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CMHA Windsor-Essex receives platinum award for provincial Bereavement Resources Campaign · Kvetch & Release

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  Always a great news when an organization in our backyard is recognized for the efforts
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  that they undertake, and this is no exception. The Canadian Mental Health Association
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  Windsor Essex County branch recently launched a provincial educational campaign for bereavement resources and that
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  branch was selected to use its renowned bereavement program as the framework for branches across
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  the province and now being recognized with a Platinum Creative Award, which is really
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  great to hear. Joining me to discuss is the Director of Communications and Mental
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  Health Promotion at the CMHA Windsor Essex, Kim Willis, joins me, who
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  you hear often on AM eight hundred, Kim, how you doing good?
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  How are you? I'm doing really well. First off, congratulations to you
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  and the whole team. This must be great to be recognized and to be
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  you know, not to just receive an award, but to know that what
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  you've put together is now you know, the framework. Yeah, it was
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  a tremendous honor when were approached last year by CMAH Ontario to help develop some
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  resources that could be shared provincially with not only other cmhas, but other you
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  know, healthcare providers or just you know, general practitioners or the public and
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  then to have it receive an award is like icing on the cake. So
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  yeah, it's pretty exciting. Absolutely. So can you tell us a little
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  bit about the Bereavement campaign? How how do you go about you know,
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  taking part in something like that. I'm sure it's just through the through the
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  course of what it is that you get up to on a regular basis over
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  at the c MHA winsor Essex. But what does it look like? Yeah,
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  so we are very proud of our bereavement program. It's been around for
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  over fifty years. It's free of charge and it's available for children, youth
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  and adults. So it's unique in that sense. It's also unique in that
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  we have a bereavement program. Many MHAs do not. Yet. We know
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  grief and grieving are a part of everyone's lives at one point or another,
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  and so capitalizing on you know, our knowledge base and some of the expertise
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  that we have, we were asked to create materials that could be used by
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  other branches on a variety of topics, so everything from you know, if
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  you're a parent that's lost a child to losing a spouse to losing someone to
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  suicide an overdose. So you know, every each one of those losses has
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  some unique pieces to them and how you grieve can look differently. Uh So
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  we put together some materials along with some educational support, some videos, and
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  they're all housed that c m h A Bereavement Dot c A and many of
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  the materials are free for anyone to access and you can download and take advantage.
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  And then there is a clinical portal that if clinicians wish to go a
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  little bit deeper on some of those subjects or topics, then they can be
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  granted access to use in their own practices. So it's really sharing our knowledge
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  base and some of the expertise that we have in Windsor in Essex County and
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  sharing that more broadly across the province. Well, I wasn't aware that other
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  cmhas didn't necessarily have bereavement programs. Fifty years kudos, incredibly impressive. That's
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  a heck of a run. I'm looking here at some of the materials and
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  how they deal with just you know, the emotional state and spiritual, physical,
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  social, and cognitive mind health. What is something I mean you were
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  talking briefly about it. But what are some things about bereavement that maybe someone
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  who hasn't experienced it as significantly yet, or maybe someone who hasn't been able
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  to process it yet, you think that someone should know. Well, I
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  think there's some stigma around death and dying and it can make a lot of
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  people uncomfortable to talk about it with someone. You go, you know,
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  you might go to the funeral or a memorial service, and you know there's
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  an outpouring of support, but then you know, if you've lost anyone,
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  you know, it can get quite quiet in the weeks and months that follow.
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  So I think it's looking at your own support network, doing things to
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  continue to care for yourself and also honor the memory and legacy of a loved
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  one. And it looks different for every individual. Some people can experience a
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  loss and you know, they go through that normal the normal stages of grief,
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  and they don't need or want anything beyond that. But for others,
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  they really have taken, you know, comfort in a group offering, or
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  you know, sometimes if it's a little bit more traumatic or complex than one
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  on one count might be something they need. So it really looks different for
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  everyone. But I think acknowledging the feelings you're having, knowing that a lot
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  of it is normal, and then you know, accessing or talking about it
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  and not being you know, afraid to do that. I know that trying
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  to eliminate the stigma from so many different aspects of mental health, and obviously
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  that's one of the forefront things that you do at the c MHA. But
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  eliminating it around stigma or helping to people overcome the stigma of it when it
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  comes to bereavement very very important because if you're not able to necessarily process that,
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  how can you really truly move beyond it? And you know exactly exactly
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  and you know, you know for anyone, but you know, when we
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  even look at children and youth, if they're not you know, dealing with
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  some of their feelings in the moment, then you know they'll show themselves that
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  that could sometimes lead to you know, depress or other mental illnesses or ailments
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  later in time. So, like all illnesses, it's best early intervention is
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  key. And you know, some of these webinars and sources of information the
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  website can all play roles in helping people along their journey. Absolutely well again,
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  congratulations to you to the whole team. Excellent stuff on the award.
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  Thank you for joining me. I really appreciate your time today, Kim.
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  Thank you all right Shares you have a great one. You too. Kim
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  Willis is the Director of Communications and Mental Health Promotion at the Canadian Mental Health
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  Association Windsor Essex branch, who has just led a province wide bereavement resources campaign
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  and has been recognized with a Platinum Creative Award. That campaign is now going
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  to be utilized provincially. Just really cool stuff.