I Am A Griever

What Can Help with Early Traumatic Grief?

When your child dies you are thrown into a nightmare. None of this is expected to be easy.
Even after several months, it still isn’t. There have been some things that have helped us during
our grief. Maybe they will help you, too.

Nicole – Grieving as a community

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

John – Support over time

John discusses how support changes over time

Angie – Preparing for Grief on the Job

Angie explains her thoughts on fitting in and doing the right thing

Jim – Police culture and grief

Jim talks about how grief is a natural part of life, but it can be especially difficult to deal with when you’re in the police culture. There’s a lot of pressure to bottle up your emotions and not show weakness, but that’s not healthy. It’s important to find healthy ways to cope with your grief, whether it’s talking to a therapist, joining a support group, or simply spending time with loved ones. You’re not alone, and there are people who care about you and want to help.

Jessica M – Continuing Bonds

Jessica talks about the values of continuing bonds and connections with people who are not here anymore. She gives some examples of things that have made her more connected to her Mom.

Kate – Trust and listening

Kate – explains how having someone you trust is super important so that you can have a space space to go to

Kate – Getting support

Kate talks about how difficult it is to ask for support

Angie – Cumulative grief, cumulative trauma

Angie discusses the challenges of policing and how trauma and grief can accumulate

Scott – The importance of processing

Scott discusses having a nervous breakdown and realizing that he hadn’t fully processed the grief he had been through with the loss of his mother and father. He also discusses how music helped him moving forward

Grief, Breastfeeding, and Care

In this essay, I share a bit about my story of grief and breastfeeding. I also share some thoughts about the cultural grief some people are carrying about the lack of support afforded to lactating families whose goal it is to feed their baby from their body. I use some gendered language throughout this essay…

Kate – Stigma

Kate discusses how difficult the stigma is to deal with