A Good Friend for Bad Times: Helping Others Through Grief

"What should I say? What should I do? How can I help?" A Good Friend for Bad Times offers readers a better understanding of the grief process and provides insight and practical advice for expressing concern to a friend.

Deborah Bowen and Susan Strickler address how to support a family before and immediately after a death and in the weeks and years beyond. They also provide insight for situations involving Alzheimer's disease, cancer, AIDS, suicide, and the death of a child, among others. In addition, they give attention to supporting children through grief and suggest ways to help individuals through holidays and remembrance days.

Deborah E. Bowen, is a licensed clinical social worker in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., specializing in grief counseling, especially supporting elderly people and their caregivers. She holds a master's degree in social work and is on the faculty at University of Wilmington and East Carolina University graduate school. Bowen is trained as a facilitator in the Gundersen Luther Medical Foundation's Respecting Choices' Advance Care Planning program.

Susan L. Strickler is a bereavement counselor at Lower Cape Fear Hospice in Wilmington, N.C., where she coordinates the agency's bereavement programs. She has a master's degree in education and has developed several specialized group counseling programs, including "Adults Who Had a Parent Die'' and ''Loss and the Holidays."