Entrepreneur Yevette McCall is the founder and CEO of Pro Staffing in Statesboro, but she also works part time for Gentiva Hospice as a volunteer coordinator.
“I came to work here in August; my mom passed in April, so that was a lot for me," McCall said. "Working here has been very rewarding.”
She had wanted to offer grief counseling through Gentiva, and two of their Georgia Southern students, Emily McBride and Quinn Swidorski, broached the idea to McCall. She gave them carte blanche to design a program that would help grieving members of our community.
McCall also wants to be clear that there are more catalysts than death to send a person into grief. Someone can grieve the loss of a job, a friendship, or anything that requires them to adjust to a new way of life.
“We want people to understand that grief is not just death; you can grieve many things," she said. "We want to expand that and have more conversations about life after disappointment, life after death, and adjusting to new normals.”
They have had three meetings in total, the first of which was April. Each session, although unique in attendance and topic, has provided the community and comfort participants were looking for.
“The goal of the meetings are coping strategies, how to cope with that next step of life after disappointment. This is not full-fledged therapy, of course,” McCall says, “but it is very close to some type of therapy because you do learn about the stages of grief, you learn about coping skills, we talk about alternatives, other things that you can do.”
McCall has plans to continue the group and wants to send two requests out to the community: one for space and the other for volunteers. One of the basic needs McCall expressed for the grief group is a centralized meeting space.
“We’re trying to find a location. If we could get somebody to volunteer a location, we would love that,” she said.
Another need McCall would like to see fulfilled would be more volunteers for Gentiva Hospice, as well as for the grief group.
“I am looking for volunteers -- always looking for volunteers,” McCall says. “I really would love to see our grief group grow. It is so needed.”
Gentiva Hospice is located at 112 Hill Pond Road. The grief group meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the RAC at Georgia Southern. For more information about Gentiva Hospice, please click here or find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GentivaHospiceStatesboro.