Grief can be an isolating experience. When emotions become overwhelming, it’s easy to feel lonely. You might feel like nobody understands what you’re going through. Some people turn to online forums to cope, finding support from people with similar types of grief.
Forums in the past were message boards with dedicated conversation threads separated by topic. Nowadays, many forums have features like chat rooms or photo galleries. Similar to online grief support groups, some can be focused on special topics, and others cover a wider variety of losses.
Also, most active grief forums are part of a dedicated site on grief with relevant articles, suggested charities, and counseling support. These sites and forums end up becoming a one-stop place to read more about grief, meet people, help each other, and honor loved ones.
When you feel overcome with grief, these forums may offer hope and connection. Others can offer insight into your grief through their own experiences and hopefully lead to ways that can help you feel better, understand why you grieve, and by chance, also help them do the same. If you’re looking and unsure where to start, here are some forums for coping with grief.
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1. Grieving.com
Grieving.com has a strong and active forum connected to its main website. The forum features several topics and dedicated threads to different types of losses. A large section of topics is devoted to several non-death losses such as divorce, loss of a job, and losses from injury and illness.
The forum has a COVID-19 section near the top of the forum. You can discuss any loss related to COVID-19, including death from the virus, fear, and stress from isolation. With so many people feeling strained by COVID-19, this section of the forum may feature the most comments and activity.
When you’re in the midst of painful grief, the last thing you want to deal with is something complex. The Grieving.com forum is simple to use and perhaps one you’ll want to bookmark.
What makes this site useful?
- Polls
- Picture gallery
- Technical questions and feedback
- Specialized topics, including COVID-19, non-death losses, dreams, visions, and after-death communication
2. Grief Healing Discussion Groups 205
Whatever type of grief you need help with, The Grief Health Discussion Groups forum likely has it covered. What makes this forum shine is the discussions about specialized grief topics like anticipatory grief and behaviors in bereavement. Step into these sections and you’ll learn about less familiar aspects of your grief.
Another section of the forum features tributes and remembrances. The Tools for Healing section is like a coping skill toolbox.
It’s a gathering place for book recommendations, podcasts, poems, recordings, and more. These and other expressive activities may help you cope with your emotional pain or inspire you to find your own way to do so.
This forum may provide a wide variety of comments and support if you have lost a particular family member. The sibling and twin loss sections seem to be larger and more focused than many other forums.
What makes this site useful?
- Tributes and remembrances
- Tools for healing - podcasts, books, music, etc.
- Donation to support the forum
- Specialized topics, including anticipatory grief. behaviors in bereavement, and loss of a sibling or twin
3. Grief in Common forum
The Grief in Common website is the creation of Karyn Arnold, a long-time professional in the field of grief. Karyn has helped many people with grief by working with support groups and giving one-on-one support.
You can find several people on the Grief in Common forum at any given time. The live support services also make this grief forum stand apart. Arnold offers grief coaching sessions for a fee.
Also, the website provides a live chat feature with a paid membership. If you are struggling and need more support than a forum can provide, these live services can make a big difference for you.
You can find discussions on many different topics, including some less common ones like the sudden death of a loved one, LGBT loss, and loss as a result of violence. This user-friendly site and engaging forum make the Grief in Common site seem like a useful companion.
What makes this site useful?
- Live chat
- One-on-one grief coaching
- User-friendly site created by an experienced professional
- Special topics, including coping after a sudden loss, LGBT loss, and oss of loved one to violence
4. Alliance of Hope Forum
Alliance of Hope is a website dedicated to helping survivors of suicide. Suicide is a complex issue, which may cause survivors to feel shame, guilt, or regret. Their grief may often be disenfranchised and unrecognized by society.
If you need help as a suicide survivor, your path through grief may be complicated. This forum dives more deeply into grief subtopics that other forums may not address. The introduction section is large and prominent on the site. This area gives you a dedicated space to tell your grief story.
Other sections of the forum include the Relief from Grief section and a Kindness section. These areas focus on positive or non-grief topics to help you cope. Also, the main website has useful sections like the Survivor Experience, Honoring a Loved One, and an active blog.
What makes this site useful?
