Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

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.

Amanda – “No person is an island”

Amanda talks about the power of community and the importance of reaching out.

Rev. Sky – “Youth alert”

Rev. Sky talks about youth and when it’s time to reach out for support.

Janice- “Stay with feelings”

Janice talks about how feelings can be buried and how working through them can help.

Jen – “Breathing and grief”

Jen talks about how breathing and yoga can help cope.

Shannon – Hope for Healing

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.

Janice – “Photographs”

Janice explains how photographs can be a doorway to help move forward.

Jessica M – A Parking Lot Memorial

Jessica shares how her family gathered after her uncle died during COVID and how her family came up with a creative way of getting together in a parking lot.

Keith – “You need not be alone”

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

Christian – “Grief in the opioid crisis”

Christian talks about looking for answers in great sadness.

Caleigh – Play Session

Caileigh discusses child play sessions, how children can learn about confusing feelings of grief and ways to cope.

Caileigh – My own grief and supporting others

Caileigh tells about her own grief and now it has given her a really powerful lens on how to support children going through grief as well. Along with her professional education and training, there is now a different perspective on grief and how that fits in with supporting others.