Eighty people attend grief and bereavement conference

About 80 people from across Central Alberta and Calgary attended a workshop in Olds on how to cope with grief and bereavement.

That's slightly above the 75 people organizers planned for, says Olds and District Hospice Society vice-president Kathy Kemmere.

The theme of the so-called ìroadshow,î held at the Pomeroy Inn & Suites on June 14 and run by Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association (AHPCA), was This Thing Called Grief: It's Complicated.

Participants discussed the effect that end-of-life has for all involved in everything from suicide to medically-assisted dying.

The speaker for the event was Bert Enns, a specialist in grief and palliative care for more than 20 years.

ìGrief is part of our human experience and it's best to come alongside another when they've experienced loss and are experiencing grief as a companion,î Enns said during an interview with the Albertan. ìListening is critical and that core peace that we can provide to those individuals.î

During the roadshow, participants ñ including Enns ñ shared stories of grief to illustrate their perspectives and experiences.

Enns talked about her own experience, when, as a teenager growing up in rural Vancouver Island, several tragic events occurred during a roughly 18-month period ñ including one case in which a father and seven children died while out on a boat.

ìThat experience, I think, has very much impacted my own understanding and my ability to come alongside grief and loss and recognize that it can be a devastating experience, but we as humans have capacity to face into that and find a way to live life forward,î she said.

Enns said her experience with that tragedy is likely a major reason she chose the career path she's now on.

Kemmere said she learned that when it comes to end-of-life there's such a thing as ìpost-traumatic growth.î

ìIt's about the hope, it's about the getting through,î she said. ìIt's not all about the pain of grief; it's the fact that you can work through it. So that was interesting.î

Kemmere said when stories were shared at the table she sat at, one in particular stood out.

ìOne woman shared a story about a young mother who had lost her child. We were talking about rituals and how to deal with your grief through rituals,î she said.

ìShe said she actually had a tattoo put on her arm in her daughter's writing and I thought, ëyou know, people look for ways to cling on to those who have gone before us and make them still be present.'

ìI thought that was an interesting way of connecting and always having that presence.î

Kemmere serves as a bereavement facilitator, so she said the roadshow was very helpful for her.

ìWe offer at the hospice two bereavement sessions a year. Our sessions are eight weeks (long) and if I look at people at the very beginning of the eight weeks and who they are at the end, there's tremendous healing that has taken place. It's an honour to walk with those people in that journey,î she said.

ìSo I will take those snippets of hope that Bert has talked about and implement them into the programs that I use.î