How to best support someone who is newly widowed

Kim Hamer, Widow & Founder of "Exactly What They Need", shares advice on a number of ways you can support someone who has recently lost a spouse
How To Best Support Someone Who Is Newly Widowed
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How to best support someone who is newly widowed

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There are a lot of ways you can support a newly widowed person. Everyone wants to bring meals for instance – don't bring a meal. What you can do is put a cooler outside their door, so the meals can be dropped off, so the person doesn't have to be there or doesn't have so see anybody. The other really important thing is you could also let everyone know to bring the meals in non-returnable containers – this is not the time to deliver a meal in your great aunt Floe’s favorite dish, because the person in crisis is probably not going to remember that you even gave it to her. Another great thing to do is to allow them to express themselves and to feel the grief. It's a very difficult thing to sit and watch somebody in pain, but to be their witness, to let them be in pain, to let them know that at the end they're going to get out of the pain is one of the most powerful things you can do, for not just a widowed person but for anyone who's going through a crisis.

Kim Hamer, Widow & Founder of "Exactly What They Need", shares advice on a number of ways you can support someone who has recently lost a spouse

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Kim Hamer

100 Acts of Love: A Girlfriend's Guide to Loving A Friend Through Cancer or Loss

Kim Hamer is the author of 100 Acts of Love: A Girlfriend's Guide to Loving Your Friend through Cancer or Loss, a modern, essential how-to guide offering tips on what to say (and NOT to say), and specific ways to support and love a friend, co-worker or family member who is coping with cancer, loss or any crisis.

Kim Hamer became a widow after her 44-year old husband lost his life to cancer. Their children were 12, 9 and 7 at the time. Before and after her husband’s death, friends and supporters came up with unique, creative and simple ways to help her family. She called them “acts of love” because it’s what they felt like.

Her book is a fun, straightforward compilation of many of those acts. The mission of “100 Acts of Love” is to help everyone understand and embrace their importance in the lives of their friend in crisis and to provide the tools and courage needed to support them in a truly meaningful and helpful way.

More Parenting Videos from Kim Hamer >
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