Helping a Friend or Neighbour Cope
with Loss
Excerpted from: “What To Do When Someone Dies”
By Buz Overbeck and Joanie Overbeck.
TLC Group
Publications for Transition, Loss, and Change
Dallas, Texas USA
- Before the Funeral:
- Offer to notify his/her family and friends about
funeral arrangements
- House-sit to prevent burglaries during the funeral
and visitations
- Help answering the phone and greeting visitors
- Keep a record of everyone who calls, visits or has
been contacted
- Help co-ordinate the food and drink supply
- Offer to pick up friends and family at the airport.
Arrange housing
- Offer to provide transportation for out-of-town visitors
- Help him/her keep the house cleaned and the dishes
washed
- After the Funeral:
- Prepare or provide dinner on a day that is mutually
acceptable
- Do Step a. every week for two to three months
- Offer to help with yard chores such as watering or
pruning
- Feed and exercise the pets, if any
- Write notes offering encouragement and support
- Offer to drive or accompany him/her to the cemetery
regularly
- Offer to house sit so he/she can get away or visit
family out of town
- Make a weekly run to the grocery store, laundry,
or cleaners
- Help with the Thank You notes and/or other correspondence
- Anticipate difficult periods such as anniversaries,
birthdays, holidays, and the day of death
- Always mention the deceased by name and encourage
reminiscing
-
Above all, just listening and your concern and presence
will help.
TLC Group grants anyone the right to use this information
without compensation so long as the copy is not used
for profit or as training materials in a profit making
activity such as workshops, lectures, and seminars,
and so long as this paragraph is retained in its entirety.
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