Welcome to Season 4 of Caregiver Tea Time!
Episode 3:
Let’s Get Real with Active Grief
In this episode, Val shares about how she actively processes grief. It can come in the form of taking time to relate to others or taking an action. She gives examples from her own experience with grief after her young adult son passed away from complications related to Fanconi Anemia.
Val relates to a quote from the author Richard Rohr, who coined the term "hope infused with realistic awareness." She feels this is an attitude to strive for when handling tough times. She struggled to feel as though she had enough information to have "realistic" awareness.
She also expresses her ideal for how the medical system could include a team member trained in palliative care to reduce emotional pain and suffering for the caregiver. She uses examples from Thomas Golden's book to describe a grief ritual and how to structure it. Val also discusses how she structured grief in the early days after her son passed away and how she is structuring it now.