The grief journey is often about hope, or rekindling it – the crucial ‘other’ component. When someone receives a diagnosis of a terminal illness they have to make a lot of adjustments, including adapting to the radical change to their dreams about the life they were going to have. Adjusting … 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
A report from the Australian charity Groundswell has just been released and it makes fascinating reading. Groundswell is committed to increasing death literacy and it’s best known project is Dying to Know Day. About itself, Groundswell explains: “An independent charity, we work at the intersection of health care, palliative care … Read more
Updated February 2, 2022. 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, … Read more
Photos of a big party at our house, celebrating my daughter’s 21st. She stands, smiling broadly as she listens to the speeches, all manner of people unknown to me crowding around her. So different. What is it? And then it hits. Hard. These are pre-Covid days when we welcomed strangers … Read more
We have settled into the rhythm of Covid-19 – we have dealt with the massive death toll, watched the social destruction it has caused, particularly in the USA, seen the cracks it causes to social cohesion in other places and we now brace ourselves for the real economic fallout, now … Read more
The Covid-19 crisis had its biggest consequences for these two most important rituals, the wedding and the funeral. “During the service I never pose people or use flash photography. Discrete candid photography allows me to capture the sombre mode of family embracing, children deep in thought, and friends crofting the … Read more
“The limit on the number of guests allowed at funerals is the latest COVID-19 restriction to be eased in NSW,” Jenny Noyes reported in Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, (June 14). From July 1, indoor venues will no longer be limited to 50 patrons but for funerals, the changes will come into … Read more
“All lives don’t matter until black lives matter,” a young protester in Sydney told the ABC on Tuesday night. American George Floyd’s death has triggered distress in Australia’s Indigenous families about their own people’s continued deaths at the hands of authorities. Change appeared to come after a Royal Commission into … Read more
If ever there were an illustration of the link between politics and mortality statistics, George Floyd symbolises it. The video of a Minneapolis policeman with his knee pressed down on George’s neck, in an act that would kill him, is now infamous. It has incited riots and protests all over … Read more
What do you say to someone who’s recently been bereaved? “Contact, listen and bless,” says the UK’s At A Loss organisation. The bless is “shower with good things”. At A Loss’s tips include: make contact, even if you’re unsure about it call, don’t video call be prepared to leave a … Read more
By yesterday (April 20) Anglicare’s Newmarch House, in Sydney’s western suburbs, had reported two deaths and 41 infections with Covid-19. This follows six deaths at the Dorothy Henderson aged care facility in Sydney’s Macquarie Park, after infections there last month. No nursing home wants to repeat that experience. So this … Read more
This article was updated on Friday, June 3, 2022. Human communication takes a battering when we have to rely on technology to say hello to friends and family or run a meeting. Technology use during covid can be more tiring, as psychiatrist Gianpiero Petriglieri explained very clearly in a recent … Read more
This week we shared the story of Matthew with subscribers to the Good Grief! newsletter. (To reach it, go to: https://good-grief.com.au/grief-in-the-time-of-covid-19) The story explains how Matthew was counting on his social connections to overcome his grief. But that opportunity is now denied him because of the social distancing and stay … Read more
Palliative care specialist MICHAEL BARBATO writes and teaches about how to bring love and kindness to the dying. Here are his thoughts on the challenges to this goal with Covid-19. He also has a terrific recommendation to read, Rachel Coghlan’s piece on “small but potent acts of compassion.” See the … Read more
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