Assisted Dying Support Groups

Standard grief support groups were not built for you. When you walk into a room of people who lost someone to a heart attack or a car accident and share that your person chose to die — and that you supported the choice — the silence that follows is not support. It is judgment, or confusion, or both.

Finding a group that understands the specific emotional terrain of assisted dying bereavement is not optional. It is one of the most protective things you can do for yourself in the first year.

Why General Grief Groups Often Make It Worse

General bereavement groups assume the death was unwanted. The entire framework — anger at the disease, helplessness, the randomness of loss — does not map onto a death that was planned, chosen, and supported by the family. Sharing your experience in this context can produce responses that range from awkward platitudes to overt hostility.

Some members will not understand why you feel grief at all: "But you knew it was coming." Others will project their own values: "I could never support that." Neither response helps. Both reinforce the isolation that makes grief after assisted dying so difficult to process.

Where to Find Specialized Support

Bridge C-14 (Canada): Named for Bill C-14, which established Canada's federal MAID framework in the Criminal Code, Bridge C-14 connects bereaved families who have been through Medical Assistance in Dying. They offer peer support circles, one-on-one matching with people who have been through similar experiences, and online community spaces. This is currently the most developed MAID-specific bereavement network.

Death with Dignity (United States): The Death with Dignity National Center maintains a network of volunteers and staff who support families before and after a MAID death. They can connect you with other bereaved families in your state and with therapists experienced in this area.

VAD Support Services (Australia): Several Australian states have established support services for families after voluntary assisted dying. In Victoria, the Virtual Victoria MAiD Support Group offers specialized peer support; ask a VAD coordinator for current contact details and local referrals.

Compassionate Friends: While primarily a child-loss organization, their local chapters sometimes include parents who lost adult children to assisted dying. The reception varies by chapter and location.

Online communities: Private Facebook groups, Reddit communities, and forum spaces specifically for MAID and euthanasia bereavement exist but are harder to find through search engines because they deliberately maintain low visibility to protect member privacy. Asking your clinician, social worker, or VAD coordinator for a direct referral to an online group is usually the fastest path.

What to Look for in a Group

Not all specialized groups are equal. A good support group for assisted dying bereavement will:

• Explicitly welcome families who supported the decision, without requiring them to justify or defend it
• Include a facilitator with training in traumatic or complicated grief — not just a well-meaning volunteer
• Maintain strict confidentiality — the social stakes of disclosure are higher than in standard grief groups
• Not be affiliated with a political or advocacy organization that uses bereavement stories as campaign material without explicit, informed consent

A group that asks you to share your story publicly, advocates for or against assisted dying legislation during meetings, or pressures members to participate in media appearances is not a support group. It is an advocacy organization. Both have value; they serve different purposes.

Individual Therapy as an Alternative

Some people process grief better one-on-one than in groups. If you go this route, ask the therapist directly: "Have you worked with families who have been through MAID or euthanasia?" If the answer is no, that does not automatically disqualify them — but ask whether they have strong personal views about assisted dying that might affect the therapeutic relationship.

A therapist who believes assisted dying is morally wrong cannot hold space for your grief without contaminating it with their own framework. This is not an abstract concern — bereaved families have reported therapy sessions where the therapist's questions subtly reframed the decision as something to be processed as a trauma rather than supported as a choice.

The After a Death by Euthanasia / Assisted Dying guide includes a directory of MAID-specific bereavement resources organized by country, plus a screening checklist for evaluating therapists and support groups.