Death of A Loved One

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.

Shawn – “Dad”

Shawn describes finding out his father died by suicide and the shock and grief that followed. Shawn continues to grieve the death of his father by suicide

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.

Shannon – Hope for Healing

Shannon shares about losing her husband to suicide, her parents and her father-in-law. She felt broken and to be able to take care of her kids and her self seemed overwhelming. It took someone telling her that you can heal from trauma to give her hope for healing.

Making Space to Hear Them: supporting children in grief

Children tend to be naturally curious as they grow and learn to navigate the world. As adults, it’s our job to walk with them through that process of learning and to support their curiosity. It can be hard to do that with respect when we are situated in cultures that don’t acknowledge children as autonomous humans worthy of mutual respect. It can be tempting to encourage kids to ignore their feelings about death and grief or to shut down conversations about it when they ask questions. Sometimes, this is because we just don’t know what to say that is developmentally appropriate, especially with young children. Sometimes, it’s because we haven’t allowed ourselves to develop our own thoughts and feelings about death and grief and it feels uncomfortable for us to talk about.

Doug – “Find a purpose”

Doug talks about hope, purpose and putting things into perspective. Doug continues to grieve the death of bis daughter in a car accident.

Doug M – “Waiting before making major changes”

Doug discusses the importance of waiting to make decisions after you have developed your new life. Doug continues to grieve the death of his first wife.

Donna B – “Having Faith”

Donna explains how faith has helped her. Donna continues to grieve the death her son during service in Afghanistan.

Mary S – My story (long)

Mary tells the story of her life with her husband, his death and then the loss of both of her parents