I Am A Professional
Caileigh – Wanting to fix a grieving child
Caileigh gives advice about the desire to fix, especially to parents who are grieving themselves as well as supporting children who are grieving.
Caileigh – A safe place to grow and heal
Caileigh talks about how accessing play therapy can support everybody. When children have that safe place to heal, everybody around them feels good and can heal, too.
Caileigh – Advice to my younger self about grief
Caileigh talks about things that you can do to balance out feelings that it’s okay to experience all of the big feelings that you have, to find joy in little moments, and to find ways that you can cope with those big feelings.
Kristal – Professional Experience and Work
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.
Caleigh – Play Therapy
Caileigh explains how play therapy, a form of psychotherapy can help children in grief. It is specifically used when working with children and families and youth because it’s developmentally appropriate. They are never expected to sit down and to talk. And it is through the language of play that they’re able to learn about the confusing feelings of grief. They are able to learn new skills to cope with their grief, and they’re able to go at their own pace.
Caileigh – Parent Capacity
Caileigh discusses parent capacity and and how to support their child through their grief is all about inspiring them and empowering them so that they can help their child.
Kristal – Drug Poisoning During Pandemic Stigma
Kristal discusses how the pandemic has created additional stigma surrounding those who use drugs. She dissuses how it seems like some losses are treated as more deserving of being mourned than others. Many people have had to grieve privately instead of publically within a community. She touches on the state of the public health system during the pandemic.
Nicole – Grieving as a community
Nicole discusses the power of grieving together as a community. Finding connection and trust.
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.
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.