Going through the grieving process can be a difficult path to walk alone, but Bothwell Regional Health Center and Crossroads Hospice are partnering to offer a new type of therapy to help.
Bothwell and Crossroads will host a cinema therapy event in a few weeks in an effort to help those grieving in the community. Colleen Dietmeyer, bereavement coordinator at Crossroads, said the Oct. 13 event will start with dinner and introducing everyone, followed by a viewing of “We Are Marshall.”
“At the end there’s discussion questions, and depending on the size of the group we’ll talk as a whole group and share or not share — that’s definitely optional — or break into groups,” Dietmeyer said. “We’ll ask questions to see who you connected with in that movie; there’s a lot of different relationships throughout that movie, people grieving in different ways. … It’s another way to start discussions and talk through the grieving processes and have support while thinking about all that.”
Cinema therapy is a relatively new form of therapy for those with grief. Dietmeyer said she was first introduced to it when she started working at Crossroads, which hosts the event twice a year. She previously hosted the event with the animated film “Up.”
“Sometimes we sit through a sad movie and it might become personal to us but we don’t know where to go and who to talk to about it,” she said. “This is a different way to work through things we may see on TV.”
Dietmeyer said this event will focus on grief issues, but cinema therapy can also be used for identifying with family dynamics, abusive relationships, or any relationship-related issues.
“The biggest thing is it really sparks that emotion in somebody, gives that opportunity to talk about the feelings they have,” she said. “If they have certain questions asked, it will pull things out of you you maybe haven’t thought about before.”
She said she wanted to stress the importance of this event creating an opportunity to start conversations, but her secondary goal is to use it to create a grief support group in Sedalia.
“I have a support group in Sedalia, but it can be hard getting people in the community supporting each other,” she said. “Grief is a topic society is hush-hush about and we push it under the rug and don’t deal with it. This is a great event to spark interest in the community and help people going through similar things.”
The event will be hosted from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Bothwell Education Center, located at the corner of 14th Street and Ingram Avenue in Sedalia. Dinner will be provided. Register by Monday by contacting Dietmeyer at 660-422-5804 or colleen.dietmeyer@crossroadshospice.com.
For more information, call BRHC Community Outreach Coordinator Stephanie Hanning at 660-827-9138 or email info@brhc.org.