Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Shannon – Losing is a life skill

Shannon shares about losing her husband to suicide, her parents and her father-in-law. She felt broken and to be able to take care of her kids and her self seemed overwhelming. It took someone telling her that you can heal from trauma to give her hope for healing.

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

Jacqueline discusses the power of just being there with someone in grief

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.

Rev. Sky – “Retraumatization”

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

Adrianna – Metabolizing grief

Adrianna explains metabolizing grief and grief literacy training

Janice – “Own our feelings”

Janice discusses the goals of emotional work and arriving at a peaceful place.

Jacqueline – Where to store art works

Jacqueline explains how art can be like journal entries that you would keep private

Rev. Sky – “Helping a friend”

Rev. Sky discusses the grief motto 80% listening, 20% talking and how to help someone in grief.

Cheryl – “What is grief”

Cheryl defines grief and talks about how we all grieve differently.

Michele – Advice to younger grieving self

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

Who are we to Decide? The Many Paths through Grief

A lot of my work with clients involves hearing their stories, but also answering many questions about if their grief is “normal”. Their grief is overwhelming, and our dominant culture’s strong message is – that grief should be kept at its edges, I often find this pervasive intention creeps into griever’s experiences – and my…

Keith – “You need not be alone”

Keith discusses getting help, resources and that you don’t need to be alone.