Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Madelyn – My story

Madelyn tells her story and how she became a music therapist working in palliative care

Michele – Advice to younger grieving self

Michele tells what advice she would give to her younger grieving self

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.

Shannon – Blessings and sadness

Shannon discusses how just showing up, being present is a powerful way of supporting to someone who has lost. Listen more – talk less.

Madelyn -Healing and support group for Asian Canadian women

Madelyn discusses the value in having your voice heard

Craig – My Cumulative Grief

Craig shares his story of experiencing a series of significant losses over the course of two years. He talks about the shock, grief, and uncertainty he felt during this time, and how he coped with the accumulation of loss.Craig’s story is a reminder that grief is a normal and natural response to loss, but it can be overwhelming when it comes in waves. If you are experiencing grief, it is important to reach out for support from friends, family, or a therapist. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and everyone experiences it differently. The important thing is to be patient with yourself and to allow yourself to feel your emotions.

Community Grief Toolkit [Downloadable!]

This toolkit also reflects on how we support grief in the community. The tools to come together and honour our collective experiences and how to build the resources for further support.

Jenn – Art can give voice

Jenn talks about the barriers that may prevent someone from including art as part of their grief or emotional process including judgment of your art skills and more.

Christian – “Grief in the opioid crisis”

Christian talks about looking for answers in great sadness.

Shannon – Growing through Grief

Shannon discusses post traumatic growth and how it can be an expectation

Rev. Sky – “Retraumatization”

Rev. Sky discusses trauma and re-experiencing the initial emotion had at the beginning of a loss.

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…