Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Thoughts on International Overdose Awareness Day 2023

We lead multifaceted lives, and the deaths of those we love who have died by drug poisoning contain multitudes. The death of a loved one can bring intense grief, shock, anger, shame, or guilt. People who use drugs, and those who love them that they leave behind, face stigma in North America’s dominant, settler culture.

Shannon – Growing through Grief

Shannon discusses post traumatic growth and how it can be an expectation

Adrianna – Triggers and the ball in the box analogy

Adrianna gives some great insights on how to deal with triggers

Collective Grief

When the death of a person affects many members in a community, city, country, or across the world, people will experience collective grief.

These are some things that can help people through the experience of collective grief across a community.

Teresa – Understanding people with intellectual disabilities and grief

Teresa shares an example and discusses the importance of truly understanding people with intellectual disabilities when they are telling us their stories

Janice – “More to deal with than death when someone dies”

Janice explains that when somebody dies it’s not just the death that you are dealing with but the entire relationship.

Marija – The wilderness of grief

Marija discussed acknowedging all aspects of grief and living with grief.

Claudia – Working with an art therapist

Claudia how all art making is theraputic and working with an art therapist amplifies the process in a positive way

Cara – Defining Intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara discusses how grief literacy needs to be improved across the board for people with intellectual disabilities to learn more about grief, death and dying. There is a great need to include them in this natural, normal part of life that we’ll all experience.

Adrianna – Metabolizing grief

Adrianna explains metabolizing grief and grief literacy training

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.

Michele – Expressive arts and healing grief

Michele defines expressive arts and how they can help healing in grief