Child Loss Support Group Coming To New Lenox

NEW LENOX, IL — Not everyone who experiences the death of a loved one grieves in the same way. For parents who have experienced the death of a child, the grieving process can be lifelong journey of ever-changing emotions ranging the full spectrum, from sorrow to joy and everything in between. And, for some, therapy and counseling are important tools on the path to healing, while others might find that a more informal setting to meet with other grieving parents can be helpful, as well.

Sandey Davies, co-founder of Remembering Our Angels — which will hold its first meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. July 29 at the New Lenox American Legion Thomas E. Hartung Post 1977, located at 14414 Ford Drive in New Lenox — said she envisions the child loss support group to be the informal kind, where parents can come together, share their feelings and simply be there for one another. She stressed that Remembering Our Angels is not a therapy or counseling group.

“The support group is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Davies said. “Not that I have anything against counseling, anything against therapy; it’s just not something that works for me personally. I’ve never been that kind of person. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t ask for help, the kind of person who fixes it on my own. But that just wasn’t working for me, either.”

She said she tried going to the gym and exercising as a way to cope, but eventually that stopped working, too.

Davies ended up reconnecting with an old friend, co-founder of Remembering Our Angels Vicky Colquitt-Davis, and the pair realized that there might be others who found traditional therapy and counseling could be supplemented through an informal support group.

Both women had children who died: Davies’ son Jacob Hegeduis died in 2016 at the age of 20; Colquitt-Davis’ son Jordan died in 2018 at the age of 19.

“Even as a mom who has lost a child, I struggled with how do I put the information out there because it is such a sensitive subject, and it’s also a very taboo subject,” Davies said. “A lot of the times you bring it up to people and they don’t know how to respond to it, they don’t know what to say. So, it’s a lot of changing the subject. It’s not something a lot of people are comfortable talking about.”

But, Davies said she hopes Remembering Our Angels can bring parents — both mothers and fathers — together to share and support each other in what she called, “a club that no one really wants to be a part of.”

For more information on Remembering Our Angels, check out its Facebook page here.