Community Grief

Community Grief (also known as Collective Grief) is when a group of people experience a death or loss that impacts them communally and broadly. Community grief can be experienced at our local community level, as a region, as a country, or we can be impacted as a global community.

Community grief can occur after a community has experienced a death of a well known member of their community, following natural disasters, accidents such as the Humboldt bus accident, or mass loss of lives such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

We do not need to know the person individually to experience community grief. We experience community grief because we feel a connection to the person(s) who have died. They may have been a community member who was part of our daily commute for years, a celebrity whose story resonates with you, or we may grieve for those closely impacted who are grieving their loved ones.

We never have to be alone in our grief, and gathering in community can be one way to honour our grief as a community. On this page you will find videos of community members talking about their experiences of community grief.

Skip to Videos

Content Funded By

Municipality of Port Hope logo

Municipality of Port Hope

We are thankful for the Community Grant funding through the Municipality of Port Hope.

Visit Site

Community Grief-Related Blog

a marsh in Temagami with lillypads in the water and sparse trees sticking out of it

Thoughts on International Overdose Awareness Day 2023

Posted in , , , ,

We lead multifaceted lives, and the deaths of those we love who have died by drug poisoning contain multitudes. The death of a loved one can bring intense grief, shock, anger, shame, or guilt. People who use drugs, and those who love them that they leave behind, face stigma in North America’s dominant, settler culture.

Finding Joy During the Holidays After Loss When Everything Feels Awful: A message of hope.

Posted in , , , ,

My mother died in the middle of the night on January 1, four days before I turned sixteen. I don’t…

a lilac is stuck in the sand of the beach at a memorial.

What I know about grief

Posted in , , , , , , ,

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.

a field of daisies

Beauty found at the edges: a portrait of community support

Posted in , , , , , , ,

I’d sent a text saying “Hello friends, I’m putting out a call for flowers. I went to public school with Kory, the young man who died in downtown Cobourg this week, and though I hadn’t seen him in recent years, I feel the loss of him on a community level, as I imagine you do, too. Some of Kory’s people are gathering tonight in vigil at the bank where he died, and I’m gathering flowers from those of us who have gardens to share with this grieving community. Do you have some blooms in your garden that you’d be willing to share?”

Watch Videos By Category

Community Grief-Related Videos

ALL PANDEMIC VIDEOS
  • ALL PANDEMIC VIDEOS

Antoinetta – Grieving in community with others

Antoinetta – Grieving in community with others

Antoinetta discusses how grief camp made her feel so much more happy and how she found support and that she did not feel so alone

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

Jacqueline discusses the power of just being there with someone in grief

Christian – Grieving the whole person

Christian – Grieving the whole person

Christian talks about how we choose remember people when there has been a loss to drug poisoning