Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

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.

Jean – Helping your children through grief

Jean discusses how helping her children through grief also helped her

Janice – “Pay attention to our feelings”

Janice discuss the importance of being aware of your feelings.

Michele – Expressive arts and healing grief

Michele defines expressive arts and how they can help healing in grief

Maureen – “Grief can come back”

Maureen explains however grief comes back, you are OK.

Reflections on Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is a holiday where we show appreciation and care for the maternal roles in our lives. However, this holiday can feel very overwhelming for those of us who are grieving the death of a mother figure, a mother grieving their child, or those of us grieving the loss of not being able to become mothers ourselves.

Jessica M – The value of talking about grief

Jessica talks about living in North America and the fear many people have about talking about grief but that it is very important to talk. It makes us feel less alone and helps us move through our grief. It’s also how you can keep your lost one alive.

Rev. Sky – “Youth alert”

Rev. Sky talks about youth and when it’s time to reach out for support.

Maureen – “Unresolved conflicts”

Maureen shares about her Dad, anger, love and some tools to manage unresolved conflicts.

Jessica M – Finding Hope

Jessica shares memories of her brothers birthday which was just before her mothers death and how they all found hope

Cara – Defining Intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara discusses how grief literacy needs to be improved across the board for people with intellectual disabilities to learn more about grief, death and dying. There is a great need to include them in this natural, normal part of life that we’ll all experience.

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