For Bereaved Siblings

Welcome to the
Burke/Springfield/Fairfax Chapter of
The Compassionate Friends

Sibling Credo

We are the surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends.

We are brought together by the deaths of our brothers and sisters.

Open your hearts to us, but have patience with us.

Sometimes we will need the support of our friends.

At other times we need our families to be there.

Sometimes we must walk alone, taking our memories with us,

continuing to become the individuals we want to be.

We cannot be our dead brother or sister;

however, a special part of them lives on with us.

When our brothers and sisters died, our lives changed.

We are living a life very different from what we envisioned,

and we feel the responsibility to be strong even when we feel weak.

Yet we can go on because we understand better than many others

the value of family and the precious gift of life.

Our goal is not to be the forgotten mourners that we sometimes are,

but to walk together to face our tomorrows as surviving siblings of

The Compassionate Friends.