Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Katie “Ongoing Grief”

Katie talks about the loss of her mother.

Jean – Coping

Jean shares how coping can be complicated

Sara – Listening to music

Sara discusses how listening to music can help navigate loss

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.

Weathering the Intense Emotions of Grief

Grief often comes with powerful, unpredictable emotional shifts that can be painful to experience. While it’s important to find ways to sit with these feelings, to acknowledge the pain of grief and accept loss, it’s also necessary to find ways to ease and manage the pain. There are several simple activities that you can explore to help.

Marija – Acknowledging feelings

Marija talks about our tools for coping

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.

Carrie – Validation

Carrie talks about validation and feeling that someone is full responsive and fully present to you and what is going on in your grief… feeling “felt”

Claudia – Waterlillies

Claudia talks about how she painted on panels big enough to hug to help her with her grief

Christian – “Remembering together in a meaningful way”

Christian discusses the power of memories.

Jacqueline – Art Therapy & Grief

Jacqueline discusses about art therapy and how it brings a special layer to help move through grief

Christian – “Growth out of pain”

Christian tells about how grief changes and we grow.