Death of A Loved One

Shannon – Growing through Grief

Shannon discusses post traumatic growth and how it can be an expectation

Karyn and Aidan – Support.

Karyn and Aidan discuss how much the support they received helped

Karyn and Aidan – Describing grief during the pandemic

Karyn and Aidan talk about how their grief has changed and the challenges they have faced grieving during a pandemic

Krista – “My wish”

Krista discusses why she thinks helping others is important. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Hope – Going back to school

Hope talks about the shift she felt when she went back to school after her father’s death.

Nicole – Using Art and Creativity to Express Grief

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

Holly – Gifts in moments at the end of life

Lynda discusses how to deal with guilt.Holly talks about singing at the end of life

Bryan – Empathy for others

Bryan talks about how losing his father to gun violence was difficult and how taking things day by day helped him get through many difficult times. Now he wants to help children who are going through something similar to what he did. Things will get better and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel

Adrianna – Finding out my brother had died by suicide

Adrianna relates how she heard about her brother’s suicide

Keeping Records

I pulled the photos out of their envelope one at a time, turning over each one to carefully record the date, place, and people in the photo. Sometimes, I included comments. “Apple picking in Hamilton with Pop Pop, Fall, 2023. You loved the wagon ride!”. I slipped each picture into an empty pocket in my son’s photo album.

Making Space to Hear Them: supporting children in grief

Children tend to be naturally curious as they grow and learn to navigate the world. As adults, it’s our job to walk with them through that process of learning and to support their curiosity. It can be hard to do that with respect when we are situated in cultures that don’t acknowledge children as autonomous humans worthy of mutual respect. It can be tempting to encourage kids to ignore their feelings about death and grief or to shut down conversations about it when they ask questions. Sometimes, this is because we just don’t know what to say that is developmentally appropriate, especially with young children. Sometimes, it’s because we haven’t allowed ourselves to develop our own thoughts and feelings about death and grief and it feels uncomfortable for us to talk about.

Lisa – Music and a safe space

Lisa explains how music has been a safe space for her to feel all of the emotions that have come up since she lost her Dad