MIDLAND, Texas — The loss of a life is something that can impact a nation, but it is important to know where local resources are when it comes to dealing with grief.
Grief looks different for every person who experiences it, but the hurt is something everyone feels.
"Your emotions and your intellect haven't quite caught up with each other," President of American Heritage Cemetary, Funeral Home & Crematory David Cole said. "You might have a knowledge...an understanding up here, but your heart hasn't really processed that quite yet. And so, what we do, a process of what we so is try to get the people as healthily as possible to the place of acceptance so they can embrace emotionally, physically and spiritually, that a loss has occurred."
Cole said his focus is on being present with families in the early stages of grief.
"Usually when we interact with folks, it's immediately after a loss and then sometimes after that first year of loss," Cole said. "We get to see people in those different phases, and we minister, love on people, just try to serve them where they're at."
People who experience grief need acknowledgement of their new reality because loss is hard.
Mary Kathyrn Wimberly has been a facilitator for GriefShare for about five years and through her personal experiences, she knows it to be a rewarding program.
"In 2015, my husband and I lost our daughter and Midland Bible Church was offering a GriefShare class so we went through that a few times and we were so impacted by the program it was so helpful in that really intense season that when the church reached out to us and asked if we would facilitate, we felt like that was a really good fit for us to be able to continue to walk through the healing ourselves, and also to help other people walking through that really difficult season," Wimberly said.
GriefShare is 13-week program that local churches host. They offer tools and resources that apply to every unique circumstance.
Kimberly said rather than painting grief as a straight line, GriefShare describes it as the goals of grief.
"Instead of 'Am I moving on from one to the next?' it's sort of jumping around like today maybe I am having a hard time accepting my loss and so I'm going to work through that today and maybe in the future, I'm going to need to work through healing in a different way," Kimberly said. "GriefShare sort of touches on everything's going to be different depending on the person and depending on the season and depending on the loss. Every loss is unique because every relationship with a loved one is unique."
GriefShare is offered through six different local churches in the Midland and Odessa area, and while there are still lots of places people can find the help they're seeking, healing starts within.
"Grief is a lifelong process," Cole said. "You have to be patient with yourself. You have to love yourself in order to get through it and it's not easy, but there is a wonderful community here in West Texas that really supports people who have dealt with loss."