Whether you've lost a partner, child, parent, or friend, you may feel like you've lost a part of yourself. You may feel incomplete, alone, vulnerable. You face constant reminders of your time together and wonder how you will face the future. You can't just "get over it," but you know that you must find a way to move forward with your life.
As difficult as it is, grieving is a natural part of life. It takes its toll – physical, emotional, and spiritual – it takes work, and it takes time. While everyone will experience grief at some point in life, we all experience it differently – in our own way and at our own pace.
The Tissue Center understands the grief that individuals experience when their loved one has passed away and seeks to provide bereavement support to assist with this transition. Following the family's generous decision to allow their loved one to be a donor, our coordinators send a letter extending our condolences thanking them for their participation in the donation process. The family also receives bereavement support materials, which include booklets and other support information designed to speak directly to families facing their first year of grief. The bereavement materials, accompanied by a personalized letter from the coordinator, are sent to the donor family throughout the first year following their loved one's death. We make available our Bereavement Services to the family regardless of their decision to donate.
If you would like to be in touch with a Bereavement Counselor as soon as possible, please contact Worth Kilcrease at (512) 658-2674 or worth@kilcrease.com. Worth is a licensed counselor and holds a Fellowship in Thanatology: Death, Dying, and Bereavement from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Worth is dedicated to counseling those who are suffering mental, emotional, social, moral, and spiritual pain related to death, dying, and bereavement. He provides bereavement counseling to people of all ages suffering the loss of a parent, spouse/partner, sibling, child, or unborn baby. He is thoroughly familiar with the dying process, having counseled and comforted many caregivers and their dying loved ones through his work with Hospice Austin. Visit his website at www.kilcrease.com.
Worth is an independent counselor and is not employed by The Tissue Center. Please speak with him regarding counseling fees.
Donor Family ListServe: An Online Support Group
Organ and tissue donor families are located all across the United States. The Donor Family ListServe*, a secure e-mail group specifically for donor families, is a forum for families to share their feelings with one another through e-mail and to offer support during difficult times. This service is available free of charge to all Tissue Center donor family members. If you would like to participate in the Donor Family ListServe, please forward your full name and the full name of your loved one who became a donor, along with your email address, to tissue@inyourhands.org. Be assured that your contact information will be held in strictest confidence. You will receive a "welcome" e-mail that explains how the online support group works and what to do if you decide to unsubscribe.
*The Donor Family ListServe is provided and maintained by LifeNet Health, an organ and tissue donation agency and partner of the Tissue Center of Central Texas.
