Drug Poisoning and the Pandemic

Kate – Getting support

Kate talks about how difficult it is to ask for support

Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker

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.

Christian – My process in grieving

Christian explains his grieving process and how it’s important to let people in, the power of community, and having a team that makes him feel loved and cared for

Kate – My story

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

Kristal – Poetry, Comedy, & Art for Grieving

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.

Kristal – Grieving the Whole Person

Kristal discusses the importance of recognizing and grieving the entire person who was lost – not just who they were before they had been using drugs.

Christian – Language around those pushed to the margins

Christian talks about how people who are pushed to the margins are not discussed as part of our community and how we need to include them. As a community how do we care for our neighbours and how do we mourn the loss of our neighbours

Kate – Miracle baby

Kate shares about her brothers daughter being born after he had died

Kate – Time to process

Kate shares about time and processing her grief especially during COVID

Nicole – Stigma Surrounding Drug Use

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.

Grief & Drug Poisoning Toolkit [Free Downloadable PDF]

  Navigating life, death, and loss can be overwhelming. This toolkit is designed by mental health professionals and contains information about grief, different types of grief we may experience, gentle reminders on how to move through grief, as well as tips for those who may be supporting someone in their life who is grieving. This…