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

Michele – Expressive arts and healing grief

Michele defines expressive arts and how they can help healing in grief

Christian – “Growth out of pain”

Christian tells about how grief changes and we grow.

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.

Cara – People with intellectual disabilities need to be recognized and honoured in their grief

Cara talks about grievers living with intellectual disabilities and that it’s not about those of us who are neuro-typical, giving them a voice or providing them or saying things for them. Rather, it’s that they already have a voice. They already have these experiences and they want them to be recognized, acknowledged and honoured.

Donna – “Living with grief”

Donna talks about the threads of grief and her personal experience.

Cheryl – “My story” short version

Cheryl talks about her daughter’s organ donations.

Marija – Permission to mourn

Marija discusses the value of being allowing yourself to mourn

Madelyn -Healing and support group for Asian Canadian women

Madelyn discusses the value in having your voice heard

Amanda – “Reach out”

Amanda discusses the importance of connecting with others.

Cara – Defining Intellectual disabilities and grief

Cara discusses how grief literacy needs to be improved across the board for people with intellectual disabilities to learn more about grief, death and dying. There is a great need to include them in this natural, normal part of life that we’ll all experience.

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.