Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Weathering the Intense Emotions of Grief

Grief often comes with powerful, unpredictable emotional shifts that can be painful to experience. While it’s important to find ways to sit with these feelings, to acknowledge the pain of grief and accept loss, it’s also necessary to find ways to ease and manage the pain. There are several simple activities that you can explore to help.

Marija – The wilderness of grief

Marija discussed acknowedging all aspects of grief and living with grief.

Craig – Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Craig how he overcame a series of challenges, including the loss of his marriage, his job, and his home. He talks about how he found the strength to keep going and how he learned to be more resilient.

Chantal – Anticipatory grief

Chantal defines antipatory grief and the grief before the physical loss

Maureen – “Anger”

Maureen talks about the power of anger and how to deal with it.

Caileigh – Grief and child behaviour

Caileigh explains when a child experiences grief or a traumatic grief experience, there’s often behaviour that comes from that. Grief impacts behaviour. And sometimes it can be outward behaviour and sometimes it can be internalized behaviour. The good news about grief and behaviour is that it can be managed and supported through effective communication, through therapy and through coping strategies.

Michele – My Story

MIchele talks about her multiple losses starting from when she was very young

Jessica M – Finding Hope

Jessica shares memories of her brothers birthday which was just before her mothers death and how they all found hope

Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker

Kristal discusses the importance of finding ways to honour people that have been lost and how they have impacted you. She speaks to how she often chooses not to attend public memorials for those she has lost as a support worker as they are often very overwhelming. Instead, she has her own personal rituals or ways of honouring those she has lost personally including opening a window. She discusses how this practice was used when she worked in palliative care.

Jacqueline – Crying

Jacqueline talks about how grief is love and how crying is natural

Janice- “Stay with feelings”

Janice talks about how feelings can be buried and how working through them can help.

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

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