James Smith’s Info Serv

Nearly everyone experiences grief at some point in their lives. In this program, a psychologist discusses the stages of grief, the necessity of grieving, and what is helpful in dealing with it at each stage. Also, an art therapist and a grief group facilitator talk about their work, and a personal story of grief is told. All of these give hope to someone who might be undergoing grief.

Loss, grief and death are universal occurrences. From one country to another, all over the world, every human being will experience, or has experienced loss, grief and death. It is not a question of if, but rather a question of when. We do not and should not live our daily lives wondering when it will happen but I believe that it is important for each of us to understand that it will.

The awareness of knowing will help us seek out the people and knowledge that will help us experience healing grief as opposed to debilitating grief.

As a child I experienced the separation of death when my grandparents died and over the years, when my pets died. Too young to understand what it was all about or the feelings that I was experiencing, I did what many do and ignored those feelings. I did not ask questions. I had no understanding of grief-what it was or what to do about it.

I grew up a child of the sixties to parents who had strong views about certain things and who themselves had been taught that showing emotion, taking about death or your feelings was not proper.

Children, as I did, learn to cry alone, act out or find other unhealthy ways to deal with feelings they don’t understand. They need to have a safe person to talk to, to be able to shed tears with others and learn good ways to deal with the losses that they experience. It took me many years and many more losses to be able to understand what grief was and how it impacted on my life, my decisions and the person that I had come to be.
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