I Am A Griever

Grief and Parenting in the Disability Community

In this blog post, Carrie writes about being the parent and primary caregiver to a child with disabilities and grieving the loss of a child dying from their disabilities.

Scott – The importance of processing

Scott discusses having a nervous breakdown and realizing that he hadn’t fully processed the grief he had been through with the loss of his mother and father. He also discusses how music helped him moving forward

Lyss – Depression, Anxiety, and Self Harm

Depression, anxiety, self harm, theapy, support, mental health, suicide

Jim – Helping by listening

Jim – ” I talk about how to be a good listener to someone who is grieving. I believe that one of the most important things you can do for someone who is grieving is to simply listen. Don’t try to fix their problems or offer advice. Just listen and be there for them. It can be as simple as meeting for coffee or taking a walk together. You’re doing more help than you realize when you simply listen to someone.

Scott – Writing music

Scott talks about the cathartic nature of writing music stories

Scott – Music and grief

Scott discusses the relationship between music and grief

Kate – COVID and grieving with my parents

Kate shares about how COVID was stress on top of dealing with the loss of her brother

Joyce – When you are a mother who loses a child

Joyce shares about how she has felt as a mother who lost a child

Joyce – Using my grief experience to help people

Joyce talks about the positive experiences she has in helping other people in grief

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

“Happiness is a choice.” A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook the other day. She then asked others what that quote meant to them. The responses were interesting and expected, and some were even inspiring. It’s so easy to say “I choose to be happy” when life is going well. On the other…

Left Out: Enfranchising Children’s Grief and Loss

By: Jessica Milette, MSW, RSW All human beings have the capacity to grieve: people with intellectual disabilities, those living with a traumatic brain injury, and children of all ages. However, many people can experience disenfranchised grief when someone dies. Disenfranchised grief is generally grief that is not usually openly acknowledged, socially accepted or publicly mourned.…

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.