Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Maureen – “They are still your child”

Maureen explains how you find different ways of parenting.

Corrie – Triggers

Corrie discuss the many types of triggers

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.

Maureen – Grief and Holidays

Maureen talks about feelings duing holidays

Craig – There is No Right Way to Grieve

Craig talks about his experience with grief and how there is no right or wrong way to grieve. He shares his thoughts on how to allow yourself to do what you need to do to heal, even if it doesn’t seem like “self-care.” This video is a reminder that everyone grieves differently and that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing.

Jacqueline – Where to store art works

Jacqueline explains how art can be like journal entries that you would keep private

Michele – Covid and support

Michele defines expressive arts and how they can help healing in griefMIchele talks about COVID restrictions, technology and ways to support

Shannon – Guilt vs Shame

Shannon talks about guilt can be a part of the grieving process but shame has to do with “is there something wrong with me”

Marija – Permission to mourn

Marija discusses the value of being allowing yourself to mourn

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

Carrie – Photography and grieving

Carrie discusses how photography can be very freeing in that it allows for exploration and move us away from the need to explain and can be more about experience what our own process is all about.

Cara – Grief and intellectual disabilities is a topic that needs to “get out there”

Cara shares some information from a participant in her research on intellectual disabilities and the bereaved. A person with an intellectual disability said… “Grief: It’s a topic that needs to get out there” Grief is something that so many people are hesitant to talk about, to display, to show, because there’s so many social rules around how we grieve. This is particularily challenging for the intellectually disabled.