Grief Seminar Focusses on Holidays, Missing Loved One
Grief Seminar Focusses on Holidays, Missing Loved One
The Milbank Area Hospital Avera will host a special seminar entitled Surviving the Holidays, designed to support anyone who is suffering from the grief of a lost loved one.
The event is free and will be conducted on Thursday, November 13, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Milbank Visitor Center, 1001 E. 4th Ave. Those attending are asked to register by calling 605-432-3295.
Jody Kuper, whose wife, LeAnn, died in 2021, will serve as the facilitator of the seminar for the fifth year. “Everyone grieves differently and needs time to work through it,” Kuper noted. “I find that I’m at a different place in my own journey each year that I lead this class, so I approach it differently. I also learn something new each time I do this.”
The seminar is designed to help participants discover how to deal with emotions, as well as to learn strategies as they face the holiday season and long-standing traditions.
The holiday season can be stressful for anyone, but for those who are embarking on the season while grieving a loved one, it can be especially difficult. The seminar may help them find tips for surviving social situations and even develope hope for the future.
“After I lost LeAnn, I was looking for a way that my life could work in a ministry,” Kuper said. “This wasn’t what I had planned, but it is what God had planned.”
Kuper stresses that the holiday grief seminar is just a one time gathering, but it does give participants a glimpse of the grief series that is available in the spring.
In his experience, Kuper has seen that people may get stuck in their grief and be unable to move forward. He advises, “But if you learn to turn your grief into lasting memories, it can become more positive over time.”
“I learn something new every year, but it always comes down to faith, family and friends – that’s what will pull you through. That’s what life is all about.”
