Ideas and Innovations

Across Canada and around the world people are finding creative and impactful ways of responding to and supporting grief. Learn about these ideas and innovations.

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Type of innovation
Type of loss
Audience
 
Activity:
#projectgooddog
URL: https://www.sunnys-hphotography.com/projectgooddog
Learn about the professional photographer who provides free sessions for terminally ill dogs.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Grieving before the loss Type of innovation: Activity Organization: Sunny S-H Photography Country: Canada
12 Nights of Kindness
URL: https://internationalgriefinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/12-Nights-of-Kindness.pdf
Activity to teach kids kindness by helping someone in the neighbourhood who is newly grieving.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Supporting someone Type of innovation: Activity Organization: International Grief Institute Country: United States
Forget-Me-Not Memory Garden 
URL: https://alzheimer.ca/ab/en/take-action/forget-me-not-memory-garden
Honour loved ones with dementia by creating a forget-me-not garden, whether in a community garden, in your yard, or with a single potted plant at home.
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Grieving before the loss Type of innovation: Activity Organization: Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories Country: Canada
From Clothes to Teddy Bear
URL: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TQAdNisQFSs
Create a teddy bear from clothing belonging to someone who has died.
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Activity Organization: YouTube
Grief Book Club
URL: https://whatsyourgrief.com/grief-book-recommendations-wyg-book-club-edition/
Explore a list of recommended grief books.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Activity Organization: what's your grief? Country: United States
Grief in Six Words
URL: https://www.griefinsixwords.com
Everyone has a unique grief story to tell. Read some of the thousands of "Grief in Six Words" stories that have been collected, and share your own.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Activity Organization: what's your grief? Country: United States
Event:
Annual Grief Symposium
URL: https://www.springfieldfuneralhome.ca/grief-nov-2-2023/
Explore this annual symposium for grief professionals, including first responders, pastors, caregivers, and funeral directors.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Event Organization: Springfield Funeral Home Country: Canada
Camp Widow
URL: https://campwidow.org
Camp Widow provides practical tools and resources for people of any gender, race, religion, age, or sexual orientation. The event is a blend of conference, retreat, and reunion.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Event Organization: Soaring Spirits Canada Country: Canada
Crystal Pite: Angels' Atlas
URL: https://gem.cbc.ca/crystal-pite-angels-atlas
This work, created with the National Ballet of Canada, explores post-pandemic grief, loss, and the nature of connection.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: COVID-19 grief Type of innovation: Event Organization: National Ballet of Canada Country: Canada
Death: Life's Greatest Mystery
URL: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/death-lifes-greatest-mystery
This thought-provoking exhibition explores cultural and natural responses to life and death. Artifacts, specimens, and immersive experiences show how life and death are part of a c ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Event Organization: ROM
Grief and Gratitude Community Event
URL: https://cyfn.ca/griefandgratitude/
Grief and Gratitude is a weekend-long community event honouring loved ones lost during the pandemic and showing appreciation for frontline workers and community members.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: COVID-19 grief Type of innovation: Event Organization: Council of Yukon First Nations
Grief Gatherings
URL: https://griefmatters.ca
Grief Gatherings are creative community-based events to help individuals, groups, and communities and grow grief literacy.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Event Organization: Grief Matters Country: Canada
Policy or program:
"We didn't leave you"
In the "we didn't leave you" program, a staff member in long-term care will attend the funeral following the death of a resident, as a way to reassure families that staff were with ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Organization: Caressant Care - Fergus Country: Canada
3 Wishes Project
URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26167721/
The 3 Wishes Project is meant to bring peace to terminally ill patients and to ease the grieving process for families.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Organization: McMaster University Country: Canada
Animal Chaplains
URL: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/li ... l-chaplains-offer-spiritual-care-for-every-species
Animal chaplains provide care to animals, pet owners, animal care providers, and communities impacted by wildlife-human conflict.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Country: United States
Baby Loss Certificate
URL: https://www.gov.uk/request-baby-loss-certificate
This program helps to honour a pregnancy that ends before 24 weeks by offering a certificate in memory of your baby.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Organization: UK Government Country: United Kingdom
Bereavement Travel Program
URL: https://www.qia.ca/what-we-do/cultural-and-community-based-programs/
This bereavement and compassionate travel program provides financial assistance to family members for visits with terminally ill loved ones, travel to a funeral, and transporting r ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Organization: Qikiqtani Inuit Association Country: Canada
Cooking for One After a Loss
URL: https://www.airdriehospice.ca/services
Learn to cook tasty meals in a relaxed social setting alongside others who are grieving.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Policy or program Organization: Airdrie & District Hospice Society Country: Canada
Products and toolkits:
Bereavement Bags
URL: https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/research-and-inn ... d5kj2_KEl-RVPneEvmEROAUF8vh8QhApTXLydzapLE0ECUqlsM
Innovative Bereavement Bags are a way to return the belongings of a person who has died to their families. They are a distinctive purple, so hospital staff can easily identify a fa ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust Country: England
Bereavement Package
URL: https://www.babysbreathcanada.ca/peer-support-resources/request-bereavement-package/
Baby's Breath Canada offers a bereavement package including information about loss and the organization, plantable butterfly paper, and a charm. More information on SIDS, stillbirt ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: Baby's Breath Country: Canada
CuddleBlanket
URL: https://flexmort.com/cuddleblanket/
CuddleBlankets allow families more time with their loved ones after death. This is helpful, for example, if relatives must travel to say their goodbyes.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: Flexmort Country: United Kingdom
CuddleCot
URL: https://mgffoundation.org
CuddleCots allow families who have lost an infant to spend more time with their child before saying goodbye.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: Maxwell George Fleming Foundation Country: Canada
