Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Michele – Creative expression and processing grief

Michele tells what advice she would give to her younger grieving selfMichele talks about coping that since being a child how creativity helped

Claudia – What do I do when my art is finished

Claudia explains some helpful tips after your art is finished

Infant & Reproductive Loss Toolkit [Free Downloadable PDFs for Individuals and Professionals]

Navigating life, death, and loss can be overwhelming. Mental health professionals designed this toolkit for individuals, parents, caregivers, and families navigating perinatal and reproductive loss. Reactions to pregnancy and reproductive loss are as unique as fingerprints. Some can process the experience relatively quickly, while others experience unrelenting pain and grief. We hope that this toolkit…

Janice – “Grief is a response to loss”

Janice discusses waves of grief and how important it is to go with it.

Coping with Guilt in Grief Playlist

Listen to the thoughts and insights of people and families living with grief.

A Million Other Things: Grieving a Drug Poisoning Death

Sister, father, son, niece, best friend – some of these words might be how you would describe your loved one who has died of an overdose or drug poisoning. People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) are not defined by their substance use – they are a million other things to those who love and miss them dearly. Drug poisoning and overdose deaths are stigmatized in our society. The focus is on how the person died, not who they are. Society still holds onto old notions and beliefs about drugs which come with a value judgment about people who use drugs, which further contributes to stigma. Not everyone who uses drugs is an addict and not all drug use is inherently problematic. People who use drugs deserve dignity and respect when we are remembering and honouring those who have died by overdose or drug poisoning.

Christian – “Overdose Death”

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

Maureen – “Unresolved conflicts”

Maureen shares about her Dad, anger, love and some tools to manage unresolved conflicts.

Katie “Ongoing Grief”

Katie talks about the loss of her mother.

Caileigh – Advice to my younger self about grief

Caileigh talks about things that you can do to balance out feelings that it’s okay to experience all of the big feelings that you have, to find joy in little moments, and to find ways that you can cope with those big feelings.

Cara – Intellectual disabilities and advance planning

Cara explains that people living with intellectual disabilities are growing to older ages, much like the rest of the population. And as folks are aging what we’re seeing is the need for families more so than ever, to do some advanced planning for who will take over any caregiving decision making or where that person may live, what sort of support they may need and what that’s going to look like after the parents or the guardians die so that this doesn’t become a crisis situation.

Janice – “Being triggered”

Janice discusses triggering, overreacting, under-reacting, and taking responsibility for the size of our feelings.