Loss and grief

Losing a parent

The death of a parent. Including complicated grief when the relationship was difficult, abusive, or estranged. Including the grief of losing a parent you never really had, or of losing one before you got to resolve things between you.

If some version of this is part of your story, you already know that the hardest part is rarely the memory itself. It is carrying it in a world that mostly does not want to hear about it. This fellowship exists so you do not have to carry it alone, and so you never have to explain it to someone who has no idea what it means.

What can follow an experience like this

No two people carry the same experience the same way. These are some of the effects that people with this experience often describe. Having some of them, all of them, or none of them says nothing about how real what happened to you was.

Clinging or shutting down in relationships Attachment is the system that governs how we connect with other people, how close we let them get, how we respond when they pull away, how we handle being needed. Insomnia or feeling unsafe enough to sleep Difficulty falling asleep. Not knowing who you are, or experiencing multiple parts or identities A self that shifts depending on who you are with. Grief that is stuck and will not let you move Grief that did not follow the expected path. Fear of being abandoned Not just not wanting people to leave. Struggling to make sense of what happened to you The questions that will not resolve. Exhaustion that sleep does not fix This is not tiredness. Loss of faith or not knowing what to believe anymore Something happened and the belief system that held your world together stopped holding.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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