Grieving Alone and Together: Responding to the loss of your loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic

As you know, hospital visitations, travel, and gatherings were all severely restricted. You may have been prevented from visiting the person who was dying, traveling to be near the person or other loved ones, and even holding a funeral (or the service you wanted). And others may have been unable to visit you and offer their support in person.

No matter the cause of the death, these exceptional circumstances no doubt made things even more distressing for you and your family. It is likely that you are still grieving and finding life challenging.

The information in this booklet will help you better understand your unique grief and the care that you’ll need for yourself and your family (including children) in the months, even years, to come. In the short-term, it will also help you plan to best meet your family’s needs to grieve, mourn, and support one another.

Remember, there is no rulebook for what we experienced during the pandemic. You did and are doing the best you can, given the situation. So is everyone else. Be kind to yourself, and though the stress of traumatic grief can certainly make it difficult, try to be patient with others.

Perhaps the one “rule” is to be open and honest as you share your thoughts and feelings with friends and family. Expressing your inner grief is called mourning, and over time and with the support of others, mourning – bit by bit, day by day – is how you begin to integrate this tragic loss into your life. You may only now, have begun to grieve.

And please hold onto hope. Even as you are grieving, the people and activities that help you feel hopeful about the future are a lifeline right now. Look to them for comfort and connection.

Losing a loved one is hard under normal circumstances and experiencing the loss of your loved one during the pandemic was extraordinarily difficult. As you begin your grief journey, I encourage you to reflect on memories with your loved one and the particular gifts they brought to your life. We do not get over grief, we get through it. It is important that we honour our dead and share our grief into the future. This pandemic will eventually end, but our love for those we have lost will not. After a death, we move forward into a world that has changed personally and permanently, but we do not leave our loved ones behind. We carry them with us, with the knowledge that our bonds cannot be broken, even by death