Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Rev. Sky – “What is grief?”

Rev. Sky talks about the universality of grief and how people grieve differently.

Cara – My story with intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara talks about how she came to see how people with intellectual disabilities need to be supported in grief

Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker

Kristal discusses the importance of finding ways to honour people that have been lost and how they have impacted you. She speaks to how she often chooses not to attend public memorials for those she has lost as a support worker as they are often very overwhelming. Instead, she has her own personal rituals or ways of honouring those she has lost personally including opening a window. She discusses how this practice was used when she worked in palliative care.

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

Cheryl – “What is grief”

Cheryl defines grief and talks about how we all grieve differently.

Amanda – “No person is an island”

Amanda talks about the power of community and the importance of reaching out.

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.

Jen – “From funeral director to yoga for grief”

Jen talks about how being a funeral director and how yoga and grief became connected for her.

Rev. Sky – “The grief tunnel”

Rev. Sky talks about going forward and growing in the grief process.

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.

Chantal – My Story

Chantal discusses finding a release in doing a graphic novel to explore her grief as a thesis in art therapy school

Keith – “Grief at any age”

Keith discusses grief and age.