Ministry seeks to assist grieving persons who, regardless of race or religion, have lost their loved ones and help them come to terms with their loss, cope with the present and live with hope for the future.

Role: We journey alongside grieving persons through the Diakonia Grief Support Group and one-to-one counselling sessions. Our objective is to help them in their emotional, spiritual and practical needs so that they emerge from their grieving process a better person who is closer to God. Our trained caregivers are mostly widows, widowers and grieving parents who have themselves journeyed through their own losses.

Necessity: Most people do not know how to grieve properly and completely following a major loss. We either try to bypass the pain, get busy to forget about it or merely suppress the grief. If we do not deal with the grief in the right way, it will not go away, no matter if the loss is recent or has happened many years ago. We may be able to function but the unresolved grief, like bitterness, will slowly eat into our bodies and in latter years, surface as depression, cancer, ulcers or other mental and physical sicknesses.

Time: The Diakonia Grief Support Group meets from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm over 13 Sundays in two seasons from March to June and August to October at M3-1, 3rd Floor, SIBKL. One-to-one counselling sessions are by appointment only and this can be arranged through Pauline at 012-387 8668.

Partnership: The SIBKL Grief Support Ministry works closely with a community-based grief support NGO called GGP Outreach (Grace to Grieving Persons).

Testimony: My husband was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago. My hopes and dreams died when he passed away in January 2003. The loss was deeper than anything I had ever experienced. My family, church members and friends did all they can to comfort me but none of them could relate to the sense of loss that I felt in me. After the funeral and in a quiet room together with my 2-month old son, I wished it was a dream. But it wasn’t. No words could ever explained how I felt.

Soon, I picked up myself again and decided not to be seen as dwelling in my own grief. I chose to be busy again with my work so that I do not have time to brood over the past. I put on a strong shield that ‘I am Ok’ but deep in me, there were a lot of fears and uncertainties.

I heard about the Diakonia Grief Support Group for the bereaved and I decided to join, thinking that I could help but instead, I was truly blessed. The teachings and small group discussions and ministry had helped me journey back in time to deal with my unresolved grief and emotions. I learnt to re-embrace the grief which I had suppressed for a long time. I began to be honest with myself and with others about my pain. As I shared, I gained perspective of the reality and I began to cope with my loss. I am able to accept now my new identity as a widow. This is not a journey that I planned but a trip that I must take.  
 
I urged those of you who are still grieving or in some ways have not properly dealt with your grief and think that you have overcome it, that you should join the Diakonia Grief Support Group and allow yourself to be completely healed.