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Compassionate Friends of Los Angeles is part of a nationwide organization of volunteers. We are parents, grandparents, and other family members who have grieved the loss of a beloved one. (310) 474-3407

Embracing Support: Bimodal Meetings for Grieving Parents, Grandparents, and Siblings in 2024

The Compassionate Friends of LA understands the deep pain of losing a child, grandchild or sibling and and wants to make its support meetings more accessible in 2024 by offering two options – virtual and in-person.

 

Starting in January, virtual meetings will take place every other month on the first Thursday via Zoom. To attend, simply send an email to compassionatefriendsla@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. 


For those who prefer the solace of in-person connections, we will host meetings every other month on the first Thursday starting in February at 5870 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Convenient free parking is available at the back, accessible through the alley. Parking in the garage behind the community center is free. You can enter from the alley off the San Vicente feeder road. Additionally, there's limited parking available in front of the center. We encourage you to arrive early to enjoy refreshments and the opportunity to meet other bereaved parents.


Whether virtually or in person, we aim to extend a compassionate hand to those navigating the challenging journey of grief after losing a child, grandchild or sibling. Please join us from 7:00pm to 9:00pm for support and connection in a way that suits you best.

Our Mission

The mission of The Compassionate Friends: When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.


The Compassionate Friends was founded 50 years ago when a chaplain at the Warwickshire Hospital in England brought together two sets of grieving parents and realized that the support they gave each other was better than anything he, as a chaplain, could ever say or provide. 


Meeting around a kitchen table, the Lawleys and the Hendersons were joined by a bereaved mother and the chaplain, Simon Stephens, and The Society of the Compassionate Friends was born. The Compassionate Friends jumped across the ocean and was established in the United States and incorporated in 1978 in Illinois.

The passage of a child leaves. a hole in your heart you can't fill.  Daily chores seem impossible. But you have friends you have not yet met who are here to help you.

We offer a hug, a  hand up, and an ear to listen. You can meet a friend who has been through this to help guide you. You may think you can't go on, but with a friend, there is a way.

Donate to The Compassionate Friends of Los Angeles

Your generosity plays a crucial role in sustaining our efforts to provide support and comfort to those navigating the difficult journey of grief after losing a child.


If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, please send your donation through Zelle to our email address:

 compassionatefriendsla@gmail.com


or, send your checks to:

10008 National Blvd #378, Los Angeles, CA 90034.


We sincerely appreciate your contribution and the positive impact it has on our community. Thank you for your support.

You Are Not Alone


Each chapter, along with the supporting National Office, is committed to helping every bereaved parent, sibling, or grandparent who may walk through our doors or contact us. More than 18,000 people a month find the support they are seeking through meetings of The Compassionate Friends. 


Through a network of over 500 chapters with locations in all 50 states, as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam, The Compassionate Friends has been providing support to bereaved families after the death of a child for four decades. 


Psychological


  • Your memory has suddenly become clouded. You’re shrouded in forgetfulness. You’ll be driving down the road and not know where you are or remember where you’re going. As you walk, you may find yourself involved in “little accidents” because you’re in a haze.
  • You fear that you are going crazy.
  • You find there’s a videotape that constantly plays in an endless loop in your mind, running through what happened.
  • You find your belief system is shaken and you try to sort out what this means to your faith.
  • Placing impossible deadlines on yourself, you go back to work, but find that your mind wanders and it’s difficult to function efficiently or, some days, at all. Others wonder when you’ll be over “it,” not understanding that you’ll never be the same person you were before your child died—and the passage of time will not make you so.
  • You find yourself reading the same paragraph over and over again trying to understand what someone else has written.


Emotional


  • You rail against the injustice of not being allowed the choice to die instead of your child.
  • You find yourself filled with anger, whether it be at your partner, a person you believe is responsible for your child’s death, God, yourself, and even your child for dying.
  • You yearn to have five minutes, an hour, a day back with your child so you can tell your child of your love or thoughts left unsaid.
  • Guilt becomes a powerful companion as you blame yourself for the death of your child. Rationally you know that you were not to blame—you most certainly would have saved your child if you’d been given the chance.
  • You feel great sadness and depression as you wrestle with  physical exhaustion.
  • Either you can’t sleep at all or you sleep all the time. You feel physical exhaustion even when you have slept.
  • You no longer care about your health and taking care of yourself—it just doesn’t seem that important anymore.
  • You’re feeling anxiety and great discomfort—you’re told they’re panic attacks.
  • The tears come when you least expect them.
  • Your appetite is either gone or you find yourself overeating.


Family and Social


  • If you have surviving children, you find yourself suddenly overprotective, not wanting to allow them out of your sight. Yet you feel like a bad parent because it’s so difficult to focus on their needs when you’re hurting so bad yourself.
  • You find that your remaining family at home grieves the loss differently and you search for a common ground which seems difficult to find.
  • You’ve been told by well-meaning people, even professionals, that 70-80-90 percent of all couples divorce after their child dies. You are relieved to find that new studies show a much lower divorce rate, from 12-16%, believed to be caused by the “shared experience” aspect of the situation.
  • Old friends seem to fade away as you learn they cannot comprehend the extent or length of your grief.
  • Things you liked to do which seemed so important before now seem meaningless.
  • Others say you’ll someday find “closure,” not understanding that closure never applies when it is the death of your child.
  • Fleeting thoughts of pleasurable activities bring about feelings of guilt. If you child can’t have fun, how can you do anything that brings you enjoyment?
  • New friends come into your life who understand some of your grief because they’ve been there themselves.


Finding The "New Me"


When you’re newly bereaved, you don’t see how you can put one foot in front of the other, much less survive this loss. You’ll never “recover” from your loss nor will you ever find that elusive “closure” they talk of on TV—but eventually you will find the “new me.” You will never be the same person you were before your child died. It may be hard to believe now, but in time and with the hard work of grieving (and there’s no way around it), you will one day think about the good memories of when your child lived rather than the bad memories of how your child died. You will even smile and, yes, laugh again someday—as hard to believe as that may seem.


When the newly bereaved come to a meeting of The Compassionate Friends, you will be able to listen and learn from others who are further down the grief road than you. They will have made it through that first birthday, first death anniversary, first holiday, and so many other firsts that you have not yet reached. You will learn coping skills from other bereaved parents who, like you, never thought they’d survive. There are no strangers at TCF meetings—only friends you have not yet met.

Send your Submissions

 

In the shared journey of grief, your stories, reflections, and poems hold immense power in fostering connection and understanding. 


We invite you to share your thoughts and expressions with us through our email address at compassionatefriendsla@gmail.com. 


Your words may become a source of solace and inspiration for others who walk a similar path. If you wish to remain anonymous, feel free to sign your submissions as "John’s dad", "Sally's mom", or choose a pseudonym that resonates with you. 

Contact us at (310) 474-3407 or Send us a Message

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