Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Maureen – Holiday Traditions

Maureen talks about anticipating a holiday and considering honouring a loved one

Katie “Ongoing Grief”

Katie talks about the loss of her mother.

Keith – “Knowing what to say”

Keith gives practical advice about helping someone in grief.

Jean – My own grief and being a professional counsellor

Jean shares about being a counselor and going through her own grief

Jenn – Your art completely belongs to you

Jenn explains the wonderful thing about art is that piece belongs completely to you and you have the power to do whatever you wish with it . She makes some suggestions as to what you may want to do.

Cara – Grief and intellectual disabilities is a topic that needs to “get out there”

Cara shares some information from a participant in her research on intellectual disabilities and the bereaved. A person with an intellectual disability said… “Grief: It’s a topic that needs to get out there” Grief is something that so many people are hesitant to talk about, to display, to show, because there’s so many social rules around how we grieve. This is particularily challenging for the intellectually disabled.

Janice – “Grief and the whole relationship”

Janice uses a personal story to talk about how loss can be related to the whole relationship not just the death.

Keith – “Disenfranchised Grief”

Keith describes disenfranchised grief.

Jenn – Art can be grounding and meditative

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

Claudia – You do not have to be an artist to do art therapy

Claudia explains why you do not have to be an artist to benefit

Collective Grief

When the death of a person affects many members in a community, city, country, or across the world, people will experience collective grief.

These are some things that can help people through the experience of collective grief across a community.

Alongside

That is also our best, and only role, when supporting a person with a developmental disability to grieve. We must be the one that comes alongside. There is no closer place we can get to. We must be present, be with, perhaps not understanding or comprehending what the person we support is experiencing, but alongside them nonetheless. We must be there, ready to provide whatever we can discover of their unique need in grief.