Supporting Others

Matt – Telling my young son

Matt describes the death of his birth mother to his young son.

Karyn and Aidan – Support.

Karyn and Aidan discuss how much the support they received helped

Nicole – Grieving as a community

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

Teresa – Understanding people with intellectual disabilities and grief

Teresa shares an example and discusses the importance of truly understanding people with intellectual disabilities when they are telling us their stories

John – What to do now

John talks about the time after the initial period of grief

Nicole – Pandemic’s Effect on Safe Spaces and Mental Health Access

Nicole discusses how the pandemic affected access to safe spaces and shelters for those living rough and living with addiction.

Amanda – “Listening”

Amanda shares the importance of listening and being comfortable with silence.

Jean – Grief resources and self care

Jean talks about resources that help in processing grief and self care

Holly – How can we help someone who is grieving

Holly has some helpful tips how to help someone who is grieving

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.

Beauty found at the edges: a portrait of community support

I’d sent a text saying “Hello friends, I’m putting out a call for flowers. I went to public school with Kory, the young man who died in downtown Cobourg this week, and though I hadn’t seen him in recent years, I feel the loss of him on a community level, as I imagine you do, too. Some of Kory’s people are gathering tonight in vigil at the bank where he died, and I’m gathering flowers from those of us who have gardens to share with this grieving community. Do you have some blooms in your garden that you’d be willing to share?”

Caileigh – Through play children learn so much about their grief

Caileigh discussed how children learn so much about their grief through play. There’s less confusion, there’s less anxiety, there’s more awareness. For the child and the parent, there is more acceptance of grief.