Bereavement Professionals’ Insights
Michele – Talks about being a death doula
Michele explains what death doula’s do. Doula means servant. They support people on many different levels… for instance, emotionally, spiritually and physically
Chantal – You don’t have to be an artist to take part in art therapy
Chantal explains that you don’t have to be an artist to participate in art therapy and acutally if you have less art experience you will enjoy it more.
Cara – The real issues for grieving people with intellectual disabilities
Cara provides some context for the real issue of grief in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and those supporting them, including that we consider that there’s not a lot of education or information out there about how best to support someone with an intellectual disability who is grieving.
Christian – “When people say dumb things”
Christian explains how he deals with people who say dumb things.
Ripples of Grief: Supporting Ourselves, Others, and our Communities After a Death
By Jessica Milette, MSW, RSW When death knocks on the door of a community, each of us are impacted. Sometimes a death will touch many lives across a community, whether people knew the deceased personally or not. We may grieve the death of a family member, friend, or acquaintance, a well-known community member, or someone…
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.
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.
Sara – Music and celebration of life
Sara explains how music can play an importand and significant role in celebrations of life.
Chantal – Physical symptoms and grieving
Chantal talks about panic attacks and thinking she was having a heart attack
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.
Caileigh – Working with children in grief
Caileigh shares why she likes working with and supporting children in grief. “Over the course of their lives, children and youth and families experience a lot of losses, and it’s an empowering job to empower others. I’m not only empowering them, but I’m also building parent capacity in recognizing that it does take a village and it takes a community to support a child.”