Death of a Parent

Lyss – Losing My Mother

Lyss discusses losing her mother and how her first thought was that her mother would never meet her kids Now being a mother herself brings back many memories of her.

Karyn and Cathy – “Suicide”

Karyn and Cathy discuss how the stigma of suicide impacted the lack of acknowledgement of their grief and loss. Karyn and Cathy continues to grieve the death of their father by suicide.

Kim – It’s different during a pandemic

Kim talks about how the pandemic influenced how they were able to deal with her Mum’s death

Sam – Men in grief

Sam who lost his father, uncle and cousin talks about men and grief

Lyss – Depression, Anxiety, and Self Harm

Depression, anxiety, self harm, theapy, support, mental health, suicide

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 – Support.

Karyn and Aidan discuss how much the support they received helped

Hope – Not wanting to burden my Mom and school

Hope talks about her fathers death, burdens and the importance of sharing emotions

Reflections on Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is a holiday where we show appreciation and care for the maternal roles in our lives. However, this holiday can feel very overwhelming for those of us who are grieving the death of a mother figure, a mother grieving their child, or those of us grieving the loss of not being able to become mothers ourselves.

Katie – Getting stronger

Katie talks losing her mother when she was young and how the experience helped her when she lost her Dad

Finding Joy During the Holidays After Loss When Everything Feels Awful: A message of hope.

My mother died in the middle of the night on January 1, four days before I turned sixteen. I don’t remember much about Christmas the couple weeks before she died, just that we spent a lot of that season in the ICU of the hospital where my mother had birthed my brother and I. For…

Cheryl and Mike – “Multiple losses”

Cheryl and Mike discuss the differences in loss of people who love you unconditionally. They continue to grieve Cheryl’s father and the death their daughter in a car accident.