Families, Soldiers invited to heal from loss;Class designed to help adults get through grief

Photo By Spc. Noelle Wiehe | Selinda Torbert-Blue, with Survivor Outreach Services, reviews the Grief Recovery Method in her office at the Soldier and Family Assitance Center as she prepares for the upcoming seven-week class on the Grief Recovery Method. Torbert-Blue and assisting members of SOS are trained as certified grief specialists to aid Families and Soldiers in dealing with loss.  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

10.04.2017

Story by Spc. Noelle Wiehe 

50th Public Affairs Detachment

FORT STEWART, Ga. – The Fort Stewart, Georgia, Survivor Outreach Services is calling for Soldiers and Family Members looking to heal from the loss of a loved one, divorce or a permanent change of duty station move to attend a series of Grief Recovery Method seminars beginning Oct. 18.

“The whole class is meant to help anyone that has not actually been able to deal with a loss – any loss,” said Selinda Torbert-Blue, with SOS. “The whole point is to help you get from grief to recovery.”

The course is led by members of the Soldier and Family Assistance Center who are certified to teach the Grief Recovery Method and are trained as certified grief specialists.

The Greif Recovery Method seminar will be held every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for seven weeks, Torbert-Blue said. The class is limited to 12 attendants and is completely confidential.

“We have a circle of trust, and we tell things within that circle of trust that can never leave the circle of trust, so it is a bare bones, down to the nitty-gritty things that you do not want to leave that circle of trust,” Torbert-Blue said. “It is truly confidential. At the beginning of the course, we go over the rules, and that is one of the rules: total honesty, confidentiality, your uniqueness and individuality will be respected within this room.”

This series of courses is specifically for adults who are seeking help to deal with loss.

“As adults, we get to the point where we eat it, we gamble it, we drink it, we curse it, we do all of these nonproductive things to conceal, to cover up, to scar over, to do all the things that are not okay and that are going to put a (lid) on the grief,” Torbert-Blue said. “This class helps you understand that all of those things are just temporary fixes … and helping you actually discover the tools that are necessary to go through the grief and come out into completion.”

Those who attend the class will learn the skill of completion, they will never forget it, Torbert-Blue said.

She has received really good feedback from previous attendants of the class, even being told that she changed people’s lives who thought they could have never moved on.

Dawn Hill lost her mother in 2016 in a tragic accident, which up until she walked into Torbert-Blue’s course, she blamed herself for.

“When I was in there, I was dripping in guilt,” Hill said. “(Torbert-Blue) said to me, right when I walked in the door, ‘If there is no intent to harm, there can be no guilt.’ I think I just sat there and cried for a while.”

Hill said at the time she was living south of Orlando, Florida, and would drive once a week to Fort Stewart to attend the course.
“It is an amazing course; it is so encompassing,” Hill said.

The course is helpful for anyone experiencing any type of loss, even for people struggling with post-traumatic stress, Hill said.

“It has nothing to do with time; it is what you do with that time,” Torbert-Blue said.

To inquire about the class or to RSVP to Grief Recovery Method, contact Torbert-Blue at the SFAC at 912-435-9598 or at [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 10.04.2017
• Date Posted: 10.05.2017 15:03
• Story ID: 250700
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US