What Can Help with Early Traumatic Grief?

Nicole – Using Art and Creativity to Express Grief

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses the work she does to allow access to creative outlets such as art hives and gardening.

Jewish Perspectives on Grieving

December 13, 2023

What is Jewish Grieving? All humans can, and should, grieve over loss of life during a conflict. No matter the beginning or the end, all violence ends with grief. Someone’s grandparent, parent, sibling or child will die. That cycle of violence must cease.

Christian – Grieving the whole person

April 23, 2023

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

Nicole – Power of Speaking About Lost Ones

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses the importance of sharing memories of those lost to drug poisoning and speaking their names.

Michele – Normalizing conversations around death dying grief and loss

March 14, 2022

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

Thoughts on International Overdose Awareness Day 2023

August 30, 2023

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.

Nicole – Stigma Surrounding Drug Use

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses how the stigma around drug use has an impact on how people feel able to grieve when those in their community are lost.

Beauty found at the edges: a portrait of community support

March 1, 2023

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?”

Keith – “Disenfranchised Grief”

December 10, 2018

Keith describes disenfranchised grief.

Nicole – Pandemic’s Effect on Safe Spaces and Mental Health Access

March 25, 2023

Nicole discusses how the pandemic affected access to safe spaces and shelters for those living rough and living with addiction.

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

December 10, 2024

My mother died in the middle of the night on January 1, four days before I turned sixteen. I don’t remember much about Christmas the couple weeks before she died, just that we spent a lot of that season in the ICU of the hospital where my mother had birthed my brother and I. For…