Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Corrie – Getting comfortable with discomfort

Corrie talks about being comfortable and uncomfortable with grief

Madelyn – Expressing your feelings

Madelyn talks about being a 2nd generation Canadian chinese and keeping grief in. She explains the importnace of expressing your feelings and not feel guilty about it

Claudia – Working with an art therapist

Claudia how all art making is theraputic and working with an art therapist amplifies the process in a positive way

Janice – “Own our feelings”

Janice discusses the goals of emotional work and arriving at a peaceful place.

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

Jacqueline discusses the power of just being there with someone in grief

Chantal – My Story

Chantal discusses finding a release in doing a graphic novel to explore her grief as a thesis in art therapy school

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.

Cara – Intellectual disabilities and advance planning

Cara explains that people living with intellectual disabilities are growing to older ages, much like the rest of the population. And as folks are aging what we’re seeing is the need for families more so than ever, to do some advanced planning for who will take over any caregiving decision making or where that person may live, what sort of support they may need and what that’s going to look like after the parents or the guardians die so that this doesn’t become a crisis situation.

Madelyn – Rituals and the Chinese grieving process

Madelyn talks about expressing your grief in Chinese cultures and how rituals are a war of grieving providing comfort

Madelyn -Healing and support group for Asian Canadian women

Madelyn discusses the value in having your voice heard

Keith – “Timeframe for grief”

Keith explains it is never too late to grieve and there is no timeline.

Claudia – Art therapy and costs

Claudia talks about how people may shy away from art therapy because of costs and how training schools can be an option