Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Madelyn -Healing and support group for Asian Canadian women

Madelyn discusses the value in having your voice heard

Jean – What grief feels like physically

Jean discusses the physical effects she has experienced in grief

Janice – “The importance of listening”

Janice explains the importance of not being judgemental and listening when helping someone is in grief.

Nicole – Grieving as a community

Nicole discusses the power of grieving together as a community. Finding connection and trust.

Rev. Sky – “What is grief?”

Rev. Sky talks about the universality of grief and how people grieve differently.

Madelyn – The power of music

Madelyn – discusses the potency of music and processing good and bad memories

Marija – Feeling Disenfranchised Grief in a Pandemic

Marija talks about disenfranchised grief and Covid

Claudia – Working with an art therapist

Claudia how all art making is theraputic and working with an art therapist amplifies the process in a positive way

Cara – Grief and intellectual disabilities is a topic that needs to “get out there”

Cara shares some information from a participant in her research on intellectual disabilities and the bereaved. A person with an intellectual disability said… “Grief: It’s a topic that needs to get out there” Grief is something that so many people are hesitant to talk about, to display, to show, because there’s so many social rules around how we grieve. This is particularily challenging for the intellectually disabled.

Jean – Be good to yourself

Jean shares about support and not being hard on yourself

Calls to Care, Calls to Action: Bearing Witness to Global Catastrophic Loss of Life and Traumatic Events

We bear witness to stories of mass loss of lives, stories of families in Gaza being forced from their land, loss of culture and traditions, and countless other ways systems of colonization and oppression can contribute to other non-death losses those who are directly affected currently and have historically faced. As we discussed in a previous article, we can also experience collective grief following natural disasters, accidents, international conflict, and acts of violence that have resulted in catastrophic loss of lives.

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.