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Grief Support Group: Find Your People, Move Through Loss Together

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Grief has a way of making the world feel very small. The people around you move on — but inside, something is still very much there. A grief support group offers what most people never get enough of after loss: time, space, and a room full of people who actually understand. At Shifting Tides, our grief groups are led by licensed therapists.

What Is a Grief Support Group?

A grief support group is a small, therapist-facilitated gathering of people who have experienced loss and come together to share, witness, and move through grief in community. It's not about timelines or getting over it. It's about having a place where the weight of your loss is acknowledged, week after week, without anyone rushing you toward the exit.

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Every loss has its own shape. Group members have joined us grieving spouses and parents, but also siblings, friends, and loved ones lost to suicide - and the group welcomes young adults, men, and women alike. Whatever your loss, there is room for it here.

Our Offering & Background to Our Story

Deanna DiCostanzo, LCSW founded Shifting Tides after experiencing multiple life-altering losses of her own. She didn't just study grief — she lived it. What she wanted, and couldn't always find, was a place to grieve alongside others without feeling judged or misunderstood. This is now her tenth round of running the group, with many members returning again and again.​​

 

A virtual, closed grief and loss support group — 8 weeks, every Wednesday, one hour via Zoom. Open to all adults who are missing their person and navigating life after loss. All identities welcome.

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$80 per session | Sliding scale available | Free 15-minute consult to start

Anticipatory Grief Group

Grief doesn't begin at death. Our anticipatory grief support group is designed for caregivers and loved ones navigating a terminal illness or cognitive decline. If you are losing someone slowly, this group was made for you.

What Happens in the Group?

Each session begins with a check-in. From there, the group helps shape what gets explored — Deanna draws on somatic work, IFS, and DBT, but each cohort decides what they need. Topics that tend to come up:

  • Coping with isolation and navigating relationships after loss

  • Anger, guilt, and the emotions grief doesn't always name

  • Sudden vs. expected loss — how the circumstances shape the grief

  • Navigating trauma before the loss, and hospice experiences

  • Relearning what "normal" looks like — and handling the logistics no one warns you about

For more on how these groups work, see our research-backed benefits of grief support groups.

For Young Widows, Widowers & Those Grieving a Partner

Losing a spouse or partner rearranges everything - your home, your plans, your sense of who you are. And if you were widowed young, it can feel like no one around you truly understands. A young widow support group experience within our grief group means being alongside others who know what it is to grieve a partner while the rest of life keeps moving.

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Widows and widowers of any age are welcome. Spouse loss carries its own particular weight, and in the group you will never have to soften it or explain why, months later, it still hurts.

For Those Grieving a Parent

The loss of a parent changes the ground under you, whether it was sudden or long expected, and whether your relationship was close or complicated. In our grief support group, parent loss is one of the most common threads - the sorting of a childhood home, the birthdays that keep coming, the moments you reach for the phone.

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If you are looking for a parent loss support group, you will find people here who understand without needing the backstory. We have also written more about this in our article on losing a parent and what grief actually feels like.

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Online Grief Support Group: Join From Anywhere

All Shifting Tides grief groups are held virtually — no commute, no geographic barrier. Many members find the virtual format makes it easier to show up, especially early in grief.

Frequently Asked Questions About Grief Group

What is a grief support group?

A therapist-facilitated space where people who have experienced loss come together to share and support one another. At Shifting Tides, our groups are peer support circles facilitated by licensed therapists — offering the warmth and shared experience of community, held within a safe, professionally guided space.

How do I find a grief support group near me?

Shifting Tides offers online grief peer support groups, facilitated by a licensed therapist and open to adults anywhere. Book a free consultation to learn about availability. Local hospice organizations and hospital bereavement programs may also offer free options.

What happens in a grief support group?

Sessions are facilitated by a licensed therapist, beginning with a check-in and moving into open sharing around themes the group shapes together. You might share a lot some weeks and mostly listen others. Both are part of the process.

Is a grief support group the same as grief therapy?

They're complementary but different. Individual grief therapy is private, one-on-one work. A group adds the recognition of shared experience — many people find both serve something the other can't.

Other support groups we offer:

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