Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Weathering the Intense Emotions of Grief

Grief often comes with powerful, unpredictable emotional shifts that can be painful to experience. While it’s important to find ways to sit with these feelings, to acknowledge the pain of grief and accept loss, it’s also necessary to find ways to ease and manage the pain. There are several simple activities that you can explore to help.

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.”

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

Jacqueline discusses the power of just being there with someone in grief

Claudia – Defining an art therapist

Claudia talks about art therapy as a form of psycho therapy

Jacqueline – Digital Story

Jacqueline discusses what a digital story can be and how creatiing one can create positive breakthroughs

Chantal – What is art therapy?

Chantal explains how art therapy helps us express in ways that words can’t

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.

Keith – “My story”

Keith tells his story and why he became a counsellor.

Grief, Breastfeeding, and Care

In this essay, I share a bit about my story of grief and breastfeeding. I also share some thoughts about the cultural grief some people are carrying about the lack of support afforded to lactating families whose goal it is to feed their baby from their body. I use some gendered language throughout this essay…

Jean – Helping your children through grief

Jean discusses how helping her children through grief also helped her

Shannon – Growing through Grief

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

Amanda – “Hospice like home”

Amanda discusses the value of feeling like being at home during palliative care.