No one makes it through life without losing family members and friends. However, few losses rival that of losing a child. After losing my siblings at an early point in life, as well as my parents later in life, I lost my beloved 26-year-old son Bill to a counterfeit fentanyl overdose. The grief of this loss has been beyond comprehension. Two years after his death, as a parent and a psychologist, I feel that I have learned some lessons about what to say, or rather do, with a friend who has lost a child. Much of this has come from working with a grief therapist, Lisa R. Yeager LICSW, CPTR, who, in turn, has been influenced by the work of Stephen Jenkinson.

We have lost understanding in our disengaged, disconnected culture of how to grieve and how to support others who are grieving. While no culture finds grief easy, there are cultures that accept and include grief and grieving as a normal and important part of life. We as members of this culture have an obligation to offer support to those who are grieving, knowing that our time will come when we need support as well.

When a friend, family member, or patient loses a child, we are aware that the magnitude of their loss is unimaginable, and we are often at a loss for what to do for our loved ones. We are almost always at a loss of what to say in that first encounter with a grieving parent. I would like to point out some things that I........

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