Grief Group Begins Sessions for Fall Semester

Loyola’s Grief Group, facilitated by the Wellness Center and Campus Ministry, began this semester’s nine-week series of meetings  Sept. 25. The group is intended to help students support their peers who are working through grief.

Claire Erlenborn, a campus ministry retreat coordinator who created the group, said she was influenced by a grief group at Boston College. Erlenborn was connected with Gloria Feliciano Feltman, a social worker within the Wellness Center.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for people to learn about how grief works and why they’re responding the way they are,” Feliciano Feltman said. “It can feel so unnatural but it’s actually very natural.” 

Erlenborn and Feliciano Feltman started the first grief group in spring 2023, with their backgrounds in social work helping them along the way. The group has run every semester since, extending its time frame further into the term. Each semester, one consistent group of students is convened for the entire session.

“It’s definitely a heavy topic, but I feel very grateful that folks feel comfortable around me and Gloria and are looking for a space that we’re creating,” Erlenborn said. “Mostly grateful that this is something students clearly need and we’re able to provide it.” 

Before the first meeting, Erlenborn and Feliciano Feltman meet with each student individually in a “premeeting” to discuss with them their goals, their situation and explain what the group is and isn’t. The group isn’t a therapy processing group, interpersonal processing group or a skills based group, according to Feliciano Feltman.

This semester is the first time the group is full with 10 people, although it’s normally close to full, according to Erlenborn and Feliciano Feltman. 

“Each group is different in their own ways and yet kinda this experience of grief is something that a lot of college students are going through, but don’t really know how to talk about,” Erlenborn said. “It’s been cool just to see how it continues to be a need.” 

The group leaders said they see students grow and become more comfortable in the group over time.

“I feel like the biggest difference, I notice, is that we give folks words to describe what they’ve been experiencing,” Erlenborn said. “One of the biggest things we do is normalizing that grief is can bring up a lot of emotions and different feelings and I think especially for folks that are experiencing that for the first time, there is some level of ‘Oh, why am I not okay?’” 

The weekly meetings start with “High-Low-Buffalos” which look at a high from the past week, a low from the past week and something weird or funny that happened, according to Erlenborn. Then, they go into education about different topics and then students are able to share what they’ve written about from journaling prompts or experiences in the past week.

“Grief is this thing where we sometimes don’t exactly know how to put to words what we’re feeling,” Erlenborn said. “It can take you a while to be able to share that out.”

Past participants of the group couldn’t be reached for comment.

While Campus Ministry is co-facilitating the group, the support circle isn’t based on religion and is made up of people from a variety of religious identities.

“If you come from a specific religious identity or spirituality, it’s a space where you can talk about that and talk about how it comes up in your grief,” Erlenborn said.

Some semesters have returning students, but Erlenborn said they prioritize new students. The leaders said they are happy to help students and provide a necessary resource on campus.

“I feel very privileged to get to run this group and get to hear people’s stories, particularly around grief, just because it is so hard to talk about and can be so hard to find a space,” Feliciano said. “I think I recognize just how important it is seeing how we continue to have a need for it, right, that people keep wanting to join and come back every semester too.”
While students can no longer join this semester, interested students can reach out to Erlenborn about joining next semester’s group. Campus Ministry and the Wellness Center are also available for meetings. In order to be in the group, students must fill out an interest form, and the maximum group size per semester is 10 students.