National Widowers’ Organization Announces ‟Widower to Widower” Program
In the United States 415,000 men are widowed annually. They and their families face many challenges resulting from the profoundly life changing impact of the death of a wife or partner. For widowers seeking help through men’s support groups there are extremely limited options.
Most widowers who meet others that also lost their wife can attest to the power of this shared connection. It is often another widower who can recommend a book, connect someone to a support group, suggest a resource, or simply provide reassurance. As was cited in the New York Times article, Men in Grief Seek Others Who Mourn as They Do “Sometimes that’s all a man wants or needs – a sympathetic ear.”
Recognizing a need to help widowers who cannot find or access a men’s support group the National Widowers’ Organization is launching a peer-to-peer service for sharing experiences. The program, which is not intended to be therapy, relies on volunteer widowers who are available to contact a widower by telephone, listen with compassion, offer reassurance that surviving the death of a wife is possible, recommend helpful things to do that ease the adjustment to a new life, and provide information about resources that might be available.
Widowers can take advantage of this free program by contacting the National Widowers’ Organization through their website.
Every person’s grief process is unique, but studies have shown that men suffer many feelings which would appear special to their gender.