The following information on grief and depression is important information that The Shaka Franklin Foundation distributes to schools and youth groups throughout the country.

1. Many people believe that grief should last between 48 hours and two weeks. Everyone is different, but the loss of someone you love can cause immeasurable sorrow that will be the same and death has an immeasurable and visible impact on you far beyound a year's time.

2. Sorrow should not be suppressed. The use of alcohol or tranquilizing drugs cannot cure the emotions you feel. The expression of emotions is the only means we have to realign ourselves after a major change in our lives.

3. "No man is an island unto himself". No matter how overwhelmed, lonely or helpless you feel, your loss is other's loss also. Include others in your grief.

   Grieving is a part of healthful living. It is not a short process and its characteristics cannot be suppressed. Your loss is not a private matter. Grieving is a means by which we recover our orientation to living following a significant change in our lives. The best thing we can do when we grieve is to respect our feelings as others, and give ourselves time to adapt.

   We hope that the information here will help you to cope a little better with your grief.

4. It is normal to think of changes to make in your life like selling the house, changing jobs, going on long trips, quitting school. These may be appropriate in time; but not while you are grieving the most. Spending binges, radical changes in habits, taking flight from routines are examples of how we can try to avoid sorrow. It is important to make as few changes in your circumstances of living as possible. While there many changes you cannot avoid, postpone as many as you can.

5. Do not ignore your own health. For some, it may seem that the best way of honoring the dead is to die with them. For others, it is to abandon self-esteem. What ever the reason, you need to care for your own health.

For most people the loss of a loved one is the most intense and difficult experience of their lives.

Grief is a universal emotion that is misunderstood by many people, professionals and laymen. Many who grieve try to hide and suppress their sorrow. We now know that to suppress sorrow is to thwart the grieving process, which disorients us and makes us more at risk.