Victim Support says the families of those still unaccounted for on White Island are struggling to know how to react.
A sixth person has now been confirmed dead, having succumbed to their injuries in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.
The community is reeling from the loss of locals in the fatal eruption, including skipper Hayden Marshall-Inman.
Victim Support acting chief executive Karen McLeay says that closure for the victim's families is impossible at this stage.
Eight people unaccounted for are presumed to have died in the blast.
McLeay said Victim Support has been in touch with all families, including those overseas.
She told Newshub the needs of those affected are still changing.
"If the information is unknown it is very confusing for them," McLeay told Newshub. "They often struggle to know how to respond."
She said grief can be even more difficult from a distance, and it can be especially difficult when bodies have not been recovered.
"Everybody deals with grief and shock process in a different way," McLeay said.
Those who perished in Monday's eruption have yet to be identified by authorities, but police say the 47 people who visited the island on Monday come from seven different countries.
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