Supporting Others

What I know about grief

The following are some things I know to be true about grief for me, based on my lived experience. Some of them may resonate with you as well. Grief is unique to the people experiencing it in each moment, so please take whatever makes sense to you from this share and leave whatever doesn’t.

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.”

Kim – Checking in is very important

Kim explains why it is so important to check in and keep in touch with people who have lost

Laura- Loss to Suicide

John Martin – Coping with grief part 3

John gives some pointers as to how to support someone in grief

Krista – “Just be there”

Krista explains how being a listening ear can be so helpful. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Teresa – Understanding people with intellectual disabilities and grief

Teresa shares an example and discusses the importance of truly understanding people with intellectual disabilities when they are telling us their stories

John Martin – Understanding Grief part 1

John discusses his understanding of what grief is

Michele – Normalizing conversations around death dying grief and loss

Michele discusses grief literacy, the importance of talking and that dying is a part of life

Betsy – You can’t know until you know

Betsy talks about support and what really helps when one is in grief

John – Being helpful to someone in grief

John shares his thoughts on how to help someone in grief

Tending to My Garden of Grief

So long as I remember the lives of those I have lost, honour their presence and impact on me and celebrate their spirit, they will continue to live with me and the pain will feel bearable. It will no longer stop me in my tracks. Instead, it will encourage me and propel me forward through the transmutation of that grief into something different, something more nuanced and fluid. I’d like to share a practice for processing grief which I have found to be especially helpful.