Press Release: April 15, 2020
Text-based Grief Support Provides Relief For Those Bereaved by COVID-19
Coping with loss during the pandemic requires new kinds of grief support, delivered safely from a distance.
April 15, 2020 Seattle, WA -- People who have lost a loved one to COVID-19, can now benefit from personalized grief support delivered safely to their phones, via text message. The service was launched last week by Grief Coach, a Seattle company that has been providing text-based grief support for over a year, for people who have lost someone to suicide, cancer, addiction, natural causes, stillbirths, accidents, and more.
Now the company is pleased to have added a new service, with specialized text messages for people mourning a COVID-19 death. The addition of these messages means that people will receive extra help coping with the feelings of anger, frustration and guilt that bereavement experts are already seeing among those who have lost someone to the virus. COVID-19 grievers may feel angry with people who aren’t social distancing, for example, or sadness because they couldn't sit at their loved one’s bedside.
As with all grief, these feelings need to be heard and validated, however the global pandemic has taken away the funerals, workshops and therapy sessions people would normally rely on after a death. New kinds of online and mobile grief support are urgently needed, to make sure that no-one has to grieve alone.
Grief Coach sends personalized, private text messages twice a week, for a full year. The company was founded by Emma Payne, an MIT graduate who combined her passion for mobile technology with her deep commitment to giving people the confidence and tools they need to support each other through grief. She started building the text messaging platform in 2017, following the deaths of her husband and his best friend. “Losing a loved one can feel very isolating,” Payne says, “and now social distancing is making grief lonelier than ever before. I created Grief Coach so that no-one would ever have to grieve alone, so when I started grasping the widespread isolation of bereaved people who can’t visit with friends or attend support groups, I knew that Grief Coach had to respond quickly.”
Payne, and her team at Grief Coach, also want friends and family to get help supporting their grieving loved ones. If there are people who want to help, but aren’t sure how, they can get texts too, all year long. There will never be enough therapists and social workers to support everyone after a death, so including friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues in Grief Coach subscriptions is a great way to expand support networks for everyone who needs help.
Grief Coach is offering 50% off annual subscriptions in April and May, in the hope that the service can be a lifeline for grieving people who are unable to access traditional support right now. Anyone who uses the code stayconnected will automatically receive the discount.
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About Grief Coach
Grief Coach sends personalized text messages to help people after someone dies. Grieving people receive resources and tips, all year long, to help them feel less alone. If they have friends and family who want to help, but aren't sure how, Grief Coach texts them suggestions too. Grief Coach also works with nonprofits, hospices, tissue banks, employers, and others who provide bereavement support. To learn more, visit Grief Coach.
For more information, please contact:
Farrah Jinha, Media Liaison
mobile: 604-616-7687