Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Corrie – We cry because we love

Corrie talks about crying, hurt and love

Jean – My own grief and being a professional counsellor

Jean shares about being a counselor and going through her own grief

Marija – Acknowledging feelings

Marija talks about our tools for coping

Christian – “Grief can shape you”

Christian talks about realizing the impact grief has.

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.”

Keith – “Knowing what to say”

Keith gives practical advice about helping someone in grief.

Calls to Care, Calls to Action: Bearing Witness to Global Catastrophic Loss of Life and Traumatic Events

We bear witness to stories of mass loss of lives, stories of families in Gaza being forced from their land, loss of culture and traditions, and countless other ways systems of colonization and oppression can contribute to other non-death losses those who are directly affected currently and have historically faced. As we discussed in a previous article, we can also experience collective grief following natural disasters, accidents, international conflict, and acts of violence that have resulted in catastrophic loss of lives.

Cara – Intellectual disabilities, sharing and expressing about grief

Cara discusses how it’s very important that people living with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to not only know about the information about the person being ill and dying and having the choice and opportunity to go to after death rituals. It’s also really important that they get the opportunity to share their story in whatever way they communicate. This can be verbally through sign language, through communication books, art, music, going for walks, being in nature

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.

Janice – “Practical tools”

Janice reveals some practical methods to help with grief.

Janice – “Crying”

Janice explains how crying helps physically and emotionally.

Chantal – Giving space

Chantal discusses how it is good and honouring to the one you’ve lost to give space and feel everything