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.

Maureen – Preparing for holidays

Maureen gives some ideas to help during holidays like connecting and taking time out

Jenn – Art can be grounding and meditative

Jenn explains how the textures , qualities and colours of art can be grounding and meditative

Maureen – “Carrying grief”

Maureen gives an analogy of how hard it is to carry griefMaureen gives an analogy of how hard it is to carry grief.

Corrie – Grieving during a pandemic

Corrie discuss the grieving during a pandemic

Claudia – Art in community versus art therapy

Claudia explains how art therapists are trained and how what they do is different that doing art in community

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.

Carrie – Photography and grieving

Carrie discusses how photography can be very freeing in that it allows for exploration and move us away from the need to explain and can be more about experience what our own process is all about.

Maureen – “Your experience of loss is unique”

Maureen explains how your experience of grief is your own.

Jessica M – Legacy

Jessica explains legacy and gives examples including her own.

Amanda – “Hospice”

Amanda talks about the comfort zone in palliative care.

Grief, Breastfeeding, and Care

In this essay, I share a bit about my story of grief and breastfeeding. I also share some thoughts about the cultural grief some people are carrying about the lack of support afforded to lactating families whose goal it is to feed their baby from their body. I use some gendered language throughout this essay…