Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Jacqueline – Advice to Younger Self

Jacqueline talks about seeking help and being kind to yourself

Jean – Traditions and grief

Jean discusses belief systems and traditions

Corrie – We cry because we love

Corrie talks about crying, hurt and love

Sara – Lyrics

Sara talks about how lyrics can have an impact on how we experience music

Rev. Sky – “Feeling stuck”

Rev. Sky describes being stuck and shifting.

Caileigh – Grief and child behaviour

Caileigh explains when a child experiences grief or a traumatic grief experience, there’s often behaviour that comes from that. Grief impacts behaviour. And sometimes it can be outward behaviour and sometimes it can be internalized behaviour. The good news about grief and behaviour is that it can be managed and supported through effective communication, through therapy and through coping strategies.

Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker

Kristal discusses the importance of finding ways to honour people that have been lost and how they have impacted you. She speaks to how she often chooses not to attend public memorials for those she has lost as a support worker as they are often very overwhelming. Instead, she has her own personal rituals or ways of honouring those she has lost personally including opening a window. She discusses how this practice was used when she worked in palliative care.

Jenn – Art can give a break from grieving

Jenn talks about one of the most overlooked benefits of making art during bereavement. It can provide and escape from your grief.

Jacqueline – You don’t have to be an artist

Jacqueline discusses how in art therapy we tap into that child in all of us that is not concerned about what is right or wrong

Madelyn – Rituals and the Chinese grieving process

Madelyn talks about expressing your grief in Chinese cultures and how rituals are a war of grieving providing comfort

Jean – Helping your children through grief

Jean discusses how helping her children through grief also helped her

Cara – My story with intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara talks about how she came to see how people with intellectual disabilities need to be supported in grief