Coping with Loss
Life-changing events challenge our coping skills as individuals. They force us to reassess our priorities, and they transform our lives. Loss in its broadest sense is not only a "death,” but rather all of the endings that the impending death or the death itself brings upon us and our families.
At St. Mary’s Medical Center, our Grief Support Center (GSC) offers counseling, support and education to individuals of all ages who are affected either prior to or after the death of a loved one. Founded in 1985, the GSC was the first center of its kind in the United States. Today, we still serve as a model for others who are interested in developing hospital-based community grief and bereavement programs.
Our primary goals are to help people address their losses, focus on what they still have left, and help them identify ways to move forward. We serve not only the needs of patients of SMDC Health System and their families, but also employees of SMDC and individuals and communities across the region, through a wide variety of programs and services that include: