Motherless Daughters group grows membership
In April I wrote a story for the Florida Times Union about the Jacksonville Motherless Daughters group. Valerie Benton and Nicki Chandler founded the support group as a means of reaching out to other women who had experienced the pain of losing a mother.
Benton, a professional life coach with Summit Marketing and Coaching, says the group is growing. “People are a little hesitant sometimes,” she says. That’s not surprising. Losing a mother is one of the most emotional events a person confronts. But the support group seems to help. “Our last meeting was incredible,” says Benton, who recalls what one woman told her.
A member thanked her for the group’s support, saying, “You have no idea what it means just to be able to talk about this.”
That’s exactly what Benton and Chandler like to hear. Chandler just wrapped up her master’s degree in social work. She had deeply personal reasons to reach out to others because her own mother died when Chandler was 15 years old. Chandler eventually found a book by Hope Edelman, “Motherless Daughters, the Legacy of Loss.” She says that book really helped her to make sense of what happened when she was so young.
Benton was an adult when her mother died. She describes her mother as her “best friend.”
The founders of Jacksonville Motherless Daughters founded a support group that provides a positive outlet for their own sense of loss and helps others at the same time. Benton describes it as moving “from grief to gratitude.”
The group’s next meeting is Monday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Southeast Branch Library, 10599 Deerwood Park Blvd. Participants must be 18 or older; membership is free.
Learn more on the Web at Jacksonville Motherless Daughters Group .
Shown in photo above are Valerie Benton (left) and Nicki Chandler (right), founders of the Jacksonville Motherless Daughters Support Group. –Photo by Kay Day
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