Grief Matters

Grief is the experience and expression of loss. We call people who are experiencing grief, ‘grievers.’ Grief comes in many shapes and sizes – for example, we can grieve the death of humans, the death of pets, and also grieve the losses experienced through migration, or as our health declines, or the many losses we are living from the ongoing climate crisis. While grief is universal to humans, we each experience grief in our own ways. Perhaps that is why grief is so often misunderstood. When grief is misunderstood, we can do harm to ourselves, and to other grievers. Grief literacy, a grass-roots movement, is growing around the world to reduce the possibilities of this harm and to better support all grievers. Grief literacy has become a social movement. We understand grief to be the experience of individuals who are living their grief in their communities. Grief literacy is about helping community members to better understand their own and other people’s experience of grief and loss. Our aim is for all grievers to be better supported. In September 2023, we hosted a week-long grief festival to support and nurture grief literacy in communities across the province of Nova Scotia – and beyond! It was about bringing together citizens from our many overlapping communities to learn and share knowledge, practices, and experiences about grief. Since then, we’ve held one each September to continue the learning and grow the grief literacy movement. Anyone who has experienced grief is a ‘grief expert.’ Chances are that if you have read this far, then you are too. So please, sign up for our newsletter to stay updated and find out ways to get involved.