You are more attuned than many to the need to work with people in other disciplines to bring the elderly and their families to the positive outcomes they are looking for. You have probably worked or will ultimately work in concert with people in the clergy, medical personnel, professional counselors or therapists, educators, family members and many others.

As a gerontologist, you may be dealing with the pain of families as they watch their loved ones slip away. The elderly themselves may be struggling with the loss of a spouse, friends or family. Still others may be trying to cope with the empty nest, loss of a job, role changes, diminished strength and countless physical problems. And then there is Alzheimer’s and dementia, robbing the victim and their families of all they have treasured and planned for.

As a gerontologist, you may be dealing with the pain of families as they watch their loved ones slip away. The elderly themselves may be struggling with the loss of a spouse, friends or family. Still others may be trying to cope with the empty nest, loss of a job, role changes, diminished strength and countless physical problems. And then there is Alzheimer’s and dementia, robbing the victim and their families of all they have treasured and planned for.

You work each day as a member of the sort of team we hope to expand and enrich through the services we provide at GriefSupportServices.org.

From our Professional Edition of the e-zine “Grief Matters” to the classes and seminars we offer for hands-on practitioners and volunteers, GriefSupportServices.org is dedicated to strengthening the giving community as well as those in grief who depend on us. Grief Passages, our free book of poems and essays, is particularly beneficial for social workers professionals, who are called upon daily to provide hope and comfort in times of loss. There are many

passages to comfort and inspire your clients, regardless of the nature of their loss. As a counselor, your clients or patients turn to you for ideas to work through losses of all kind. We give you added tools for many of the suggestions you may provide.

Grief experts widely recognize the value of journaling, creating memory books, writing to a loved one who is gone, and listening to music. We offer some very special resources for your clients to do just that.

When someone treasured has died, creating dynamic web pages called Remembrance Place is another service you could offer through us, of particular interest to people who want to channel their grief as they look back fondly upon the person they are losing.

And for those who are seeing the prospect of their own passing or want a way to comfort those they someday leave behind, a similar creation called Legacy of the Heart allows them to capture their thoughts for loved ones to know in the future, and to create peaceful closure. Both projects can employ words, pictures, sounds and even video inserted by the creator of the page, a more dynamic tribute or legacy than can be found elsewhere.

PrivateThoughts is similar to Legacy of the Heart, however the pages are password protected, and messages can be delivered via e-mail. If your clients choose to use Private Thoughts as a virtual journal, they can write out their thoughts and feelings whenever they feel the urge, from wherever they may be. They can attach photos, letters, video, music and more. And if they want to show you something they’ve written, they can even give you access to the pages, by giving you a password.

Now there is an easy, unique and personal way to help family members, caregivers and care facilities comfort and enrich the lives those who are afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

A Forget-Me-Not is a dynamic presentation – available via the web or DVD – that puts together the story of one’s lifetime in pictures, words, sounds, and video clips, which can be updated over time, from anywhere. A Forget-Me-Not is a positive reminder, easily created by your clients with our help. They select images, music, sound or video clips and attach them to our online form. We take it from there and put them together in a beautiful Forget-Me-Not program.

A Forget-Me-Not is also valuable for someone diagnosed in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s, an autobiographical accomplishment that will not only remind them of who they have been and what they have accomplished, but who the important people in their life are. If you are working with a client whose family is dispersed throughout different cities, they can attach video clips to the Forget-Me-Not that can comfort, calm and reassure their loved one.

And when your clients make donations to create Remembrances, Legacies, Private Thoughts, or Forget-Me-Not on our site, we provide financial remuneration to you for assisting with our outreach to those experiencing loss.

And when your clients make donations to create Remembrances, Legacies, Private Thoughts, or Forget-Me-Not on our site, we provide financial remuneration to you for assisting with our outreach to those experiencing loss.

We provide you with the best and most comprehensive tools and resources to serve your clients, as well as yourselves. People have many choices when they select whom they will turn to for counseling. Connecting with our vast network of services, gives you an advantage in your profession. Recognizing that all helping professionals can benefit from additional income, we have developed a Compassion Cooperative that offers tremendous benefits to help increase your services, as well as your bottom line. Click here and we will send you the details of the numerous ways we can help you when you participate in our Compassion Cooperative.