Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Nicole – Grieving as a community

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

Ripples of Grief: Supporting Ourselves, Others, and our Communities After a Death

By Jessica Milette, MSW, RSW When death knocks on the door of a community, each of us are impacted. Sometimes a death will touch many lives across a community, whether people knew the deceased personally or not. We may grieve the death of a family member, friend, or acquaintance, a well-known community member, or someone…

Cara – The real issues for grieving people with intellectual disabilities

Cara provides some context for the real issue of grief in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and those supporting them, including that we consider that there’s not a lot of education or information out there about how best to support someone with an intellectual disability who is grieving.

Craig – Supporting Someone in Grief

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Craig discusses his personal experience with grief and how he felt when people didn’t reach out to him during a difficult time. He offers advice on how to best support someone who is grieving, emphasizing the importance of simply showing up and letting them know that you care.

Keith – “Disenfranchised Grief”

Keith describes disenfranchised grief.

Corrie – Grief is like a rollercoaster

Corrie talks about grief over time

Keith – “Difference between grief and mourning”

Keith explains how grief is internal and mourning is external.

Cara – Grief and intellectual disabilities is a topic that needs to “get out there”

Cara shares some information from a participant in her research on intellectual disabilities and the bereaved. A person with an intellectual disability said… “Grief: It’s a topic that needs to get out there” Grief is something that so many people are hesitant to talk about, to display, to show, because there’s so many social rules around how we grieve. This is particularily challenging for the intellectually disabled.

Sara – Lyrics

Sara talks about how lyrics can have an impact on how we experience music

Jean – What grief feels like physically

Jean discusses the physical effects she has experienced in grief

Maureen – “Your experience of loss is unique”

Maureen explains how your experience of grief is your own.

Sara – Listening to music

Sara discusses how listening to music can help navigate loss