During my time at Auburn University I visited Kate Larkin of the Auburn Alumni Association. As well as generously giving me lots of gorgeous Auburn University ‘swag’ Kate kindly arranged for me to meet two wonderful individuals – a father and his son who had recently experienced a very significant bereavement, the death of the… Read More Toodle Pip!
Why do Americans use the term passed? I am constantly on a mission for us all to use the real terms and words for death, bereavement and grief. Not just with children, but across society as a whole. There are hundreds of euphemisms for death – just take a look at Wikipedia to see some… Read More Dead or Passed?
Whilst at Cotting School I had the opportunity to meet with a very special young lady – we will call her Susie (not her real name). In the past year one of Susie’s very good friends and a member of her class has died. Understandably Susie was devastated that her friend is no longer around… Read More A very special conversation
Cotting School is 125 years old -pretty impressive, but the really impressive thing is the fact that Cotting is America’s first school for children with disabilities. In 1893, two pioneering orthopedic surgeons from the Children’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Augustus Thorndike and Dr. Edward Bradford, saw the need to educate children whose physical challenges prevented… Read More A lesson in the history and future of special education
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Maureen Patterson of the Good Grief Program at Boston Medical Centre It’s so exciting when you met people that really make you think about your work and send your thoughts and research off into new directions. My discussions with Maureen at BMC did just this. I’ve… Read More Boston Medical Centre – Good Grief Program
When I contacted bereavement experts in New York Dr. Kathryn Shear was top of my list. I missed Dr. Shear by just a couple of days when I was in Copenhagen – she spoke about Complicated Grief at the Sorg 2018 Conference I didn’t have high hopes that Dr. Shear would reply to me, but she… Read More Not every day can be perfect…
During my time in New York I was able to visit an elementary school (same age range as a primary school in the UK). Like my visit to Lakeview School this was an immensely rewarding and thought provoking experience. Infinity School is a Charter School, I’m not totally familiar with charter schools, but they seem to similar to… Read More KIPP Infinity Elementary School
Lakeview School is a special school similar to the one that I work in. It caters for children with severe learning disabilities (many of which also having physical disabilities). The student population is larger (approximately 145) than that of my own school (82), but the atmosphere and spirit of Lakeview is a perfect match for my… Read More Lakeview School
When preparing for my trip to New York I contacted many different people in the field of bereavement. The vast majority never replied, but someone who did reply to my Twitter message was Lisa Athan of Grief Speaks Who could have predicted that one tweet could result in such an incredible day and a connection that… Read More Grief Speaks
Everyone finds different ways to manage their grief. For one lady, Marjorie Eliot, the thing that helped her to come to terms with the death of her son Philip was to hold a weekly free jazz concert. The celebration of life and jazz continued on through the death of another son, Michael, and the disappearance… Read More Music & Grief
