For parents grieving the loss of a child, a Gainesville woman is offering support.
Dee Bird lost her son Timothy Bird-Lopez, a former UF student, to Duchenne muscular dystrophy one month before his 25th birthday in March 2014.
Bird said she didn’t know where to turn, but two years later she is helping families in Gainesville heal.
She will hold her first free child-loss support group session Thursday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Alachua County Library District Headquarters Branch on East University Avenue.
“I was afraid to go to a support group,” she said. “I was afraid of losing that connection with Timothy.”
After studying at The Grief Recovery Institute and becoming a certified grief recovery specialist, Bird said she learned she will never lose that connection.
“There is a way to bring that joy back without taking that grief away,” she said.
Bird will hold free monthly sessions through December, and in the coming year she plans to expand her program to an eight- to 12-week class, she said.
Through readings, conversations and activities, she plans to guide grieving parents out of the “deep, dark hole” she remembers being in.
From her own experience with loss, she learned that when she started to love herself, she started to find hope, faith and finally, joy, the 55-year-old said.
To parents who have suffered this tragedy, she said it takes time.
“You’re gonna go, and you’re gonna find out that you’re not alone,” she said.
Meggen Sixbey, an associate director of the UF Counseling and Wellness Center, said having a support network of people who are also grieving can help.
While parents who have lost their children never really move on, she said, they can learn to honor their child’s memory and cope with life without them.
“You’re not ever getting over the loss of your loved one,” Sixbey said. “You’re learning to live with them differently.”
