Grief Care

Have you lost a loved one? Our Grief Care Team can help you with your grief and loss. We offer comfort, love, and support. The grieving process can be so painful and slow. The emotions, thoughts and decisions that we must navigate through as we deal with our grief can be excruciating. How do we move forward without our loved one? What is the right thing to do?

Recognizing that grief affects every aspect of our lives…. emotional, mental, physical, social, and spiritual, the healing process is a journey. There’s no manual, no simple guidelines, and no timeline for reconciling the loss. Yet society tells us to buck up, keep a stiff upper chin, don’t cry, move on. After a funeral or memorial service, many people no longer offer supportive words or actions; mourners are expected to get back their usual life. Which is, of course, unrealistic!

The Grief Care Team at Gloria Dei Lutheran is here to support those in need during their grief journey through compassionate listening, education and support group options. 

If you are coping with a loss or the death of a loved one and would like support, or if you would like to help us provide comfort to who are grieving, please contact our Grief Team at griefteam@gloriadeiolympia.org. All services are provided at no cost.

Our Team 

Each of our team members has received training and each has experienced the loss of a close loved one. Grief Support Groups are offered 2 – 3 times each year. Each series is 10 weeks long and uses Understanding Your Grief book and journal by Alan Wolfelt.

• Karen Barale is the Team leader.  Karen provides training and facilitates grief support groups (online and in-person groups). She completed 150 hours of training and received a Certificate in Grief and Death Studies from the Center for Loss and Life Transition in Fort Collins, Colorado.  

• Diane Coulter manages our Card Ministry. She keeps our team in touch with families who have lost loved ones by remembering birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and the first anniversary of a death, offering reminders that the team is always available, regardless of how long it has been since the loss.

• Susan Veis works one-on-one with members who are mourning. She is available to listen and to support you as you cope with the loss of a loved one.