{"id":37892,"date":"2021-04-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/?p=37892"},"modified":"2021-04-29T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T07:00:00","slug":"chocoholics-a-grief-support-group-in-the-uae-launched-by-4get-me-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/chocoholics-a-grief-support-group-in-the-uae-launched-by-4get-me-not\/","title":{"rendered":"“Chocoholics” – A Grief Support Group In The UAE Launched By 4get-Me Not"},"content":{"rendered":"

The founder of 4get-me-not Desir\u00e9eVlekken recently launched \u201cChocoholics\u201d a grief support group, with a purpose to provide seniors and caregivers\u00a0who are living with grief,\u00a0a safe environment to share, connect and heal. The group plans to meet monthly, over a hot cup of chocolate and share their personal journeys.<\/p>\n

Desir\u00e9e Vlekken – founder of 4get-me-not<\/strong> says\u201cI felt compelled to start Chocoholics; since there are <\/em>many senior and caregivers in our organization that are hurting from losing a loved one. Most often, whenever we have a group activity or gathering; someone from the group would volunteer a personal story about the husband or wife or child they have lost. \u00a0I thought it would make perfect sense to introduce a platform where seniors\/caregivers would have a safe space to share, grieve and move forward.On a personal note, I carry my own heavy grief; I have recently lost my dad (79yrs) on 20th Jan 2021 from Pneumonia and complications of Alzheimer’s and about 1 week after launching Chocoholics, I lost my mom (81yrs) from battling Covid in April 2021. I was unable to attend their funerals due to travel restrictions to Manila.<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s name Chocoholics \u2013 \u201cLife is sticky but sweet\u201d was inspired from learning about the benefits of consuming dark chocolate, which helps with memory, blood pressure, and acts as a mood enhancer whilst alleviating depression and it also has anti-inflammatory properties, which is good for the brain. This is what Chocoholics intends to achieve, for its participants to heal, one chocolate at a time.<\/p>\n

Chocoholics held its first meeting earlier this month with 6 participants. The program ensures that everybody gets a chance to speak. \u00a0The program moderator was Kim Smith, an Inclusion specialist for people of determination and book reviewer; her background enables her to manage delicate topics such as grief and mourning. Before the end of the session, each participant created a one-page collage with a photo of a loved one with colours and special messages. This will be filed and stored in the Chocoholics Time Capsule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was vital to create a sweet and safe environment where we start each session with a cup of hot chocolate. People who are grieving (like myself) can feel detached and this needs to be addressed and enable us to be functional again\u201d<\/em> adds Desir\u00e9e Vlekken – founder of 4get-me-not<\/strong><\/p>\n

If anyone is over 60yrs + or a caregiver, and would like to attend one of Chocoholic\u2019s monthly group meetings, they can email the team at info@4get-me-not.org<\/a>to register. In order for the group to continue the group meetings, it needs support through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sponsorships. This will enable Chocoholics to hold meetings twice a month, subsidize refreshments for participants, materials and offer a stipend for program Moderators.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The founder of 4get-me-not Desir\u00e9eVlekken recently launched \u201cChocoholics\u201d a grief support group, with a purpose to provide seniors and caregivers\u00a0who are living with grief,\u00a0a safe environment to share, connect and heal. The group plans to meet monthly, over a hot cup of chocolate and share their personal journeys. Desir\u00e9e Vlekken – founder of 4get-me-not says\u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37895,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37892\/revisions\/37895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}