Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Rev. Sky – “Emotions”

Rev. Sky talks about the emotions that come along with loss and outlets that can help.

Tending to My Garden of Grief

So long as I remember the lives of those I have lost, honour their presence and impact on me and celebrate their spirit, they will continue to live with me and the pain will feel bearable. It will no longer stop me in my tracks. Instead, it will encourage me and propel me forward through the transmutation of that grief into something different, something more nuanced and fluid. I’d like to share a practice for processing grief which I have found to be especially helpful.

Rev. Sky – “What is grief?”

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

Rev. Sky – “It gets easier”

Rev. Sky talks about time and allowing emotion.

Shannon – Hope for Healing

Shannon shares about losing her husband to suicide, her parents and her father-in-law. She felt broken and to be able to take care of her kids and her self seemed overwhelming. It took someone telling her that you can heal from trauma to give her hope for healing.

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.

Madelyn -Healing and support group for Asian Canadian women

Madelyn discusses the value in having your voice heard

Amanda – “Hospice”

Amanda talks about the comfort zone in palliative care.

Cara – Intellectual disabilities and advance planning

Cara explains that people living with intellectual disabilities are growing to older ages, much like the rest of the population. And as folks are aging what we’re seeing is the need for families more so than ever, to do some advanced planning for who will take over any caregiving decision making or where that person may live, what sort of support they may need and what that’s going to look like after the parents or the guardians die so that this doesn’t become a crisis situation.

Collective Grief

When the death of a person affects many members in a community, city, country, or across the world, people will experience collective grief.

These are some things that can help people through the experience of collective grief across a community.

Claudia – Art therapy and costs

Claudia talks about how people may shy away from art therapy because of costs and how training schools can be an option

Corrie – We cry because we love

Corrie talks about crying, hurt and love