Widowed Time Frame

Perspective, Resources and Community for However Long You’ve been Widowed

Newly Widowed
Recently Widowed
Middle Widowed
Seasoned Widowed
We have a widowed person for that

We have a widowed person for that

Every widowed experience is different, and yet the way the person you love died may influence how you grieve. At Soaring Spirits we've discovered that connecting with other people whose loved one died in the same way as yours offers a unique and powerful comfort as you move through your grief.

Shared Experiences is a place to find others whose lives have been altered in some of the same ways as yours. Sudden loss, long or short term illness, suicide, accidents or deaths complicated by addiction or mental health struggles: this portion of our website offers videos, resources, books, and group connections that facilitate the exploration of topics unique to the type of death your love one experienced, and how that death experience influences your healing.

You will find friends here who get it, and who get you.

Research Informed Resources

Research Informed Resources

Current research on life after loss can inform, educate and provide a framework for the widowed community as we rebuild our lives. Access resilience-based books, articles, podcasts, websites and videos which will provide powerful information to support your healing journey.

Find a Regional Group

Find a Regional Group

Join thousands of widowed men and women who meet in cities throughout the world, including Canada, Ireland and the United States. These groups help widowed people rebuild social networks that foster healing through community connection. Groups meet twice monthly and are led by Soaring Spirits trained volunteer facilitators.

SSI Document Center

SSI Document Center

Our document center includes important information for the newly widowed, general resources for widowed people, and information for their support networks. Click here for access to The Newly Widowed Checklist, Common Grief Reactions in Adults, The Widowhood Resilience Scale, 10 Ways to Ease Trauma, and many other supportive documents.

Camp Widow Events

Camp Widow Events

This uplifting, life-affirming, conference-style program (both live and virtual) allows widowed people to gather and create strong community connections with other widowed people. Weekend Camp Widow® events are held annually in San Diego, Tampa, and Toronto, and one day Pop-Up Camps are held in various locations throughout the world.

Widowed Pen Pal Program

Widowed Pen Pal Program

Our Widowed Pen Pal program will match you with another widowed person for one-on-one, supportive e-mail correspondence. The Widowed Pen Pal program was designed for those who would like to correspond with one person consistently, rather than join a group forum. For your safety, our procedure for matching pen pals includes verification of widowhood, which we process through our Widowed Village program.

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Widowed Village Around the World

Soaring Spirits International offers support, resources and community for widowed people around the world. Our Widowed Village program, which was created in 2010, has been accessed in 153 different countries, by tens of thousands of widowed people seeking solace in the comfort of a life-affirming community.

Soaring Spirits International: Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Soaring Spirits International (SSI), we believe that widowhood is a shared human experience, transcending boundaries of marital status, gender, sexual identity, and religious traditions. Our programs welcome and honor the diversity that grief brings, offering support to anyone who has experienced the death of their person.

We are committed to ensuring equitable access to our programs, recognizing that underserved populations face barriers in accessing grief support. Through active outreach and data collection, we work to remove these barriers systematically and consistently.

Inclusion is at the heart of our mission. We understand that mourning takes different forms across cultures and identities. With curiosity and cultural humility, we continually adapt and expand our resources to serve an ever broader and more diverse community of widowed individuals. We actively seek feedback from underrepresented communities to ensure our programs are relevant and inclusive.

Our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion is an ongoing journey. We regularly review and improve our efforts, staying connected with the evolving needs of our global community.

Our full statement and DEI action plan can be found by clicking this link.

Widow’s Voice Blog

Imagine finding a blog that gives voice to the pain you are living and the words you've thought, but never shared. We've amassed a library that includes thousands of posts written by widowed people, that normalize the sometimes crazy process of grief and loss. Our blogs are searchable and will lead you to specific topics or questions. You can also read every post written by any of your favorite authors by searching their name. Every single word that you will read on this blog was written for widowed people, by widowed people.

A Week in “Old Florida” Never Gets Old

A Week in “Old Florida” Never Gets Old

It’s been a “mundane” but productive week filled with property-related distractions; the homestead matters that call for care and maintenance, those things that keep me grounded, literally...

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Other Widowed Perspectives

Other Widowed Perspectives

One thing I’ve found just from reading everyone else’s posts here as well as bumping into other widows in person, is that there are things we can all relate to, but each of us is on our...

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Trying to Stay Young

Trying to Stay Young

Lola and I are invited to dinner one evening next week at the home of Michael and Hannan, who live in the neighborhood but are not, strictly speaking, our neighbors, as we live several short blocks...

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Thinking of Those

Thinking of Those

Arriving in Edmonds Tomorrow Remembering Camp Widow Denver Gives Me Hope.   I am packing and remembering. I’m recalling a tender conversation with a woman under the stairwell. She drove 18...

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The Living Bucketlist

The Living Bucketlist

What a world. The twins and I have been on back-to-back trips for the last few months. We recently just got back this past Saturday from a trip to Japan and South Korea and wow, what a trip it was...

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Death and Holidays

Death and Holidays

Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of Tony’s passing. In case you missed it, yesterday was also Easter. I have known and dreaded for a full year that these two events would coincide. About a month...

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The Honor and “Responsibility” of Continuing Her Legacy

The Honor and “Responsibility” of Continuing Her Legacy

The other day, I ran into a good friend that I have known for a couple decades at the coffeehouse. She (Nancy) introduced me to the friend she was with (Susan), and the first thing Susan said to me...

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Seasonal Awareness

Seasonal Awareness

My Awareness Calendar reminds me that April, among other things, contains the Awareness Observances of Adopt a Greyhound Month, Global Volunteer Month, Library Snapshot Month, National Pet Month, and...

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Weekly Journal Prompt

Journal Prompt

What do you remember about those early days?

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