Grief Resources

Find supportive resources for coping with grief and loss, including support groups, grief and bereavement resources, apps, TED Talks, podcasts, and books.

Grief Resources

SUPPORT GROUPS & MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

The National Mental Health Consumer’s Self-Help Clearinghouse (MHselfhelp.org) An inclusive online resource connecting patients, health care providers, advocates, and policymakers

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: (800) 273-8255 A free, 24/7 service, offering trained counselors who help you if you are feeling suicidal. It can also be accessed by texting TALK to 741-741.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): (800) 662-4357 A free helpline offering treatment referrals and information in both Spanish and English

GRIEF & BEREAVEMENT RESOURCES

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (afsp.org)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (save.org)

Survivors of Suicide (survivorsofsuicide.com)

Support After Homicide (supportafterhomicide.ie) A free network of individuals who can help you if you are affected by loss through homicide.

APPS

Moodfit (Android/iphone):  a free mental health app whose tools and insight are meant to “shape up” your mood. Moodfit also helps you learn new skills, like gratitude and mindfulness, in just a few minutes per day. 

MoodMission (Android/iphone): the app helps people dealing with stress, anxiety, or depression. It recommends “missions” based on how the user is feeling. These missions include:

• Emotion-based activities like breathing exercises
• Behavior-based activities like learning how to knit, crochet, or sew
• Physical activities such as push-ups
• Thought-based activities such as learning how to reframe negative thoughts

Headspace (Android/iphone): a meditation app that can help you learn how to live mindfully with a variety of themed sessions on everything from stress and sleep to focus and anxiety.

Breathwrk (iphone): The app presents a collection of breathing exercises based on your goal: falling asleep, feeling relaxed, feeling energized, and alleviating stress.

Books

Blog Posts

• 12 Ways to Handle Grief That Resurfaces Unexpectedly
• How to Cope When the Pain of Grief Doesn’t Fade Over Time?
• 15 Hidden Ways Unresolved Grief Shows Up in Daily Life
• 10 Tips on Coping with Grief During the Holiday Season
• Top 6 Ways Grief Show Up In The Body
• Top 12 Grief Lessons No One Talks About
• Best +30 Grief Activities For Adults
• 6 Stages Of Grief: What They Are & How To Cope

Grief Journal Prompts

1. What did you miss today about your loved one?

2. When was the hardest time of today?

3. What have you been feeling most of lately? Where did you feel it in your body?

4. What do you tend to feel when you’re hit by a wave of grief?

5. What tends to trigger your feelings of grief? (events, holidays, songs, places, certain people, etc.)

Grief Apps

• Empathy — Loss Support
  Click here
  Combines emotional grief support with practical help after someone dies. It can help with funeral arrangements, paperwork, closing accounts, organizing tasks, working with family members, and getting support from care managers.
• Grief Refuge
  Click here
  A grief-specific app offering daily reflections, journaling, grief tracking, supportive audio, and exercises for coping with loss. It is designed to provide ongoing support when grief feels lonely or difficult to manage.

Grief Podcasts

• All There Is With Anderson Cooper
  Click here
  Anderson Cooper explores grief through his own experiences and conversations with people who have experienced major losses. Episodes discuss bereavement, memory, family, identity, continuing bonds, and learning how to live after someone important has died.
• Grief Out Loud — The Dougy Center
  Click here
  Combines personal grief stories with advice from bereavement professionals. Episodes cover grieving as an adult, supporting children and teenagers, sudden death, difficult anniversaries, ambiguous loss, and what genuinely helps grieving people.

Specific Grief Podcast Episodes

• How Grieving Changes the Brain — Speaking of Psychology
  Click here
  Grief researcher Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor explains what happens in the brain after someone important dies, why grief is different from depression, why yearning can remain so strong, and what helps people gradually adjust to life after loss.
• Ambiguous Loss and the “Myth of Closure” — Speaking of Psychology
  Click here
  Dr. Pauline Boss explains ambiguous loss and challenges the idea that people need complete “closure” before moving forward. The episode explores unresolved grief, uncertainty, resilience, and learning to live with a loss that may never feel completely finished.
• Building Resilience in the Face of Adversity — Speaking of Psychology
  Click here
  Grief and trauma researcher Dr. George Bonanno discusses how people respond differently to major losses, why there is no single correct way to grieve, and what research shows about adjustment and resilience after difficult life events.
• Facing Our Grief — All There Is With Anderson Cooper
  Click here
  Anderson Cooper reflects on what it means to continue living with grief rather than trying to eliminate it. The episode includes psychotherapist Francis Weller and explores memories, loss, avoidance, and developing a different relationship with grief.
• Creating a Companionship With Grief — All There Is With Anderson Cooper
  Click here
  Anderson Cooper and psychotherapist Francis Weller discuss what can happen when grief has been pushed away for years. They explore old coping strategies, emotional avoidance, and what it can mean to begin facing losses that were never fully processed.
• Angry and Grieving — Thanks for Asking
  Click here
  Nora McInerny explores anger during grief, including why grief can produce resentment, frustration, and reactions that people may feel ashamed of. The episode helps normalize anger as one possible part of bereavement rather than treating grief as sadness alone.

TED & TEDx Talks About Grief

• We Don’t “Move On” From Grief. We Move Forward With It — Nora McInerny
  Click here
  Nora McInerny challenges the expectation that grieving people eventually leave their loss behind. She explains how someone can rebuild a meaningful life while continuing to love, remember, and carry the person who died with them.
• The Journey Through Loss and Grief — Jason B. Rosenthal
  Click here
  Jason Rosenthal talks about losing his wife, writer Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and what came afterward. He discusses major life changes, memories, continuing to live after loss, and finding a way forward without denying what happened.
• What Happens in Our Brains When We Grieve? — Mary-Frances O’Connor
  Click here
  Grief researcher Mary-Frances O’Connor explains why the brain can continue expecting a deceased loved one to return and why adjusting to their absence takes time. She describes grief as a learning process rather than something someone should simply “get over.”
• Lost in Loss: A Window Into the Grieving Brain — Zoe Donaldson
  Click here
  Neuroscientist Zoe Donaldson explores what happens when grief becomes persistent and prevents someone from fully re-engaging with life. The talk looks at attachment, loss, and what research may teach us about prolonged grief.
• From Widow to Willow: A Journey Through Bereavement and Grief — Karla Hollencamp
  Click here
  Hollencamp shares her experience after the death of her husband and the practical lessons she learned while adapting to life without him. The talk focuses on accepting a changed reality while continuing to build a meaningful life.

Free Printable Worksheets For Grief (PDF)