Grief Beermats
URL: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/beer-m ... -project-urges-men-to-talk-death-over-pint-1521549
The beer mat project urges people to talk about death over a pint by providing coasters with quotes designed to steer barroom conversations toward death.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC) Country: Scotland
Grief Busting Zine
URL: https://www.griefstories.org/grief-busting-zine-downloadable/
This zine, designed by mental health professionals, offers information about grief and tips for people supporting someone who is grieving.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Products and toolkits Organization: Grief Stories
Support and education:
BON Peer Support Meetings
URL: www.bereavementontarionetwork.ca
BON holds a monthly meeting for members to connect with others, to network, problem solve and discuss their work in grief and bereavement.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Supporting someone Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: Bereavement Ontario Network
EDMR for Grief
URL: https://emdrcanada.ca
For those with prolonged grief, EMDR may be a fitting treatment option, helping patients to process past memories, current triggers, and future fears, and preparing them for life b ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: EMDR Canada
Forever Changed Conversation Cafe Series
URL: https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/nightingale ... e-centre-launches-conversation-cafe-series-7520265
The Forever Changed Conversation Cafe holds a series of open conversations about loss, each with a professional facilitator and stories shared by two or three people with grief exp ... Read more
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: Nightingale Centre for Grieving Children Youth and Families Country: Canada
Gashkendamide’e (Be Grieved from the Heart) Loss and Grief Support Group
URL: https://www.hospicenorthwest.ca/services/grief-support-program/
This two-day grief-support workshop is led by an Indigenous Elder and delivered in a culturally relevant manner, individualized to the needs of each participant.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: Hospice Northwest Services Country: Canada
Grief Film Club
URL: https://hospicegeorgiantriangle.com/events/
This support group meets to watch a grief-related film together.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: Hospice Gregorian Triangle Country: Canada
Grief Walking Group
URL: https://hospicegeorgiantriangle.com/events/
This support group meets to move through grief together by walking.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Support and education Organization: Hospice Gregorian Triangle Country: Canada
Technology and online resources:
A Minecraft Virtual Support Group for Grieving Kids
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/10461379/kids-grief-minecraft-lumaria/
Explore a unique Minecraft world designed to help kids (7–12) who have lost a loved one connect virtually with other kids who are also coping with loss.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: Lumara Country: Canada
Apart of Me
URL: https://www.apartofme.app/
Apart of Me is an app game for grieving youth, co-created by child psychologists and bereaved young people. The game guides players through dark moments, and it talks about accepti ... Read more
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: Apart of Me Country: United Kingdom
Counselling with Video Games
URL: https://www.theprogress.com/local-news/video-game- ... rieving-kids-connect-at-chilliwack-hospice-7362615
This video gaming system allows kids who might feel self-conscious or isolated to access support in a simple way that connects with their interests.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: Chilliwack Hospice Society Country: Canada
Greviews
URL: https://www.griefsucks.com/videos#Grieviews
On the Greviews blog, young people discuss how grief is portrayed in popular movies, music, and TV shows.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: Grief Sucks
Grief Quest
URL: https://www.roblox.com/games/12103463520/Grief-Quest
Visit Roblox's Reflection Zone to light a candle for a person who died, and explore ways to support people who are grieving.
Audience: Children and teens Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: Experience Camps
Multiple Loss Journey
URL: https://abrpo.org/resources/multiple-loss-journey/
The Multiple Loss Journey is a framework to help people better understand how grief differs between multiple and single loss.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Technology and online resources Organization: AIDS Bereavement and Resiliency Program of Ontario Country: Canada
Events:
Casey and Diana - Theatre production
URL: https://royalmtc.ca/Current-Plays/Casey-and-Diana.aspx
Casey and Diana is a moving piece of theatre portraying the men at the heart of the aids crisis, their caregivers, and the "people's princess," with humour and compassion.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Events Organization: Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre
Memorials:
"We Miss You" Memorial
URL: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/to ... mmunity-art-installation-we-news-photo/2192396779
"We Miss You" is an interactive community art installation to remember loved ones lost to overdose or the toxic drug crisis.
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Memorials Organization: Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto Country: Canada
Ghost Bikes
URL: https://ghostbikes.org/ghostbikes.org/index/index.html
Ghost Bikes are memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, as both a reminder of the ... Read more
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Memorials Organization: GhostBikes.org Country: International
Memorial Benches
URL: https://www.myfarewelling.com/article/the-benefits-of-memorial-benches-and-how-to-set-one-up
Memorial benches are a public acknowledgement of a person's life, achievements, and impact. They allow a community to participate in the act of remembrance.
Audience: Adults, Children and teens Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Memorials
Research:
Political Grief
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137321999793
This research article describes political grief that happens because of events at the sociopolitical level, which may be experienced individually and collectively.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Non-death loss Type of innovation: Research Country: Canada
Stories from the Skin
URL: https://storiesfromtheskin.com
This research study investigates the experience and meaning of tattoos that have a healing effect on their wearers.
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Any loss Type of innovation: Research Organization: Susan Cadell, PhD Country: Canada
Transforming Palliative Care for People Living with Advanced Cancer: Developing a National Research Platform
URL: https://pcpcrc.ca/new-funding-for-pcpcrc-to-build- ... onal-research-platform-to-conduct-clinical-trials/
This national clinical trials platform will run its first three clinical trials testing the effectiveness of different interventions to reduce patient and caregiver distress, inclu ... Read more
Audience: Adults Type of loss: Death loss Type of innovation: Research Organization: James Downar, MD Country: Canada