Grief is a response to not just death, but the rigors of life as well. However, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church wants the South Coast to know: you don’t need to carry your burden alone.

"The Bridge: A Center for Hope and Healing" is dedicated to not only providing people who are grieving the death of a loved one with counseling and compassion, but those who are struggling with the difficulties of life as well.

Launched in November, The Bridge seeks to bring transformative change through psychological care and counseling, meditation workshops and other forms of spirituality and support groups to people throughout the South Coast.

St. Peter’s has been holding “Blue Christmas” grief counseling sessions for the last three years. The sessions were so well-received that attendees began voicing their desire for counseling groups on a more consistent basis. The sessions are open to people who are grieving, suffering from depression, anxiety or “don’t have any hope,” said Reverend Scott Ciosek.

Though grief sessions are held at St. Peter’s, the counseling groups are non-denominational with an emphasis not on religiosity, but spirituality. Spirituality is a generalized belief in a higher power that does not ascribe to any particular religious doctrine.

“Spirituality is about where we find out purpose and meaning,” said Ciosek. “And that’s a question that every one of us has on a daily basis.”

Now, The Bridge is working on more specialized grief support groups including bereavement of partners, adult children and parents. However, Ciosek believes that grief does not necessarily revolve around death. Other grief support groups will be geared toward the hardships of everyday life, such as unemployment or caregiver support for people who provide full-time care to a loved one.

“Grief is a human response to any kind of loss,” Ciosek said.

This is just the start of what The Bridge is setting out to accomplish. The group sessions are completely free and are available to anyone, not just Dartmouth natives, though they do require pre-registration. Eventually, Ciosek hopes the group’s vision of renovating parts of the church to create private one-on-one counseling groups and a multi-purpose space for group sessions and activities like meditation will come to fruition.

So far, sessions have been very well attended.

“We’re hoping to bridge out even more. There’s such a need for this,” Ciosek said. “No matter who I’ve talked to, the average wait time for a counselor is six to eight weeks.”

A starting team of about two certified counselors and therapists will be available to provide more specialized help for a reasonable fee. Though the more personalized help may have some price attached to it, The Bridge hopes to implement a sliding scale system.

Those who struggle to make payments or find themselves coming on hard times won’t be turned away, Ciosek said. As of now, there is no set date for when counselors and therapists will be available at The Bridge.

The grief sessions allow people to safely confide in others who are in similar situations and “tell their story,” Ciosek said.

People often perceive churches to be exclusionary, Ciosek said. However, St. Peter’s works hard to make others feel welcomed.

“There is a real sense of inclusive welcome here. It’s really a progressive church that allows people to think for themselves. Regardless of their self-image, personal narrative, their marital situation or their sexual orientation, the door always remains open to receive Eucharist,” Ciosek said. “Churches can’t be in maintenance mode and just be thinking of themselves. We need to say ‘How can we get out in the world and provide for the spiritual care of people?’”

The Coping with Grief support group, a six week program, begins on Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. The support group is for anyone who has lost a partner, parent, adult child, family member or close friend. Pre-register by calling 508-997-0903 or emailing thebridgedartmouth@gmail.com. The Bridge is located at 351 Elm Street, Dartmouth.