GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing) was created to help provide sources of help,
compassion and most of all, understanding,
for families or individuals who have had
a loved one die as a result of substance abuse or addiction.
Anyone who has lost a loved one through addiction knows that society treats that death in a much different manner than a death from any other cause. There is the unspoken feeling that the individual who succumbed to drugs must have somehow been less than a good person. And for the person who has survived, surely they too must have somehow been a failure, for "letting this occur." Why were they not strong enough to stop this from happening? You were, they feel, in whatever way, partially a factor in the demise of the person you grieve. As Dr. Carlton K. Erickson, Professor of Pharmacology, and Director, Addiction Science Research and Education Center from the University of Texas, Austin, commonly states in his lectures: SPAM -- Stigma, Prejudice And Misunderstanding kills more addicts and alcoholics than anything. We believe that it does great harm to those who love the person suffering from this disease and ultimately impairs their ability to grieve as well.
Anyone who has gone through the anguish of losing a loved one through substance abuse knows the feeling. Just the loss of that person is devastating enough. But coupled with friends and associates who, try as they might not to, look at you in a different way and, you're sure, thinking less of you for what happened, make it nearly impossible to cope. Above all, they do not want to discuss it with you, feeling inadequate to really comprehend what you're going through.
But where to turn? Society has grieving groups for when a child has died from every conceivable means. There are similar groups for friends or family members "- parent, sibling, spouse or partner," as well. But, oddly, there is little help available for those who have lost that special person through a drug overdose (OD) or a death related to their addiction.
GRASP was created to offer a single source to people in this specific group, those who have lost a child, parent, spouse, partner or sibling through chemical dependency, OD, addiction. GRASP offers resources of many types. You're invited to explore our menu. Somewhere you will find a thought, a page, a suggestion, book or a direction, to help give you encouragement and a path in the days ahead.
GRASP
Grief Recovery After A Substance Passing Denise and Gary Cullen
E-mail: denisecullen@broken-no-more.org Copyright 2010, GRASP
Denise Angela Cullen, LCSW
Certified Grief Recovery® Specialist
760-262-8612 714-865-7879
Recovery® Specialist