ABSTRACT
Charlene came to the group willingly. She participated in the discussion, supporting others as she identified with some of their symptoms and behaviors. Midway through the hour, she reminded the leaders that she had lost her grandparent six months ago, and now, more recently, her mother. She was estranged from her father whom she had never felt close to during her childhood years. She talked of her grandmother. Sadness and laughter combined as she described a loving, and at times totally contradictory, woman who helped her mother raise her. Then she spoke of her father. She told of family secrets, and of information that had been told to her about her father’s behavior. She had learned things about her father that she had been far too young to understand, let alone handle emotionally. She wiped tears from her eyes.
