A clinician-facilitated online support group

Grieving a death from addiction

When a loved one dies from an addiction, a unique type of grief arises. The pleasantries, flowers, and cards can be replaced by loneliness, confusion, and grief. This group is a space to grieve, heal, and recover from a loss.

For parents, siblings, adult children, and close friends. For anyone whose person died of an overdose or a drug- or alcohol-related illness. Whether the loss was last month or twenty years ago. Grief has no timeline.

NOW ENROLLING

Fall 2026 — Sundays, beginning October 11

Begins Sunday, October 11, 2026

Meets Sundays, 4:00–5:00 p.m. Eastern

Length Eight weekly sessions of 60 minutes

Format Zoom

Size Ten people maximum, closed group

Cost $15 a session, scholarships available

Open to Adults across the United States

To join, write to me at maxwell@maxwellcrystaltherapy.org

We'll talk for fifteen minutes first, to be sure the group is a good fit.

What happens in the group

Each session is an hour, facilitated, with a loose theme and a lot of room. Across the eight weeks we cover the things that come up in nearly every grief of this kind: guilt and the evidence for it, relief and ambivalence, the traumatic memory of the death versus the relationship with the person, what to tell people, grieving alongside family members who are grieving differently, and holidays and anniversaries.

You are never required to speak. Some people talk from the first week and some listen for three. Both are a legitimate way to use the group.

The group is closed — the same ten people for all eight weeks, with no one joining after the first session. That is deliberate. People say things in week five that they would not say to a room that changes.

What this is, and what it isn't

This is a support group, not group therapy. It is a facilitated space for people with a shared loss to talk honestly with each other. Joining does not create a therapist–client relationship, it is not a substitute for individual treatment, and it is not a crisis service.

If you are already working with a therapist, a group like this usually sits alongside that work well, and you are welcome to tell them you're joining.

If what you're looking for is individual or couples therapy for this loss, that is something I offer separately — say so when you write. I'm licensed in Massachusetts and Vermont, so therapy is limited to those states. The group is not.

Maxwell Crystal, LICSW

I specialize in helping families who have lost a loved one to addiction. I came to this work through eight years in substance use treatment, most recently as clinical director of a residential program, and through running a hospice bereavement program. In both places I sat with families who had lost someone and then been handed nothing at all. That's why this group exists.

More about my background and practice →

If you need support right now

This group meets once a week. If you need someone sooner:

Questions people ask

Can I join if I'm not in Massachusetts or Vermont? Yes. The group meets online and is open to adults across the United States. This is a support group rather than therapy, and joining does not create a therapist–client relationship. Individual and couples therapy I can only offer in the states where I'm licensed, Massachusetts and Vermont — if that turns out to be what you're looking for, I'm glad to help you think about what to look for where you are.

Do I have to talk? No. Participation is whatever you can manage on a given week, including listening. Nobody is called on.

What if my loss was years ago? That's common in this group. Grief from this kind of death often gets deferred — there's usually a crisis, a funeral, and a family to hold together first — and it surfaces later. Years out is not late.

Is it confidential? Everyone agrees to confidentiality in the first session and it is taken seriously. It is worth knowing that a group cannot guarantee confidentiality the way individual therapy can, because it depends on ten people rather than one clinician. We talk about this directly in week one.

What if I try it and it isn't right? You can stop at any time, and you only ever pay for the sessions you've attended.

What if this group is full, or the timing doesn't work? Write to me anyway. I'll put you on the list for the next series and let you know as soon as dates are set.