Consoling dear ones: Denizens tread the path carefully, creatively

Covid-19 second wave led to numerous lives being lost, and the grief of those left behind has been insurmountable. To console their loved ones, some are taking the route of hobbies such as art/painting whereas some others are trying to volunteer for social work.

An NCR based social media user recently uploaded a heartfelt post that read: “I lost my younger brother to Covid-19. My Mom is struggling really bad. I was thinking of getting her a small puppy.” Many like this denizen have been grieving the loss of their loved ones, especially after the havoc played by the second wave of Covid-19. But there’s only so much that one can do to lessen the burden of the pain that their dear ones are facing, and in trying to console them, many are taking to uncharted, creative territories. While some are taking their family members for various therapies, some others are taking the route of hobbies such as art/painting, and a few are even taking up voluntary work, or forming close groups to connect with the hope of being able to deal with the loss in a collective manner.

Covid-19 has left many families grieving for the loss of their loved ones, and those consoling them are exploring some uncharted territories as well. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Safe spaces for bravehearts

Recently, there has been an outpour of grief on social media and requests for grief counselling. Same has been the case on the Facebook group, GurgaonMoms, which made their administrative team to plan an online grief counselling session for its members, with a counsellor on board. “A few members lost their husbands, and there are so many more who have lost loved ones in the pandemic. We felt we should be there to support our members in these trying times,” says a member of the group.

Subah is another such Facebook group that aims to provide a safe space to women who’ve lost their husbands to Covid-19. It’s founded by an advertising professional Chandana Agarwal, a leadership and life coach Yoshita Swarup Sharma, and a data scientist Sarita Digumarti. The group allows women to share their grief, connect with other bravehearts, and also lends them practical support to navigate through any of the financial, legal, and parenting related issues.Sharma says, “As we were ourselves recovering from Covid-19, we came across many social media posts of women who had not only lost their husband, but also the father to their kids and the breadwinner of their home. Our hearts went out to them and we wanted to provide them emotional as well as practical support. This inspired us to come up with Subah, which is a support group for women, by women.”

Those willing to join this group are required to register and that gives them access to one-on-one life coaching or counselling, parenting challenge support, unique buddy program, financial and legal advisory, résumé writing and career coaching, and the WhatsApp Braveheart community.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Helping others is therapeutic

Shampa Moitra, an entrepreneur who lost both her in-laws and brother-in-law to Covid-19 recently, decided to cope in her own way by helping Covid-19 affected families in her society. Besides, she took to art, specifically painting, to help herself deal with the loss. “We have a team of seven to eight volunteers, we had tracked similar cases, and started doing the needful in terms of isolation, and coordination for help. I took care of such families, fulfilling their needs of food and other services such as oxygen, and supporting in any requirement. It definitely helped me, as I could indulge in doing something for others, like a feel-good factor,” says Moitra.

Therapy, to deal with loss

“I lost my mom, and it was so sudden that it created a powerful impact on not just me, but also my father and my son,” says Sangeeta Kumar, blogger and homemaker, who shares that she benefitted from therapy. Later, she assisted a few of her friends and even relatives to take therapy sessions. “I had to be strong for my family, and my dad who is 88; he was emotionally devastated, so much that his nerves started to weaken. This news couldn’t sink in me, as I was still in the grief of having lost my mom, and even my brother... my reaction was ‘No, this isn’t happening’. That’s when took a session of bachflowers therapy, which left me in a state of awe and bliss. I continued it for a week and saw a lot of improvement in my dad as well as other family members, including myself in terms of dealing with the situation and not getting into depression. Sometimes we need to go to a therapist, to overcome the grief,” she adds.

Author tweets @Nainaarora8

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