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A Western Massachusetts Chapter of Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss, Inc

WELCOME TO EMPTY ARMS BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT, INC.

Empty Arms Bereavement Support is a Western Massachusetts-based non-profit organization offering resources and support to families across the region who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. We are affiliated with the national organization Share. We have an established program in the Childbirth Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where our organization began in 2007, and as our program has expanded CDH has continued to support us by hosting two of our monthly meetings as well as other special events. We also work with the birth centers at other local hospitals including Holyoke Medical Center, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, and Baystate Medical Center to provide resources for bereaved families.

If you are looking for support group meetings, we offer four different meetings each month. Please follow the links above for meeting times, locations and directions. We use this website and our Facebook page to keep participants updated about our meetings and other activities.

You don't have to attend a group to use our resources. Carol McMurrich, our founder and lead facilitator, is available for peer counseling and support. After speaking or e-mailing with you, Carol may be able to refer you to one of our telephone/e-mail support volunteers: somebody whose loss experience is very similar to your own. In this way, Empty Arms can offer peer support to those who may not yet feel comfortable with the larger support group setting.

We also have a lending library, an annual memorial walk, and occasional special events. On our "Links for Grieving Parents" page, we try to connect you to some resources we hope you will find helpful in the process of grieving your very difficult loss.
Fall is upon us.... here is the link to the September/October Sharing Newsletter from our national organization, Share.

Each fall, I always like to send out a little all-call encouraging people to consider attending meetings, even if you haven't in a while. Sometimes September, even if we aren't involved in an academic setting anymore, can feel like a time of new beginnings. Coming to support meetings gives you a little breathing room to spend time working through your loss, and every presence in the room also provides support for somebody else.

On the topic of coming to meetings, I should address that it is my current intention to resume my cherished role as lead facilitator for the October meeting. Originally I had been hoping to return in August, but as the weeks led up to that meeting it became readily apparent that neither our new baby nor I were prepared for that time apart. I am hoping that by October things will be more predictable allowing me to leave for the three hours necessary to lead a meeting. I look forward to coming back and meeting the new families and to having my own time to be Charlotte's mother.
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