grief/loss

woman in pickup

New Year New Grief

Setting intentions for the New Year ’s intentions are all around at this time of the year. For many of us, bereaved parents, the holidays and New Year’s celebration with its ‘merry’ and ‘happy’ wishes can lead us to slide down and get lost in another grief rabbit-hole. We are left with the sentiment that nothing that the New Year brings can make the feelings of loss any better.

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child asleep

Learning To Live Without You

Exactly 5 years ago I conceived you and your sister. I remember it so clearly because I reread the journal entries from that time, describing every day in January. Given our journey to bring you into this world hadn’t happened through natural conception, we started assisted conception in the beginning of January and I decided to document our adventure. But this is a story to be told another time.

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The Misunderstanding About Grief And Death

When I held my daughter in my arms as she drew her last breath I knew it.When I learned that my mother had just died through suicide I knew it. I speak boldly when I say that society largely misunderstands grief. Even as a trained psychotherapist specialising in grief and relationship, I misunderstood grief. I thought

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woman with candles

Healing After Child Loss? Possible Or Impossible?

After the death of my daughter six and a half years ago I wrote: “I will never get over this.” This still holds true to some extent. However, I’m no longer in the despair that led me to make over-generalized statements about healing and sentences that implied I had the power of premonition. Healing – no way!

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womans face

Comparing Grief – Can It Be Helpful?

Comparing grief is something we all have done at some point. “But you’ve only had a miscarriage.”“I experienced the same when my grandpa died.”“My stillbirth was … in comparison to my miscarriages.”“I cannot imagine losing a teenager.” All these are comparisons: a miscarriage versus a stillbirth or neonatal death, the experience of the death of

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The Healing Is In The Feeling

So many times bereaved parents hear sentences that proclaim myths about their grieving and healing. We all have heard those myths, so much so that we have come to believe many of them. So it’s no surprise we, as the bereaved, struggle with healing after loss because it’s so different than portrayed or spoken about in society.

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