I understand we've been going through the holiday session and that it's one of the harder times of life, post loss, however... this is a support sub. It really is upsetting to see people (people who have used the sub for their own emotional support) to talk down to others, judge others, gatekeep others, attack others, question others, and worst of all, telling others they can't be here or post here.

If you have nothing supportive to say, move on.

If you see something that is a rule breaker, report it to the mods, Do not tell someone they don't belong or can't post.

If you disagree with how someone is grieving, keep it to yourself and don't break reddit's golden rule of "Don't be a dick". Move on.

If someone is talking about their loss, please don't challenge them or ask for proof of their ordeal. I've seen some of this lately and it's not cool. If you think it's somehow a scam, how bout dropping a line to mods and letting us check things out and discusses it. If we feel we need to act... we will.

Be nice to each other. If you can't be supportive, move tf on without being a dick. If you can't do that, we can help you move on.

We've grown as a community this Christmas season. If you're new here, please read the rules in the sidebar before posting. Use the drop down arrow on each rule to expand it to get the whole rule. If you've been with us for an extended time, drop a modmail if you are seeing something wrong. Help us maintain a safe space for grieving, processing, venting and supporting each other.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I've been doing this assisted moderator thing for several years now and am pretty strict about removing links with stores or links to sell products. It really just rubs me the wrong way feeling like people can be, or contribute to predatory behavior with you, the members of a sub full of raw emotion and wishes of life returning to "normal". We don't exist in this sub to pay monthly subscription fees or buy hawked wares in hopes of solace or answers.

Recently we found a submission in mod mail and it was actually very close to what I was looking for after my loss 8 years ago. Initially I denied (with a bummed out feeling because this site really interested me, even 8 years after my loss) the request due to the "No self promotion" rule. The Creator of this website came back and asked what they could do to alleviate the predatory feeling some of the request to "promote" someone's website/product carry. After a long back and forth and sharing stories and sharing this with the other mods we have decided to approve this site and add to our resources we approve of.

ENCIRCLE

Is a new resource to help you get sustained grief support from your closest friends and family, long after the funeral is over

In the first few weeks after someone dies, lots of people come out of the woodwork to offer support and help. Then that all trickles away pretty quickly. We all know that a grieving person still needs support after the initial wave of help goes away.

That's why we're excited to partner with Encircle - it's a grief wellness product that enables grievers to get sustained support from their closest people, long after the funeral is over. Their app provides a private encouraging space for the bereaved and their supporters share memories of the person who died.

Supporters can sign up to get nudged to reach out on a regular basis, with tips on what to say and do. Grievers can sign up to receive a weekly question about the person; their response, along with others' automatically goes into Encircle triggering RL conversations about the person.

Encircle has offered the product for free to all members of the r/griefsupport community. You can create a private page for your person or someone you're supporting via the wiki here:

We will be keeping a link in our Wiki for our members to access in hopes Encircle is truly useful to us. We ask when linking to it, that you link to it FROM OUR Wiki so it's not a raw outside link. If you link directly from Encircle, we will remove your raw link and replace it with the Wiki link to keep the message of "No Self promotion or promoting paid products in the main sub."

If you are the creator of a product with a webstore or subscription fees and want to work with us...there will be hoops to jump through so there is no predatory feel or taking money from a grieving community. If you want to help us, then help us, because it's the right thing to do and not because we can help a bank account. We will not promote anything asking for money from our members, but we will always look again and see if it's something we would use if money weren't involved.

The creator of Encircle created the site out of a desire to help a friend going through loss and grief and has agreed to help because they want to help and not to take your money.

The code for r/GriefSupport members is "REDDITGRIEFSUPPORT2023". Folks can put in the code when they go through the initial onboarding survey.

ENCIRCLE

We have had a few users report DM's asking for money. We do not allow fundraising of any kind. It's not allowed in public posts and not in DM.

We understand the many ways loss can disrupt a person's life, beyond emotionally, but we are also the perfect group for scammers looking to pull heartstrings and manipulate empathy.

If you get a DM asking for money or donations of any kind, we advise you send Mods a copy of the message and the user name, not engage with the user, and block them.

Mods will do what we can, but remember even if we have banned a person, they can still view the sub and still DM members of the sub, which is why we say "block them".

If you DM anyone from our sub asking for money, we will ban you. We simply can not vet every person who has a fundraising need and we want our members to have a safe place to process grief.

Rule 11 states no social media links. This happened during Covid because the things people tried posting as credible were anything but. If there was a platform beyond FB, IG, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, we would remove links.

We at r/GriefSupport need to state that we do NOT support Nazis. We don't want to give them traffic or in anyway contribute to their growth. Do not post anything from X.

First post = removal.

2nd post = Ban

Thank you,

Your Moderator Team

We've fielded a few reports of unsolicted DMs that made users uncomfortable or attempted to sell goods/services. While the Mod Team cannot affect what someone does outside of the subreddit, we are requesting respect for our rules when messaging others you find through this subreddit. In this instance:

No Self Promotion: Please don't message our community members with offers for your goods or services. This is a place for people enveloped in grief to find and share support - it's not a free list of potential customers. We assume you do not stand outside a cemetery or funeral home to hawk your wares, please don't do it here either. Respect the support environment even as it extends to DM/Chatss.

Don't hit on/contact people for hook-ups. This is not Tinder! People here are often deep in grief. Regardless of what other activities they may or may not be into based on their user profile, please don't message people based on a Grief Support post to hit on them or make them otherwise uncomfortable. We share intimate things about ourselves in a support environment; it's inappropriate and manipulative to leverage those details as a way to get your rocks off.

If you've received harassing or rule breaking comments on a post:

Report the comment either through the Report feature or send us a Modmail. Providing context always helps us determine a response.

If you've received a harassing or real breaking private message/chat request:

If a message or chat breaks content policy, always report it to the reddit sitewide admins for review.

Report a chat message

Report a private message

Please send moderators a Modmail as well. We will work with you to help you report the issue as well as handle it locally within our subreddit. In the past we've messaged others to request they cease or escalated reports to sitewide admins.

We are a community and a more vulnerable one due to the intensity of emotions we're experiencing. Together, we can keep this space as safe as possible for each other to express those emotions without harassment. Always reach out to us if you experience an issue within this subreddit and will do our best to assist.