Death of a Parent

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…

Matt – Crying

Matt talks about men and crying. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Jeff – “Change”

Jeff reflects on the ebb and flow of grief during the healing process. Jeff continues to grieve the death of his mother.

Sam – How grief changes

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

Adam – Advice

Adam shares his advice about losing and remembering a loved one

Zoreena – Burnout and counseling

Zoreena talks about her father’s decline in a nursing home during COVID

Kim – Self care

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

Matt – Music helped my grief

Matt discusses how creativity and music help his grief. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Bryan – The Three Fs

Bryan talks about the three cornerstones that he lives by …three f’s and how they support him in living a hopeful and positive life

The First Fathers’ Day Without Dad

When you lose a person in the generation before you, you begin to think about what they meant to you. When you lose a parent, you think about all they meant, and you hoped you either lived up to the best of yourself, or in some cases where the parenting was not as instructive or kind, you hope you’ve raised yourself beyond difficult circumstances.

Margaux – “It never really hit me at one moment”

Margaux describes the experience of gradually processing her grief through individual and group therapy. Margaux continues to grieve the death of her mother from breast cancer.

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.