New support group helps bereaved parents cope with road accident loss

THE spiralling carnage on the roads has led to the formation of a new support group in Limerick to help bereaved parents cope with the death of loved ones.

Fr Joe Young, the founder of Lost Futures, said: “I believe this will be one of the biggest and most helpful organisations of its kind given the number of people who are grieving alone without help, many who have lost sons and daughters in road accidents.”

Lost Futures members meet at the Pastoral Centre in Denmark Street on Thursday nights at 8.30pm.

Fr Young said it is open to all who have lost a son or daughter.

“It may have been a still-born baby, a tragic accident, somebody who died as a result of violence, a suicide or somebody who died from illness. It is open to all and from all traditions,” he said.

He said one of his aims is to prevent bereaved parents turning into themselves and living the life of a recluse.

Fr Young said: “Some try to cope by using alcohol as a kind of medication. You only have to look at the amount of young people being killed on the roads to see the scale of the problem of bereaved loved ones and the amount of suffering out there.”

He said there was a denial in the country about coming to terms with the grief that road carnage is creating. He said this denial also applied to many bereaved by suicide.

“Where does the family go? I am all for counselling, but I believe deeply that to sit down with somebody who has gone through the same suffering you have been burdened with, you can see the solace because of the empathy between these people,” said Fr Young.

He said the number of people turning up for meetings is growing.

He said he started the Lost Futures meeting in his home in Marian Avenue.

“I just did not have the space and we moved to the pastoral centre.

“I feel you get one chance to make a difference in helping people and that is what Lost Futures is all about,” said Fr Young.

He said it was inspirational to see so many grieving people reach out to help one another in very traumatic circumstances.

Fr Young said: “The dead person could be a newborn baby, a teenager or somebody in their 30s or 40s. Age is irrelevant. They are all children.”

Fr Joe Young can be contacted on 061-405835.