What we’re about
*PLEASE READ - PLEASE READ - IMPORTANT BEFORE YOU APPLY TO JOIN!!!!
Meetup is the platform we use to allow people to google for support groups that support young Widowed people in Victoria - but our actual online and face to face group runs via a private chat room on Facebook that you will receive the details for once you have met the criteria here (we don't share it publicly so as to keep the members of this group safe from fraudulent activity - so we also don't share where we meet monthly here either).
We have been running successfully for ten years this year and have over 600 members Victoria wide.
In order to join the group that runs monthly face to face catch ups and has 24/7 online support from other members it must be ascertained here on the meetup group that you are in fact bereaved of your late partner/wife/husband (and I am aware this is an uncomfortable request from someone that you don't know at the most difficult of times) - but please know it is because our members are so important and their privacy and safety is our number one priority.
For us to share our group details you must share your late partners date of birth and date of passing and the town/suburb in which they grew up in upon application (that is if they are not an obvious presence on your Facebook page), and due to most accounts being locked profiles these days, if I can't search your Facebook page for information on your late partner, you will need to provide those details - this is the only way I can approve you and pass on our private Facebook group details.
I am sorry if it feels/seems insensitive, but due to fraudulent accounts accessing our safe space in the past, this has become a necessary evil.
A little info on our wonderful and very supportive community.
This wonderful support group was born out of need when my beautiful husband died tragically and suddenly in July of 2013. There was literally no support out there for young widowed people in Victoria, and so a meetup group began, and from that our private Facebook group was created in order to offer a safe space for members to chat online night and day.
It was my saviour in the early years after losing my husband and the father of my two young children, and has undergone many changes over the last 10 years.
When you apply via meetup, please share your Facebook profile name (and description of your picture if there are many of you) and if there is no way of us seeing evidence of your late partners passing or you have a locked profile, please include their full name date of passing and the town or suburb in which they grew up.
In terms of who classifies as a Widow/Widower - this is ANYONE bereaved of their partner. Marriage/Children/Living together are not prerequisites.
A loss this great does not require a piece of paper to prove how great the loss was.
Thank you for reading, I look forward to approving your applications and sharing our Facebook information so that you can start talking to our wonderful cohort.
Emma.
