My name is Jan. My mother died on December 11, 2017 at age 95. For the year following, three more people close to me died. Then, I got sick and spent seven months in and out of hospitals and surgeries. I’m better now, but Chantay Jones’s grief group helped me look at how me not processing grief may have affected my health. I’m not saying I suffered these medical issues directly because of grief, but that it contributed to my inability to fight off the infections. 

 

Chantay Jones’ Sheroes Grief Journey for women who’d lost their mothers had three sections:  Hope, Heartache, and Healing. In the first three sessions, I was surprisingly, or not surprisingly, stirred up and uncomfortable. I found myself getting angry without cause and often cried alone in the shower. I didn’t like this, but having been in therapy for years, I knew something was loosening up that needed loosening. 

 

Then as the course continued and I got to hear more from other people in the group, I realized just how much each person’s grieving process was like each other’s, even if the circumstances were very different. Some in the group had lost their mother’s years ago, but the pain was still close to the surface. Whenever I felt like I couldn’t handle my own emotions, Chantay was there to help, including during the week on individual calls. 

 

As we worked through talking and writing about our mothers, I began to wake up to many of the emotions unavailable to me, even after years of therapy. I stayed angry and crying for some time, but began to let that go, as I worked with Chantay Jones’ system for healing. This included doing a memorial for our mother’s and I decided on a website I could share with my five brothers and sisters. It contained an audiotaped interview and transcript I did with my mother in 1994; articles and stories she wrote in the 1950s; her obituary and program from her funeral; and many photographs. It was truly heartening and enlightening to put this material together about my mother and be able to share it with family members.

 

I am very grateful to Chantay Jones and her Sheroes Grief Journey for helping me navigate my conflicting and sometimes painful memories and emotions. Listening to others in the group talk about how they were handling their emotions helped to guide me when it was most difficult to feel the sadness and loss. 

 

I highly recommend this powerful and releasing journey with the gentle, sensitive, healing system and words of Chantay Jones.