Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Donna – “Grief in conversation”

Donna discusses language and talking about grief.

Michael – “A story of loss and longing”

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

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.

Claudia – Art, art as therapy and art therapy

Claudia discusses the definition of therapy and how art therapists are formally trained.

Grief & Drug Poisoning Toolkit [Free Downloadable PDF]

  Navigating life, death, and loss can be overwhelming. This toolkit is designed by mental health professionals and contains information about grief, different types of grief we may experience, gentle reminders on how to move through grief, as well as tips for those who may be supporting someone in their life who is grieving. This…

Keith – “Difference between grief and mourning”

Keith explains how grief is internal and mourning is external.

Claudia – Being stuck and art therapy

Claudia discusses remunating how art therapist can help create different positive perspectives

Caileigh – Recommendations as a therapist and a griever

Caileigh discussed two recommendations for parents on how to support their child’s grief. as a therapist and a griever. The first is to recognize that being with is far more important than fixing. There’s two pieces to connection. The first being that one of the most important healing aspects to grief is feeling connected to others.

Christian – “Overdose Death”

Christian talks about an overdose death not defining who that person was.

Jacqueline – Advice to Younger Self

Jacqueline talks about seeking help and being kind to yourself

Keith – “Timeframe for grief”

Keith explains it is never too late to grieve and there is no timeline.

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.