- Donations to honor a loved one to sponsor upkeep of the forum
- Latest threads
- Relief from Grief
- The website offers more information and resources
- Active topics, including COVID-19, survivor experience, and secondary wounds
5. Pet Loss Grief Support Message Board
If you’ve lost a pet, the Pet Loss Message Board may be of use to you. You’ll find many other grieving pet owners connecting and supporting each other.
While people usually feel sad for someone who loses a pet, this type of grief may go unrecognized by others. The Pet Loss Message board is a safe place for grieving pet owners to meet. Everyone’s grief is honored and the website offers several ways to memorialize pets.
Forum conversations aren’t listed in any particular order. But many have descriptions and several replies, making them easy to find.
You can find many relatable stories and comments just by reading through some of the discussions. These conversations can help you understand how to cope with your pet loss grief.
What makes this site useful?
- Chat room for members
- Search bar to look for specific pets or types of death
- Main Pet loss website with more about memorials, articles, regular candle ceremony
- Donations for operating the forum
- Active topics, including grief support, rainbow bridge events and parties, and pet memorials and art gallery
6. Online Grief Support
Online Grief Support is a social community created to help people in all types of grief. Their forum has over 14,000 members and shows daily activity on a variety of topics. Some currently popular topics include discussions about a higher power, losing a spouse, and COVID-19.
This is a user-friendly forum with lots of ways to interact and find helpful information. You can read any discussion and see the most recent ones on the side. If you’re looking for a specific topic, using the search bar is the easiest method.
You can join groups that cover specific types of loss like homicide survivors or losing someone to cancer. Each group has a detailed description by the member that started it, sometimes including their personal grief story. Groups are shown on the right sidebar, making them easy to see as you move around the forum.
What makes this site useful?
- Summary of groups on the sidebar
- Latest activity featured on the sidebar
- Featured discussions
- Active topics, including COVID-19, being mad at a higher power, and suicide
7. Grief and Loss Forum at PsychCentral
PsychCentral was started in 1995 and has a vast library of articles and blog posts. Their forums are part of their online support community. The Grief and Loss forum covers topics like death anniversaries, COVID-19 loss, and stages of grief.
Though this forum does not have a large membership, it is part of a bigger network of mental health forums on PsychCentral. The forum community is well-supported and every forum is active.
The most impressive part of this forum network is the ability to search for topics across all forums. You can go to the Forum Index page and search for the word or topic you want. The results will show discussions in every forum where that word appears.
What makes this site useful?
- Well-supported forums and website
- Large library of mental health information
- Searching across all forums
- Active topics, like COVID-19, suicide, and parents of estranged children
8. Grief Support at Legacy Connect
You can use Grief Support at Legacy Connect in two different ways: discussions and groups. The discussion area includes several general categories like losing your dad or losing a child. These discussions offer a place for you to share your story of loss and interact with members.
Members create groups about different types of loss. Some groups are broad like losing a spouse, and others are more narrow, like grief from being rejected by a child.
Both groups and discussions can be sorted in several ways. You can bring up the most recent or most popular conversation, and you can also use the search bar to bring up topics that interest you.
What makes this site useful?
- Discussions used like general categories
- Groups started by members on a variety of topics
- Live chat room for members
- Popular topics, including missing mom, dealing with a sibling’s death, bereaved spouses, and suicide survivors
9. Cake's Grief and Mortality Discussion Board
We also wanted to highlight Cake's very own grief and mortality discussion board. This is a safe, welcoming place for sharing thoughts, feelings, and ideas related to death, dying, and loss. Not only can you connect with other Cake users, but our team and our expert pannel also frequent the discussion.
Start a conversation around death positivity, grief, and legacy. We encourage users to ask anything and speak their minds. This is a place to make real-life connections about a topic that isn't always easy to talk about.
What makes this site useful?
- Open, safe space for sharing about death, dying, and grief
- Cake's expert team members and a panel of industry professionals respond to posts
- Popular topics include funeral planning, condolences, and memorial events
Share Your Grief
Online forums can give you a place to share your grief and stay connected with others who are coping with the same emotions. Your conversations and experiences, while unique, may also help other people going through their own grieving process.
You may never meet the people you know from a grief forum in person, but these connections can keep you moving forward. Sharing your grief with others doesn’t take the pain away, but it may make it easier to live with.