Permission to Grieve

Permission to Grieve is a series of art-based online, intimate conversations and breathing exercises that offer space to have conversations about grief. We believe that everyone should be able to talk about grief, not just with counsellors.

During the global pandemic, personal grief has increased for the entire CRD community, as individuals have and currently are mourning things like losing their job, deaths, and just everyday changes and routines that are now lost. These major life events are uprooting individual’s once grounded existence and causing grief to happen in isolated ways. This project hopes to tackle this issue of isolated mourning and learning how to heal through a community.

Please note that we are an artist-facilitated space. Though we are working with a trauma-informed care lens, we are not in professional counsellors. The space will be a guided conversation, but please set your own boundaries of what you are comfortable in sharing.

We ask that participants sign up for one workshop so to fit as many individuals as possible. Permission to Grieve is free, but registration is limited. Please register through Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/permission-to-grieve-tickets-153224088373) and you will receive a Zoom link.

What to expect:

In the limited groups of 10 people, it is okay to speak and it is okay to listen. Some people come to share what they’ve experienced, and some people come to listen and learn. There is no hierarchy of grief. Everyone’s grief is equal. Everyone’s experience and perspective is unique, and valuable in the conversation. You don’t need to be grieving to take part. If you want to, you can talk about your own personal experience of grief. Or you can talk about grief in the abstract. Or you can not talk at all. You don’t need to hide your feelings. You can leave whenever you want to.

Acknowledgement:

The Integrate Art Society and its Permission to Grieve project is situated on traditional and unceded Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ Nations. We strive to remain mindful of the cultural impacts of ongoing colonialism and dispossession of Indigenous peoples as we continue to engage communities and hold events in this region.

Permission to Grieve is grateful to be funded through the Capital Regional District.