Grief Recovery Group Comes to Bucks County

The Southern Bucks Recovery Community Center (SBRCC) will host a new meeting of GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing), a specialized support group for those who have lost a loved one to drugs or alcohol, at its facility in the Bristol Office Center, 1286 Veterans Hwy.

The first meeting will be held on June 16 from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Future meetings will be held on the first and third Thursdays of each month.

“The death of a child is the most difficult thing a parent ever has to face. When that death occurs because of drug use, it’s all the more difficult to cope with because it was preventable and senseless,” said Barbara Hentosh, of Lower Makefield, the PRO-ACT volunteer who founded the Bucks County meeting.

One year ago, Hentosh and her husband lost their daughter, Jennifer, to a drug overdose. Hentosh searched for a support group where she could share her pain, sadness and frustration. Although many grief support groups exist, GRASP was the only group she could find that dealt specifically with death due to drugs and the stigma that often accompanies it. Finding only one GRASP meeting in Pennsylvania, she dedicated herself to starting a meeting in Bucks County.

“I thought the Recovery Community Center would be an ideal location,” said Hentosh.

“We are glad to host the GRASP meeting at the center,” said Melanie Milke, senior peer coordinator at the SBRCC. “Addiction is a disease that affects the entire family on many levels. Through our Family Addiction Education programs, family members can get tools to help them recover, even if the loved one with the addiction does not. But too often, the disease takes lives. Support from others who understand provides comfort. GRASP is a much-needed service.”

For more information on the GRASP meetings, call PRO-ACT at 215-788-3738 or Hentosh at 215-428-1637, or email graspbuckcounty@gmail.com.