Death of a Parent

Jessica’s Reflections as an Adult Grieving Child

Parents or trusted adults are people children often turn to for support, but my circle of trusted adults was shrinking. My peers were focused on what to wear on civvies day (a day where we didn’t have to wear a uniform), while I was focused on just surviving.

Lyss – Holding Space

Lyss discusses holding space, feeling the feelings and the things her Mom missed by dying at 47.

Grief & Ice Cream

When my wife of 18 years died in 2016, I became a single father missing the love of my life, and also had to learn how to raise two girls (13-17 at the time) on my own. I remember a conversation I had with my mother-in-law and oldest daughter that began as reminiscing over a person who became a lost love to all of us. We all talked about different aspects of my wife but shortly, it transformed into a “who meant more to her” fest.

Kim – Self care

Kim talks about looking after yourself and how much it helps. In particular be kind to yourself

Clare – “Talking About Grief”

Clare talks about her experiences with grief. Clare continues to grieve the death of her father.

Lyss – Support, Family, and Friends

Lyss discusses the long process of her mother dying, miscarriages and support from family and friends

Jessica M – My Story

Jessica talks about losing her grandfather at 14 when her mother was terminal, her mother and aunt died when she was 15. She felt alone until she found a peer support group

Hope – Benefits of play in helping kids work through grief

Hope discusses how recreation and play can help kids understand deal with their loss.

Katie – My Story

Katie shares about her story and losing her Dad to cancer during COVID

Bryan – Trauma

Bryan discusses trauma anxiety, support and the loss of his father to gun violence

Keeping Records

I pulled the photos out of their envelope one at a time, turning over each one to carefully record the date, place, and people in the photo. Sometimes, I included comments. “Apple picking in Hamilton with Pop Pop, Fall, 2023. You loved the wagon ride!”. I slipped each picture into an empty pocket in my son’s photo album.

Karyn and Aidan – Challenges with COVID restrictions

Karyn and Aidan discuss the COVID restrictions on visitations and how they managed