Bereavement Professionals’ Insights

Cara – My story with intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara talks about how she came to see how people with intellectual disabilities need to be supported in grief

Jean – My own grief and being a professional counsellor

Jean shares about being a counselor and going through her own grief

Cheryl – “My story” short version

Cheryl talks about her daughter’s organ donations.

Jacqueline – How to help a grieving friend

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

Janice – “Grief can be complicated”

Janice discusses disenfranchised grief and holding on to hurt.

Madelyn – Rituals and the Chinese grieving process

Madelyn talks about expressing your grief in Chinese cultures and how rituals are a war of grieving providing comfort

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.

Jessica M – It’s OK not to cry

Jessica discusses how grief is individual and finding the way forward can be different for everyone.

Madelyn – My story

Madelyn tells her story and how she became a music therapist working in palliative care

Chantal – The benefits of the physical part of art making

Chantal talks about how art can release energy in a healthy cathartic way

Maureen – “Your experience of loss is unique”

Maureen explains how your experience of grief is your own.

Rev. Sky – “What is trauma?”

Rev. Sky discusses how trauma affects us on many levels.