What do the following actions have in common?
- Painting a shoe box for a dead hamster
- Hanging a wreath of wildflowers on a fence
- Preparing and delivering casseroles and desserts to a widower’s door
- Writing a life story for a newspaper column
- Setting certain objects on a shelf with a candle
- Making a scrapbook filled with photos and mementoes from the home you’re leaving
The common thread among these actions is one of profoundly felt loss that inspires creativity to honour what was lost.
The Loss Art welcomes your grief and your creative self – yes, you are creative!
The Loss Art can help you honour your grief for what you’ve lost. Whether you’re grieving the death of a beloved person or pet, the end of a relationship or a life transition, you can choose to create through your grief.
The Loss Art isn’t art therapy and you don’t need artistic skills.
Creating through grief is about the process, not the product. Certified Creative Grief Coach and Thanatologist Julie Maltby offers you a calming, safe and supportive a place where your creative self and your grief will be honoured.
Such honouring lends hope to your mourning. It demonstrates that no matter what was lost, something can still be created – brought to life – to keep the memory and other gifts of a loved one alive.
Part of the creative work of grief opens your mind and heart to a new way of seeing meaning in things around you. This change in perspective, along with creative action, helps you to heal, reimagine your future and move forward. Honouring a loss helps us to look at our own life changes with new eyes and a wondering heart. Thus, you’re designing your grief experience and your life like a work of art.
If you can relate to any of these statements, The Loss Art is here to help:
- I’m just not ready to pack up my partner’s clothes. He hasn’t been gone that long.
- People are telling me to move on. I don’t know if I can do that.
- Since retiring, I don’t feel like I have a sense of purpose.
- I miss my dog so much. People tell me to just get another dog. They don’t understand – she was my best friend.
- We moved into a beautiful new home, but l can’t stop missing my other house and neighborhood. Is that normal?
- I can’t believe I got fired. I worked so hard and felt like I was doing a good job.
- Am I grieving wrong?
- Am I crazy?
- I can – and deserve to – live with joy, love and passion while living with grief. But, how do I get started?
Fall workshops are now scheduled!
Visit the Services page to find dates and other information about these workshops:
- Honour and re-member your loved one
- Make a cup of comfort and support
- Reimagine your future
- Grieve a job loss
Design your grief blog
Engage with Julie on any of these topics:
- Grief by design, Feb. 29, 2024
- Grieve less and reach for more, March 8, 2024
- Reimagine your future, March 25, 2024
- Job loss – you lose more than a pay cheque, April 15, 2024
- Creative expression is your gift to you and the world, April 25, 2024
- Compassion connects us all, May 5, 2024
- New blog post: Is there a place for artificial intelligence in the real human experience of grief?, Aug. 29, 2024
Thank you for visiting The Loss Art. Browse the site to see how our creative approach to grief support can help you honour your grief and reimagine your future. Please reach out with any questions.