HEALTH & WELLNESS
COMFORT AND SUPPORT
FOR THE GRIEVING
Rafael J. Sciullo, CEO, Empath Health
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 117
Every year almost 2.5 million
people die in our country, leaving
an average of five people behind
grieving. With the COVID-19
pandemic, these numbers have increased
to almost 57 percent of Americans who
are grieving the loss of someone close to
them. Empath Community Counseling,
a program of Empath Health, serves
the bereaved in our community by
providing adults and children as young
as 5 specialized grief support in a variety
of settings.
Our Community Counseling specializes
in helping those who are grieving
through traumatic loss, experiencing the
diagnosis of a terminal illness, providing
crisis counseling in the workplace and
supporting children and their families
experiencing various losses, including at
the perinatal stages. Twelve months of
individual grief counseling is a part of
hospice services for those served through
one of our hospice programs.
The impact of this program continues
to expand as a result of the recent merger
between Empath Health and Stratum
Health System, the parent company of
Tidewell Hospice that covers the southwest
portion of the state.
The Tidewell Family Grief Center
recently opened in Ellenton and provides
children and adults access to holistic group
and individual counseling for anyone in the
community who needs it. There, children
ages 5-18 have special spaces where they
can be among their peers during their grief
journeys. This center will serve as a pilot
for other potential centers throughout the
Empath Health service territory.
A special program helps those preparing
for the loss of a baby. Trained volunteer
perinatal loss doulas walk with and
advocate for families who have received
the heartbreaking diagnosis that their
baby is not expected to live long after birth
or will be stillborn. The doulas provide
support to the parents before, during and
following labor. Families then can access
our counseling services to guide them
through their time of grief. This important
service began in 2004 and was the first of
its kind.
Traumatic loss can come in many ways.
Whether through a criminal act, suicide,
drug overdose or a workplace accident
– our counselors are all specially trained
in trauma counseling. Local authorities
contact our counselors in the wake of a
crime so we can come alongside them
and begin immediate support. And our
counselors are called upon to provide
support for schools when classmates and
teachers need help coping with loss.
COVID-19 brought its own trauma to
our community. Seniors were isolated from
family and friends for months, people died
without their families nearby but rather
after saying goodbye over video, memorial
services and funerals were delayed or
never held and many frontline healthcare
workers worked in the midst of these
challenges, day in and out. When the world
went into lockdown, our Community
Counseling services went virtual but never
stopped. We offered specialized counseling
to those seniors and frontline healthcare
workers who were so greatly impacted.
And we treated and continue to treat clients
dealing with the grief of losing a loved one
to the virus, including children who lost a
parent or primary caretaker.
One of the many tragedies that came
out of the pandemic is the skyrocketing
deaths due to opioid overdoses. A recent
report showed that more than 100,000
Americans died from a drug overdose
during the height of the pandemic or a
35 percent increase over the past year.
Empath Community Counseling was
recently asked to sit on an advisory panel
to design an intervention protocol that
families can use to stop these overdoses
but also to provide specialized counseling
support for the many families grieving this
enormous loss.
Grief impacts all of us at some point in
our lives. When you or someone you know
needs extra support during this difficult
time, Empath Community Counseling is
here as a resource. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rafael J. Sciullo is
the CEO of Empath Health, a nonprofit
integrated network of care for those affected
by chronic or advanced illness in west and
southwestern Florida. For more information
about services, call (727) 467-7423 or visit
EmpathHealth.org.
By Rafael J. Sciullo
/EmpathHealth.org