Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Tending to My Garden of Grief

So long as I remember the lives of those I have lost, honour their presence and impact on me and celebrate their spirit, they will continue to live with me and the pain will feel bearable. It will no longer stop me in my tracks. Instead, it will encourage me and propel me forward through the transmutation of that grief into something different, something more nuanced and fluid. I’d like to share a practice for processing grief which I have found to be especially helpful.

Rev. Sky – “What is grief?”

Rev. Sky talks about the universality of grief and how people grieve differently.

Sara – Music at the end of life

Sara talks about the values of music at the end of life

Jacqueline – Art therapy and grieving women

Jacqueline explains how helping connect to the heart and reslience with art therapy can be very helpful

Claudia – Taking your art home after art therapy

Claudia talks about why sometimes not to take your art home after therapy

Cara – Intellectual disabilities, sharing and expressing about grief

Cara discusses how it’s very important that people living with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to not only know about the information about the person being ill and dying and having the choice and opportunity to go to after death rituals. It’s also really important that they get the opportunity to share their story in whatever way they communicate. This can be verbally through sign language, through communication books, art, music, going for walks, being in nature

Chantal – Grief and art therapy group

Chantal talks about the honour of being witness to other peoples story and exploration of grief and art therapy

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.

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.”

Michele – Covid and support

Michele defines expressive arts and how they can help healing in griefMIchele talks about COVID restrictions, technology and ways to support

Rev. Sky – “Sharing”

Rev. Sky explains how sharing helps you heal.

Carrie – Grief and creativity

Carrie talks about creativity and expressing grief and loss… that in many ways can offer insight and comfort for those who are grieving