Chumi Friedman answers tough questions about offering comfort: What do you say to someone after a stillbirth? A special-needs loss? When is silence better than a cliché?

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Can You Please Tell Me What to Say? with Mrs. Chumi Friedman

Can You Please Tell Me What to Say?

Director of HUG, a division of A Time for those who have experienced perinatal or infant loss.My sister-in-law had a stillborn. The one-year mark is coming up. Should I say something to her? My brother lost an eleven-year-old son. But he was very special-needs. His bar mitzvah is coming up; they wouldn’t have made a real celebration anyway. Should I say something? Does it make sense that my sister-in-law doesn’t want to talk about her loss while my brother-in-law wants to talk nonstop? I thought men are more reticent. Is it better to say something cliché or just to say nothing?

These questions and more are posed to Mrs. Chumi Friedman all the time. There is no “one-answer-fits-all” here. She doesn’t know the person you are wondering about. But you do. Come listen and hopefully gain some valuable insights.

This episode is dedicated L’ilui Nishmas Lipa ben Yehoshua.