Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Claudia – Materials in art therapy

Claudia discusses all of the wonderful options of materials to use in art therapy. Art, markers, clay, pencils, water collours, cutting, tearing. They physical engagment with the materials is like alchemy.

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.

Michael – “A story of loss and longing”

Michael relays a story of a man coping after the loss of his wife.

Jean – Be good to yourself

Jean shares about support and not being hard on yourself

Caileigh – A safe place to grow and heal

Caileigh talks about how accessing play therapy can support everybody. When children have that safe place to heal, everybody around them feels good and can heal, too.

Marija – Permission to mourn

Marija discusses the value of being allowing yourself to mourn

Craig – How men process grief

Craig talks about his personal story of grief and how he learned to process his emotions in a healthy way. He discusses the challenges that men face when grieving, and offers advice on how to find healthy ways to cope with loss.Craig lost his wife, his mother, his job, and his home in a short period of time. He describes how he felt pressured to be stoic and strong for others, and how this made it difficult for him to grieve. He eventually realized that it was important to allow himself to feel his emotions, even the difficult ones.Craig shares some of the things that helped him to process his grief, such as talking to a therapist, writing in a journal, and spending time in nature. He also emphasizes the importance of finding support from friends and family. This video is a powerful and moving story of how one man found healing after experiencing a series of devastating losses. It is an important reminder that grief is a normal and healthy emotion, and that there are healthy ways to cope with it.

Janice – “Being triggered”

Janice discusses triggering, overreacting, under-reacting, and taking responsibility for the size of our feelings.

Rev. Sky – “The grief tunnel”

Rev. Sky talks about going forward and growing in the grief process.

Rev. Sky – “Helping a friend”

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

Chantal – Graphic novels and art therapy

Chantal defines what a graphic novel is and how words mix with imagery like a dance

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.