Grief & Coping
Grief can affect your emotions, health, relationships, routines, and sense of identity. Learn about common grief experiences, practical ways to cope, and places to find support.
Grief Does Not Follow a Schedule
Grief is a natural response to loss, but it does not look or feel the same for everyone. You may experience sadness, anger, guilt, numbness, relief, confusion, or several emotions at once.
There is no single correct way to grieve and no deadline for feeling better. Support can come from trusted people, peer groups, spiritual communities, grief counselors, therapists, or other resources that fit your needs and beliefs.
What Grief Can Look Like
Grief can affect far more than mood. Its effects may change from day to day, appear unexpectedly, or become more noticeable during anniversaries, holidays, family events, and other reminders.
There Is No Correct Timeline
Grief may become less intense, return unexpectedly, or change over time. Comparing your experience with someone else’s can make an already difficult process harder.
Caring for Yourself While Grieving
Grief can make ordinary tasks harder. Small, manageable actions may help you get through difficult days.
- Eat, rest, and take medications as regularly as you can.
- Break difficult tasks into smaller steps.
- Tell trusted people what kind of help you need.
- Make time for rest, movement, reflection, or familiar routines.
- Seek professional support if grief is affecting safety or daily life.
Some days may be about connection. Other days may simply be about getting through the next few hours. Both are valid.
Finding Support
Different forms of support serve different purposes. You may benefit from one kind of help or from several kinds used together.
People You Trust
Friends, relatives, neighbors, caregivers, coworkers, spiritual leaders, or community members may be able to listen, provide companionship, prepare meals, handle errands, or help with paperwork.
Peer Support
Grief groups can connect you with people who have experienced a similar loss. Groups may meet locally, online, through hospices, hospitals, faith communities, or nonprofit organizations.
Professional Help
A grief counselor, therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or other qualified professional can help when grief feels unmanageable or is affecting your health, safety, relationships, or ability to function.
Support for Different Kinds of Loss
Some losses bring particular circumstances, questions, or barriers to support. Specialized organizations and peer groups may be more helpful than general grief resources.
Pregnancy or Infant Loss
Miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death may be minimized or poorly understood by others. Parents and families deserve support that recognizes the loss.
Death of a Child
Parents, siblings, grandparents, and caregivers may grieve differently and may benefit from child-loss-specific support.
Suicide Loss
Grief after suicide may include shock, anger, guilt, unanswered questions, stigma, or fear about discussing the death.
Unexpected or Violent Death
Unexpected or violent death may involve trauma, investigations, court proceedings, media attention, or prolonged uncertainty.
Loss That Others Do Not Recognize
The death of a same-sex partner, someone from another faith, a former partner, close friend, caregiver, or other important person may not be fully recognized. Every meaningful relationship deserves space for grief.
Anticipatory Grief
Grief may begin before a death when someone is seriously ill, declining, missing, or expected to die.
Get Immediate Support
If grief has become a crisis, or you are worried that you may harm yourself or someone else,
call or text 988
in the United States. If there is immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Grief Support Resources
These national organizations provide grief information, peer support, directories, or specialized resources. Availability and program formats may vary by location.
Dougy Center
Grief education and peer-support resources for children, teens, young adults, and families.
The Compassionate Friends
Peer support for parents, siblings, and grandparents after the death of a child.
Share - Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support
Support for people affected by miscarriage, stillbirth, pregnancy loss, or infant death.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Free crisis support by phone, text, or online chat, including resources for suicide-loss survivors.
Groups & Communities
Explore additional support groups, community organizations, discussion groups, and peer resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to questions often associated with this topic.
How long does grief last?
There is no universal timeline. Grief often changes over time rather than ending on a particular date. Anniversaries, holidays, family events, and other reminders may cause strong feelings to return.
Is it normal to feel relief after someone dies?
Yes. Relief may occur after a long illness, difficult caregiving experience, painful relationship, or prolonged period of uncertainty. Relief does not mean that the person was unloved or that the loss is unimportant.
When should I consider professional help?
Consider professional support when grief is causing serious or persistent problems with sleep, health, relationships, safety, substance use, work, caregiving, or ordinary daily responsibilities. Seek immediate help if you may harm yourself or someone else.
What if friends or relatives do not understand my grief?
Some people are uncomfortable discussing death or may make unhelpful assumptions about how grief should look. A peer group, counselor, spiritual adviser, or grief-informed community may provide support that is not available within your immediate circle.
Can children understand grief?
Children grieve, but their understanding and reactions depend on age, development, personality, relationship to the person who died, and the circumstances of the death. Use clear language, answer questions honestly, and avoid euphemisms that may confuse them.
Related Topics
You Do Not Have to Navigate Grief Alone
Support may come from people you know, people who have experienced a similar loss, or trained professionals. Start with the kind of help that feels most useful and manageable today.