ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on widows and groups and looks at how widows experience grief. It explores how losing a husband in a death-denying society impacts negatively on women. The chapter considers the factors which bring healing to women grieving spousal loss. It follows the therapeutic nature of groups in general and the value of grief support groups for widows in particular. The chapter provides a comprehensive explanation of "Alone and Growing," a structured grief work support group model. Grief is the experiencing of all the emotions connected with a loss from the shocked stage through to acceptance and eventually to finding joy again in one's life. Going though grief means going through all of the emotions we know are associated with the grief process initially explained as stages by E. Kübler-Ross. These emotions include numbness or shock, denial, bargaining, anger, guilt, sadness to depression, fear to panic, determination, rejuvenation, and acceptance.
