I Am A Griever

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.

Nicole – Using Art and Creativity to Express Grief

Nicole discusses the work she does to allow access to creative outlets such as art hives and gardening.

Lyss – Losing My Mother

Lyss discusses losing her mother and how her first thought was that her mother would never meet her kids Now being a mother herself brings back many memories of her.

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.

Things That Helped When My Dog Was Dying

I lived with a dog named Althea, who belonged to my roommate, during my undergrad. Every year, my partner, our roommate, and I would go to a summer solstice festival. The year Althea was pregnant, my roommate brought her to the festival. The first night there, he retired to his tent to nap in preparation…

Kate – Things I do that help

Kate talks about how art, hiking and visiting the cemetery can be very therapeutic

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…

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

Joyce -The pandemics impact on drug poisonings

Joyce talks about drug poisonings during the pandemic

Jim – Humour and grief

Jim talks about how humour can help us cope with grief. “I’m Irish, and we have a saying that ‘laughter is the best medicine.’ I believe that humour can help us to see the lighter side of life, even in the midst of pain. It can help us to connect with others, and it can help us to find hope. I encourage you to find ways to laugh, even when you’re grieving. It might not always be easy, but it can make a big difference.”

Lyss – Writing Songs and Words

Lyss shares about how writing songs and words has helped her with intense feelings

Jim – Triggers

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Jim discusses triggers, how to recognize them and develop coping mechanisms to help deal with the strong emotions that they can cause