Death By Overdose

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.

Sarah K – Therapy helps

Sarah talks about how grief and trauma therapy has helped her in grief for her husbands death and how much trauma she was experiencing from his substance use disorders and entail health challenges

Kristal – Story of Lived Experience

Kristal discusses experiencing homelessness at multiple stages of her life and how that informs her work as a peer support worker. It gives her an understanding of the nuance that surrounds the community. She uses this experience to support people who are experiencing grief related to death from drug poisoning.

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.

Krista – “How I dealt with it”

Krista talks about how she dealt with underlying issues. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Christian – Grieving spaces

Christian talks grieving spaces and people coming together when grieving

Christian – “Stigma of opioid death”

Christian talks about the social acceptance of an opioid overdose.

Christian – Grieving the whole person

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

Sarah K – Talking about the cause of death

Sarah talks about husbands death to a heroin overdose and stigmatized death.

Kristal – Anger with Grief

Kristal discusses finding ways to channel her anger due to poor policy leading to deaths from drug poisoning and those individuals not having the support they needed. She discusses how human beings have the right to be flawed and should have the ability to grow, heal, and change.

Nicole – Stigma Surrounding Drug Use

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.

Krista – “Mental illness and self medicating”

Krista talks about mental health and self medicating. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.