What is Grief?
Grief is a natural response to loss. There is no right way to grieve and no set timetable for grieving. Everyone is different. For some people, grief is an intense, emotional, all-consuming experience. For others it is a rather mild process. Ethnicity, gender, culture and age all impact how people grieve. If mourning is the outward expression of sorrow often shared in a social setting with others, then grief is the inward, solitary or private response.
Grief can be:
- Physical (crying, insomnia, weight change, tightness in the throat, hollowness in the stomach, weakness in the muscles)
- Psychosocial (poor concentration, withdrawal)
- Emotional (sadness, anger, loneliness, depression, blame, relief)
- Spiritual (questioning one’s beliefs)
Finding Grief and Bereavement Services in Your Local Community
Online: To search for hospice grief and bereavement services please visit https://findhospicecare.ca/ where you can search by postal code for services in your local community.
By telephone: Please call toll-free 1-833-621-0728, Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.
General Resources
- Bereaved Families of Ontario – offers peer based support at no cost to those in need.
- MyGrief.ca – an online resource to help people move through their grief from the comfort of their own home, at their own pace.
- Canadian Mental Health Association – provides tips and general information on coping with grief and additional supports in local communities.
- CAMH Loss, Grief and Healing – provides general information on loss, grief and healing related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network – free group and individual peer-support services offered to families across Ontario.
- The Reflection Room – a virtual and physical space to reflect on your experiences with dying, death and grief.
Children & Youth
- Children and Youth Grief Network – resources for people supporting children and youth grieving the dying or death of a loved one.
- KidsGrief.ca – a free online resource that helps parents and educators support children when someone in their life is dying or has died.
- Camp Keaton – a bereavement camp for children and teenagers ages 7-17 grieving a significant death.
