My name is Andrea Lengel and I have lived in Bonn for the past 25 years together with my husband Mark, a US citizen, and our three children, Scott, Emma and Josh, who have grown up bilingually with close ties to both Germany and the US. When my husband died three years ago, I did not only lose the person whom I deeply loved but also an important part of our bicultural family identity and dynamics.

On the surface, I appeared to manage quite well. I had my work, friends and family to keep me distracted and socially engaged. Deep inside of me, however, I felt quite lonely at times since nobody around me could really relate to what I was going through.

Attending several courses in bereavement care by Dr. Alan Wolfelt and going through a grief educator training by David Kessler, two renowned grief educators in North America, have taught me a lot about grief and the importance of a good support group in the healing process.