Empty Arms supports grieving families in the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. We are also connected with communities in Southern Vermont and Connecticut. We are connected with Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA, where our program began, and are affiliated with the national SHARE office. It's a blessing for us to be connected with such supportive institutions and to have many individuals who attend our group meetings also help us as volunteers.
One of our goals as a support organization is to create an intentional community of people with a shared experience. Almost everyone who attends a few Empty Arms meetings ends up with new friend to meet for coffee, exchange emails with, or to call when the person in the break room at work says the most outrageous thing and you need a listening ear who "gets it". Bereaved mothers and fathers often don't have friends at the time of their loss who have been through similar experiences. We offer people opportunities to network with each other so that we can all have each other as resources and friends as we negotiate this difficult journey of grief and healing.
Some of the Empty Arms community maintain blogs--online records of experiences of loss and journeys with grief. They share them here to help foster connection within our community outside of the group settings:
* Mountains of My Dreams
* Demeter's Feet
If you are part of Empty Arms and have a blog about miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss that you would like listed here, please let us know.
