What is grief literacy and how does it matter?
Photo by Neil Thomas
Grief literacy is a concept that was born in 2018 at a gathering in London (Ontario, Canada). At that meeting, a small group of people who are part of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement imagined together how civic action could create a grief-attuned world. The people were scholars and practitioners in the field; they imagined ‘grief literacy’ by dreaming of a world that – finally - ‘gets’ grief.
Together, they reflected: How would we know if we were grief literate? To answer this question, they started sculpting a world where people who are grieving no longer have to hide their grief or pretend to be ‘okay.’ A world where everyone understands that grief can happen in many ways. A world where neighbours know to ask about a loss week, months, even years after the original event. A world where grieving children are just children, and are supported by their peers and the adults in their lives. A world where workplaces proactively offer a suite of bereavement resources before the grieving employee even has to ask.
As with many ideas whose time has come, at the same time this group was thinking about grief literacy, around the world there were others who were also dreaming about their own grief-attuned worlds. A groundswell of ideas, passions, energy, and innovations has since emerged. Grief literacy has become an international social movement!
The recent festival, Good Grief, Nova Scotia! was an amazing example of this groundswell. This festival ran for eight days (September 23-30, 2023) across the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Activities embraced the tenets of grief literacy in the following ways:
- No one is immune to grief. Events were tailored to different ages, communities, genders, sexualities, incomes, and geographic locations. Many events were on-line. Most events were physically accessible, and at least one had sign language interpretation.
- Grief is whatever the griever says it is. Events included widows grieving their spouses; pet owner grieving their companions; newcomers reflecting on what they had to leave behind in their home countries.
- Grief belongs in public places. The Halifax Central Library (the main library in the capital of Nova Scotia) hosted a display of memorial tattoo photographs from a research project and invited the public to submit their own. People talked about their grief over restaurant meals with strangers. Folks gathered in a park to learn about death doulas. People joined online to discuss estate planning. Grievers missing their deceased pets went on hikes together.
- It takes a village to advance grief literacy. Events were hosted by individuals, community organizations, health care institutions, faith-based organizations, and research teams. Most events were free; some had ‘pay what you can’ entry fees.
Grief literacy is rooted in the notion that it is typical and not unexpected to experience grief. And so, we need to build our social spaces to be inclusive and safe for grievers. This Grief Matters blog intends to be one such space. We welcome your thoughts and descriptions of how grief literacy is already growing in your communities. We are excited to hear your ideas on planting future seeds to increase kindness and compassion in your worlds. We welcome emails and ideas for blog post entries. Please be in touch!
Further reading
Grief literacy: A call to action for compassionate communities
