Resources for When Grief Comes to Work: Loss in Community Health Care

Grief and loss are frequent experiences in community health, but the layering of multiple losses leading to complex and traumatic grief has been particularly acute over the past year. Ongoing multiple losses have been brought on by COVID-19 and the response to it, along with the shadow pandemics of the opioid poisoning crisis, poverty, homelessness, and systemic racialized violence. To help meet the need for grief education and to support capacity-building for individual and team-level grief work in our sector, we hosted a special Lunch 'n' Learn webinar with Chris Leonard and Yvette Perreault from Good Grief Care Consulting. They spoke about impacts of complex grief and loss in the community health sector. The session introduced attendees to how grief and traumatic loss show up at work and impact us and our teams, and how making space in our lives for grieving can help us to hold steady in our work, even as our personal "surge capacity" is depleted.

In order to create a safe space for attendees, we did not record this session. However, Chris and Yvette shared a number of resources with the session attendees, which are presented below. The slide deck is at the bottom of this page. Please note that it will be most meaningful as a memory tool for those who attended the webinar and wish to revisit it, whereas the other resources will be of value to anyone who is grieving or supporting grieving colleagues. You can find more resource materials at the AIDS Bereavement and Resilience Program of Ontario (ABRPO). If you wish to connect with Chris and Yvette with follow-up questions, to continue the work, or to access their support for your staff, you can reach them at GoodGriefCare@gmail.com .

Diagram showing the complex path taken in grieving multiple losses — Multiple Loss Journey

Chris Leonard is a private consultant and a member of the Good Grief Care Consulting team who brings extensive experience supporting workers and communities impacted by loss and trauma. Her process facilitation and trainings are grounded in wholistic, anti-oppressive, resilience and restorative practices that builds capacity in areas of trauma, grief, impact debriefing, and conflict. Chris brings mindful awareness from her training as a Zen shiatsu therapist into her work of holding space for individuals, teams and communities impacted by loss.

Now retired from her 24 year role as co-creator and Director of the AIDS Bereavement and Resiliency Program of Ontario (ABRPO), Yvette Perreault continues to support community in a training, process facilitating and consulting role within the community-based not for profit sector. Retirement brings delightful options for work within her new community outside of Toronto, and Yvette has undertaken a part time role as the Traumatic Grief Specialist with the ECMH in Belleville. Her interest is in building teams with heart and helping people turn to one another in their communities. As principal of Good Grief Care Consultants, she works with a diverse team to provide accessible, relevant traumatic grief supports to front line workers.