Death By Overdose

Kristal – Story of Lived Experience

Kristal discusses experiencing homelessness at multiple stages of her life and how that informs her work as a peer support worker. It gives her an understanding of the nuance that surrounds the community. She uses this experience to support people who are experiencing grief related to death from drug poisoning.

Christian – “Overdose Death”

Christian talks about an overdose death not defining who that person was.

Kate – Miracle baby

Kate shares about her brothers daughter being born after he had died

Christian – Language around those pushed to the margins

Christian talks about how people who are pushed to the margins are not discussed as part of our community and how we need to include them. As a community how do we care for our neighbours and how do we mourn the loss of our neighbours

Krista – “Range of emotions”

Krista talks about the journey towards acceptance.

Krista – “Feel the feelings”

Krista discusses why she thinks it’s important to deal with feelings. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Sarah K – Grieving in isolation

Sarah discusses isolation, being in grief during the pandemic and the importance of keeping connected

The Reflection Room® project: How storytelling supports processing grief

The Reflection Room project is an evidence-based participatory art installation that was developed by researchers at the SE Research Centre and Memorial University in 2016. The project included a research component that evaluated the impact of Reflection Rooms as the project adapted over time to address changing needs.

Krista – “My way of helping others”

Krista talks about reducing the stigma. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Nicole – Working in Community Outreach

Nicole discusses her work in community outreach and how she has lived experience with addiction and living rough.

Sarah K – Trauma therapy

Sarah explains how she felt broken after her husband’s death to overdose and how grief therapy helped her untangle all the feelings that came from such an unexpected death

Kate – Time to process

Kate shares about time and processing her grief especially during COVID