You are not alone.

"About 2.5 million people die in the United States annually, leaving an average of five grieving people behind. Of those grieving, an estimated 7% to 10% of bereaved people will experience complex grief."¹

1. All that we love we will lose
2. The places that did not receive love
3. The sorrows of the world
4. What we expected but did not receive
5. Ancestral grief
6. Trauma
7. The harm I have caused to myself and others
8. Anticipatory grief

Grief is more than the loss of a loved one.

While we commonly associate grief with death, grief can also come in many forms. The psychotherapist, Francis Weller, describes the 8 gates of grief as:

"How comfortable are you in discussing grief?"

Comfort with discussing your own grief

Comfort with discussing the grief of others

Very comfortable

31.6%

Very UNcomfortable

32.5%

18.4%

14.0%

25.4%

38.6%

15.8%

16.7%

Neither comfortable or uncomfortable

_____________

_________________________________________

How comfortable are you talking about grief?

What might make discussing grief more comfortable?

Everyone has their own experience of grief.

115 bereaved individuals were surveyed to look at grief experiences and identify common threads. Our aim was to identify how as a community we can support those in the grief process and how to show up for ourselves in our own grief. While each individual has their own unique experience, common themes emerged across the data.

Who is most supportive in the grieving process?

Who has been supportive in your grief process?

How can you be supportive to others in their process?

What is unhelpful in the grieving process?

Platitudes

Top 5 Instances of Mention

5

10

15

20

LACK of empathy

Avoidance

Assigning a timeline to grief

Not allowing for a unique experience of grief

What ways might you approach someone grieving differently, knowing what is unhelpful?

How can you communicate your own needs around your grief experience to your loved ones?