Death of a Parent

Hope – Going back to school

Hope talks about the shift she felt when she went back to school after her father’s death.

Karyn and Aidan – Humour

Karyn and Aidan talk about how they use humour as a connection and a coping tool

Karyn and Aidan – Support from others

Karyn and Aidan discuss how family, friends, and people they didn’t know in the community supported them.Talking, meals, dog walking are among the things that made a huge difference.

Bryan – Helping Others

Bryan explains how his experience with grief has helped him help others and why it’s so important for him.

Sam – My story

Sam tells his story and losing his father, uncle and cousin in a short period of time

Kim – Checking in is very important

Kim explains why it is so important to check in and keep in touch with people who have lost

Learning from Grief

Grief is weird. Odd start, I know, but that was the sentence I used a lot whenever someone asked me how I was. It was never a constant feeling; it changed day to day. And still does. It’s the full gambit of emotions from sadness to anger to guilt and, though dark, even humour found its way in.

Hope – Benefits of child-centred grief programs

Hope discusses hope grief camp gave her and her family a place to feel normal

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

Amber – Keeping Dad’s memory alive

Amber tells how she set up a Dad adventure day to keep the memory of her father alive for her kids and husband

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.

Matt – My Story

Matt tells how he found his birth mother and then lost her.