NATCHEZ — Going through a loss is never easy, and having just passed through a holiday season while living with that loss can leave many people feeling overwhelmed.

But that doesn’t have to be the case, and at 6 p.m. Monday, the St. Mary Basilica grief and loss group will host Compassionate Care Hospice chaplains Pete and Jan Mills and Angela Thomas for a 45-minute program, “How to recover from the holidays with your grief.”

“There is such a thing as post-holiday blues, this kind of slump you go though before getting back into the groove of things, but when you add grief on top of that it takes it to another level,” Jan Mills said. “We are going to talk about what you can do to take care of yourself (in that situation).”

The St. Mary Basilica grief and loss group is open to people who have suffered any kind of loss, and those who attend don’t have to be members of St. Mary Basilica or Catholic, co-coordinator Abby Goldblatt said.

“Generally we get a lot of members who have lost family members, but any kind of loss that causes grief — divorce is an example — is welcome,” Goldblatt said.

“I think it is especially beneficial because participants see they are not the only ones going through the special process of grief, and they find camaraderie among the people who come,” she said. “Most of the time (co-coordinator Donna Martello and I) are there to lead and facilitate, but they kind of run the group themselves. They can say, ‘This worked best for me when I confronted my issue,’ so they sort of peer counsel.”

Mills said an important thing to remember when dealing with grief is it is OK to cry.

“Grief is not limited to the loss of a spouse,” she said. “The loss of a child, a job or divorce will lead to grief, and many times serious operations where you lose part of your body or the loss of mobility as you get older will lead to grieving — there are a lot of people going through grief.”

Processing grief properly is important because it can add up, and people often pair separate griefs until they become overwhelming, Mills said.

“Often, there are things that have never been grieved in your life, and like dirty laundry, they pile up,” she said.

Monday’s presentation will look at how to observe public holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas and what Mills called ‘private holidays,’ things like the birthday of a lost loved one or the anniversary of their death, during the grieving process.

Goldblatt said the program will also break down the different types of grief.

“They are going to do that so the people can understand, ‘This is the type of griever I am, but it is OK for others to process it in a different way,’” she said.

While the program will focus on dealing with grief, Mills said it will include a focus on choosing joy in a difficult situation.

The grief and loss group meets every Monday from 6 to 7 p.m. in the St. Mary Basilica family life center.