Grief support groups that fit your loss

Most cost nothing. Peer-led groups — the large majority of what’s listed here — are free, funded by nonprofits, hospices, and donors. GriefShare charges a small workbook fee. If cost ever blocks you from support, say so to the organizer; it is almost always waived.

Three reliable routes: the loss-specific networks on this page (most have chapter or group locators), GriefShare’s church-based finder for the largest in-person footprint, and — the one almost nobody knows — your local hospice. Every Medicare-certified hospice in the US (5,800 of them) is required to offer bereavement support, and most open free grief groups to the whole community, not just hospice families.

Call the nearest hospice and ask for the bereavement coordinator. That one call usually surfaces every group in town.

They do different jobs. A group gives you people who’ve lived your loss; counseling gives you one professional focused on you. Start with either. Move toward a counselor if grief is stopping you from functioning — months of sleeplessness, isolation, or thoughts of not wanting to be here (call or text 988 for that, today). Many people do both.

For many people, yes — and for some losses it’s better, because a specific group (young widows, suicide loss, pregnancy after loss) may not exist within fifty miles but meets online every week. The honest trade: online is easier to join and easier to quit. If you choose online, choose a scheduled group over a forum for your first step.