Swope Health announces a new edition of its podcast, One on One with Swope Health, featuring Rebecca McKeel & Claudia Taylor, of the GriefShare Ministry.
Eric Wesson, founder and publisher of The Next Page KC, a newspaper focused on the Black community, hosts the show’s conversations with Kansas Citians about issues of importance to the community’s health and wellbeing.
Ms. McKeel is lead facilitator and director of GriefShare Ministry, and Ms. Taylor is a facilitator in the program, which is operated by Palestine Missionary Baptist Church of Jesus Christ, 3619 E. 35th St., Kansas City, MO 64128.
In this episode, the conversation focuses on grief – topical to Kansas City with a record number of homicides in 2023 and 44 as of April 23. Each murder leaves trauma in its wake, affecting the family, neighborhood, and community.
Yet grief is hard to understand and deeply personal. It can manifest as anger, guilt, anxiety and other emotions, as well as physically, in a lack of interest in eating, sleeping or connecting with others.
To address the challenges of grief, the church began the GriefShare Ministry almost three years ago, using a specific guide to process loss. The program, McKeel explains, is a 13-week support group meeting enhanced with a personal workbook that individuals can use, at their own pace, to find solace.
“Grief is not an event,” Ms. McKeel said. “It is a journey.”
All of the program facilitators have experienced grief personally and use their own experiences to support others who may feel ambushed or tortured by grief.
Listen to the conversation to learn more about the faith-based GriefShare program at the church, as well as personal encounters with grief and the experience of taking steps from mourning to joy.
GriefShare meets every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the church. It is open to all, of any faith or no faith, and participants can come as needed or for as long as they like. Learn more at https://pmbcjc.org/griefshare-ministry.
Listen to this podcast:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/XuJRMpnGjxI
