Video

John Martin – Loss and Grief – Be Careful What You Say to Someone Who Hurts

John discusses how what you say to a griever is very important

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.

Michael – “A story of loss and longing”

Michael relays a story of a man coping after the loss of his wife.

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.

Rev. Sky – “It’s OK to cry”

Rev. Sky talks about loss due to gun violence, that it’s OK to cry and finding an outlet.

Lyss – Losing My Mother

Lyss discusses losing her mother and how her first thought was that her mother would never meet her kids Now being a mother herself brings back many memories of her.

Joyce – Walking beside people who are stuggling with addiction

Joyce explains why it so important to help people who are struggling with addiction

Holly – Singing in the last days

Holly talks about her partner’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, the pandemic, their decisions, faith and how singing

Matt – Wisdom to pass on

Matt offers advice to his younger self about grief. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Zoreena – Passing on kindness

Zoreena talks about wakes, funerals, COVID and the importance of kindness

Lynda – “Resilience”

Lynda discusses what resilience is all about

Kara – “Getting over the dying part”

Kara describes the process of moving past the traumatic memory of her partner’s death to reflect on the beautiful moments of their thirty years together.