I Am A Professional

Caileigh – Sharing grief experience to spread hope and kindness

Caileigh talks about taking the opportunity to share her personal and professional grief experiences as a way to spread hope and to spread kindness.

Christian – Grieving the whole person

Christian talks about how we choose remember people when there has been a loss to drug poisoning

Preparing For and Coping with Special Days

Special Days can be days we have honoured with our loved ones that many others celebrate or more personal dates and milestones with your loved one. As these days approach, it can be difficult to figure out how to move through a Special Day. Do you do what you’ve always done? What do you do…

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…

Kristal – Anger with Grief

Kristal discusses finding ways to channel her anger due to poor policy leading to deaths from drug poisoning and those individuals not having the support they needed. She discusses how human beings have the right to be flawed and should have the ability to grow, heal, and change.

Nicole – Power of Speaking About Lost Ones

Nicole discusses the importance of sharing memories of those lost to drug poisoning and speaking their names.

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.

Grief Busting Zine [Downloadable!]

This zine 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.

Caileigh – Working with children in grief

Caileigh shares why she likes working with and supporting children in grief. “Over the course of their lives, children and youth and families experience a lot of losses, and it’s an empowering job to empower others. I’m not only empowering them, but I’m also building parent capacity in recognizing that it does take a village and it takes a community to support a child.”

Alongside

That is also our best, and only role, when supporting a person with a developmental disability to grieve. We must be the one that comes alongside. There is no closer place we can get to. We must be present, be with, perhaps not understanding or comprehending what the person we support is experiencing, but alongside them nonetheless. We must be there, ready to provide whatever we can discover of their unique need in grief.

Jessica M – A Parking Lot Memorial

Jessica shares how her family gathered after her uncle died during COVID and how her family came up with a creative way of getting together in a parking lot.

Caleigh – Play Session

Caileigh discusses child play sessions, how children can learn about confusing feelings of grief and ways to cope.