ADOBE STOCK “Why Aftercare?” For Families As I mentioned above, my family did not hear anything from the funeral home after the service itself. We were not expecting to hear anything from them, but I recognize now that it was a missed opportunity. My father fought cancer for three years. For 36 months, we had the chance to prepare ourselves for the inevitable grief and pain we would feel upon losing him. Through that process, I learned that there is nothing we could have done to prepare ourselves for that moment when we eventually lost him. Even with those three years, we still felt blindsided and like we didn’t know where to turn for support after the service and our friends and extended family went back to their day-to-day lives. My story is not unique. Every day families across the country lose loved ones, either expectedly or unexpectedly. In both cases, it is devastating for families and grief can have a considerable impact. There are over 13 million grievers due to death in the United States every year. The role of aftercare is to provide those families you serve with a metaphorical, yet sometimes literal, lifeline. A way for families to get their questions answered and have their needs met. I recognize that a funeral home isn’t a grief therapy clinic, and funeral directors aren’t grief therapists, but they don’t have to be. The simple act of reaching out to families who have lost a loved one and letting them know that they are not alone; that others are thinking about them goes a long way. www.ogr.org | The Independent® 25
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