Healing Hearts: The Role of a Gilchrist Bereavement Facilitator
A Path to Bereavement Facilitation: Donna Naslund’s Journey
In 2010, Donna Naslund boarded a transformative journey with Gilchrist, initially taking on various roles within the volunteer department. By 2011, she decided to focus distinctly on bereavement support, a shift influenced by her professional nursing background and her own profound personal experiences with loss. Widowed at the age of 26, Naslund brings a unique depth of empathy and understanding to her role, qualities that are deeply resonant with those she supports. Through her dedication and heartfelt approach, Naslund has become a cornerstone of the Gilchrist community, offering a guiding light to many navigating the complexities of grief.
The Vital Role of a Bereavement Facilitator
As a Bereavement Facilitator, Donna has been instrumental in creating a space for healing and connection. The role is less about leading and more about allowing space. As Donna puts it, “When you’re facilitating a group, you’re doing simply that. You’re helping a group come together and share common ground, and you help them talk to one another and meet each other in that space with a common experience they’re sharing. So, you have to get out of your own way. It’s not about the facilitator at all. It’s a little bit of an art how you step back.” Donna’s approach is to foster a community where individuals can share their grief, find common ground, and support one another in their journeys. Facilitating mainly spousal loss and occasionally sibling loss groups, she focuses on ensuring these spaces are secure and supportive. “You’re allowing people to talk, explore, problem-solve, and then bring in some targeted, useful information. You consolidate, summarize for people, and you maintain certain boundaries to ensure everyone is talking and safe,” Donna shares.
A Decade of Dedication: The Legacy of a Spouse Loss Support Group
In 2014, Donna led a spouse loss support group at Gilchrist that surpassed all expectations in cohesion and longevity. Initially set as a conventional six-week program, the group quickly transcended its original format, evolving into a robust support network that still meets today. They recently celebrated their tenth anniversary together. Bud Piff, a pivotal group member, found the experience so transformative that he pursued training under Donna’s mentorship. For years, he led groups as a Bereavement Facilitator at Gilchrist, illustrating the profound and lasting influence of supportive communal experiences in the journey through grief.
Becoming a Bereavement Facilitator at Gilchrist
For those interested in becoming facilitators, Gilchrist offers a structured training program that begins with general volunteer training to familiarize candidates with the organization. This progresses to specifictraining focused on in-depth understanding of how to support bereaved in a professional way. Bereavement training offers co-facilitation opportunities, ensuring that facilitators are well-prepared to handle the complexities of group dynamics and individual grief processes. “It’s such a hopeful thing to facilitate grief support groups. You wouldn’t think that it is. You would think it would be so sad, but it isn’t. It’s really humbling and just such a rewarding experience to hold space with people as they grapple with such a painful situation and access these deep, resilient parts of themselves,” Donna reflects.
Introducing the Breathing and Movement Workshop This Fall
Recognizing the integral link between physical and emotional healing, Donna pursued a yoga certification. With this new expertise, she crafted a unique workshop that seamlessly blends breathing and movement techniques with bereavement support, effectively addressing grief through coordinated physical movements and breath work. This fall, Gilchrist will offer a revamped workshop format that makes these tools more accessible and less intimidating, moving away from traditional yoga to emphasize simple, gentle movements and breathwork suited to everyone’s abilities.
Guidance for Those Considering Bereavement Services
Donna offers heartfelt advice to anyone considering joining a bereavement group: it is a profound way to find community and understanding among those experiencing similar losses. These groups provide a space to share grief and discover collective resilience and hope. According to Donna, “Grief is very isolating. It’s very personal. When you’ve had a loss, you can feel very lonely, even in a crowded room. But when you come together with a group of people in the same situation as you, there’s a bonding and a community and a sense of not being alone in what you’re experiencing that makes such a huge difference in comfort and understanding.”
Donna Naslund’s journey at Gilchrist demonstrates how personal experiences and professional expertise can facilitate meaningful support for those dealing with loss. Her work—whether through traditional support groups or innovative approaches highlights the powerful blend of empathy, creativity, and commitment that Gilchrist brings to its community, making every effort a step toward healing.
To learn more about Gilchrist’s Support Groups and Workshops, visit: https://gilchristcares.org/services/counseling-support/counseling-programs/grief-counseling/