I was very happy to register for the Bereavement Counseling Course that was to be held under the auspices of Esra. I felt that this was something that I really could do as I had experienced the intense pain of losing a child and the sadness of losing my parents in their golden years. My mother-in-law died during the course of the sessions, so death and mourning were very much part of my life’s experiences.

The loss of a loved one leaves one with enormous pain, but with each loss I felt that I could do a little bit of good to help others with their own pain and suffering.

Sitting together with the group each Monday morning and listening to ideas and concepts presented has helped clarify some of my own ideas. I have also become very aware of the written word when related to loss and pain and have taken to jotting these down to form my own handbook. I think that when things seem so very difficult we can help ourselves by changing our response to things. We have to think things out and through the Bereavement Counseling Course I believe that we have learned to assess things in a different way. Perhaps there is someone out there who could benefit from speaking it out one to one in an informal atmosphere. We have learned to listen, we have learned to hear but most of all we have learned not to judge.