By Sandra Moon Two weeks ago, with state border closures in place and Local Government Area (LGA) lockdowns due to COVID-19, my mother Eleanor took my father Barry into the Emergency Department not knowing he would never come home again. While it had been a long health battle for Dad, … Read more
by Sandra Moon. ‘I feel his organs are shutting down,’ my mother said on the phone. But how? Two days before Mum had rung me to ask for help getting Dad to the emergency ward at our local hospital. I burst into tears worried that he may enter hospital and … Read more
by Sandra Moon Writing about grief is a way to honour and remember loved ones beyond our typical cultural rituals says Karen Crofts, Director of the Hunter Writers Centre. “For people who do write about grief the writing process helps them because it makes them take the time to remember. … Read more
Yes, this is our mantra too. We shared the link to this story in our March newsletter. “For many people, grief is private – and shameful. Two young women want to bring it out of the shadows,” writes Jehan Casinader, in this piece of Feb 27, from www.stuff.co.nz Jehan’s piece looks at gaps … Read more
by Sandra Moon Did you or someone you know wait until after twelve-weeks to share news of a pregnancy? I did and the reason was in case I lost my baby. I wanted to avoid those painful conversations. I didn’t think twice about the decision not sharing could have on … Read more
It’s Australia Day tomorrow and in this country we’re divided about it. That’s because so many of our First Nations people point out that for them it’s not a day of celebration but a day of mourning, since their land was invaded and many of their lives were lost in … Read more
We all know it – grief is part of life. And it’s not just the obvious, big things like the death of friends or family that cause this pain. Sometimes the source of grief and loss is not noticeable to others. A classic example is retirement. Everyone comes up to … Read more
It made a difference to be able to connect one last time, SANDRA MOON, journalist, editor, writer and no stranger to grief, says of her personal experience with coffin art. In the crematorium I waited with the other mourners, thick black markers in hand, to write a message on the … Read more
A conversation with friends took me to a well the other day. We were walking in the Sydney sunshine along Bungaree’s Walkway at Middle Head, a natural pathway with extraordinary views around Sydney’s majestic harbour, when the conversation, idling unselfconsciously as they do, turned to grief. I was asked about my … Read more
Every now and then we meet or hear of someone working in the grief space, with an idea that is truly magical. James and Kristy Thomas’ Feel the Magic, is just such an organisation. James and his wife Kristy started the charity about eight years ago. Its purpose is to … Read more
What has grief taught you? “I’m like so many people in our culture, so I don’t do grief well. Very few of us do grief well. We don’t talk about it enough, we shy away from it, we’re frightened of it.” “It’s good to remember that grief can cover all … Read more
“Watching the statistics on calls to Lifeline is a good way for us to monitor how the community is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic,” says John Brogden, Chair of Lifeline, the 24-hour telephone crisis support service. He was speaking to Good Grief! in August last year when he said that. … Read more
Friend and fellow traveller Mimi passed this info along. It’s a resource to help with grief, prepared by Harvard Medical School’s publishing house. This line attracted our attention: “You’ll learn that some of the things we’ve been taught about grief don’t necessarily hold true.” For example, *denial can actually be … Read more
We have a floral tribute in my community, firmly attached by rounds and rounds of sticky tape to the pedestrian button at the traffic lights. It started with a public note attached. The flowers are a metre or two down the street from a pole with A4 posters, one advertising … Read more
As Good Grief! roams, peeping in quiet corners, delving into resources from country to country and looking at new and old ways of doing death, this one has popped up, right on our doorstep, only a suburb away. John Slaytor is a funeral photographer. Yes, that’s right. While he’s also … Read more