Image by Nathalie Himmelrich
What we are here for
The Grieving Parents Support Association (GPSA) fosters the emotional and psychosocial support of bereaved parents, which are parents whose child or children (no matter their age or gestation) died.
With this purpose in mind, we provide the following support services:
- offer yearly free events, run by the community of parents of the Grieving Parents Support Network (GPSN),
- collect donations to fund resources to donate to grieving parents through bereavement centres, hospitals, and partnering associations/charities
- educate parents to help themselves and each other through the online peer support group May We All Heal
All of the above-mentioned services are not-for-profit.
Vision
Our vision is that bereaved parents are met with more understanding. This can only happen when they can find ways to tell their friends, family, acquaintances and therefore society as a whole about the reality of their personal experiences. In order for them to share those experiences, they need to have already walked some of their grief paths and found ways of healthy grieving and healing.
The long-term vision is for the Grieving Parents Support Network (GPSN) to become the place of access for parents, so they can find the most suitable support on their grief path, whether that is one-on-one support, participation in the online support group or through bibliotherapy (reading of the publications). To do that we are in collaboration with other associations, foundations and charities worldwide who follow a similar purpose. In the end, we believe that we all can contribute to changing people’s perception of grief and loss which will lead to better understanding, acceptance support and healing.
Mission
Our mission is to normalize grief and validate grieving parents’ emotions. We strive to support bereaved parents, assure them they and their feelings are “normal”, and allow them to feel understood. More than anything, we want to let them know they are not alone.
Our projects and publications are described on the website of the Grieving Parents Support Network (GPSN) which allows interested people to follow them and encourages them to participate. The GPSN aims to come alongside bereaved parents with our written work, online resources and peer support groups to gently carry them forward on this life-long journey of loss. To this end, we share our own stories of loss and hope with parents grieving the loss of a child of any age.
Donors are being thanked and listed. They may remain anonymous if they wish. We also list donations in the name of a child who died.
It is also part of our mission to encourage parents to solidarity, to make them aware of their shared experiences despite the differences in their child’s loss. This not only allows them to support themselves but they become an example for society on how to deal with grief and loss surrounding the death of a child.