Laura- Loss from Addiction

Kristal – Professional Experience and Work

April 23, 2023

Kristal discusses being a peer support woker, working on a one on one level with community members to help them with their goals related to substance abuse. She supports those in the community dealing with loss and grief. She speaks to everyone’s experience with loss and grief being very individual.

Kristal – Story of Lived Experience

April 23, 2023

Kristal discusses experiencing homelessness at multiple stages of her life and how that informs her work as a peer support worker. It gives her an understanding of the nuance that surrounds the community. She uses this experience to support people who are experiencing grief related to death from drug poisoning.

Kate – My story

March 11, 2023

Kate tells her story of being away when her brother died of an opioid overdose

Christian – Denial and grieving

April 23, 2023

Christian discusses what happens after members of the community die from drug poisoning and how it’s OK for grief to be messy

Kristal – Poetry, Comedy, & Art for Grieving

April 23, 2023

Kristal discusses using poetry and other forms of creative expression as a distraction from her grief and to disassociate in a safe and productive way. She discusses grief being love with nowhere to go, so she puts it into art.

Christian – Supporting people who may die

April 23, 2023

Christian talks about going from zero overdoses to 50 in a matter of months and how to help people who may die

Nicole – Advice for Other Professionals Managing Grief

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses dealing with repeated loss while working in community outreach, not being afraid to be human.

Nicole – Grieving as a community

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses the power of grieving together as a community. Finding connection and trust.

Nicole – Stigma Surrounding Drug Use

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses how the stigma around drug use has an impact on how people feel able to grieve when those in their community are lost.

Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker

April 23, 2023

Kristal discusses the importance of finding ways to honour people that have been lost and how they have impacted you. She speaks to how she often chooses not to attend public memorials for those she has lost as a support worker as they are often very overwhelming. Instead, she has her own personal rituals or ways of honouring those she has lost personally including opening a window. She discusses how this practice was used when she worked in palliative care.

Beauty found at the edges: a portrait of community support

March 1, 2023

I’d sent a text saying “Hello friends, I’m putting out a call for flowers. I went to public school with Kory, the young man who died in downtown Cobourg this week, and though I hadn’t seen him in recent years, I feel the loss of him on a community level, as I imagine you do, too. Some of Kory’s people are gathering tonight in vigil at the bank where he died, and I’m gathering flowers from those of us who have gardens to share with this grieving community. Do you have some blooms in your garden that you’d be willing to share?”