A TRIO of women have launched an initiative to help grieving South Africans toward a path of healing by exploring their feelings and talking to others.
On Tuesday, South Africa joined the rest of the international community in commemorating National Grief Awareness Day.
In a country with a high murder rate and excess natural deaths of over 300 000 recorded since the pandemic. leaving many South Africans grieving the loss of a loved one, the trio was inspired to lend a hand.
Author of The Grief Handbook, Bridget McNulty, artist Clare Louise Thomas and healthcare strategist and academic, Shivani Ranchod, launched an online grief course to help guide people through their pain.
"An annual day where we focus on grief gives us the opportunity to normalize that there's no right or wrong way to do grief, it takes as long as it takes, and you are not alone in the experience," said McNulty.
Death and grieving are still taboo subjects in many communities and with the Covid-19 pandemic claiming tens of thousands of lives over the last two years, McNulty believed that society was faced with a lot of unresolved trauma.
"Many people lost their loved ones in difficult circumstances. They were not able to say goodbye properly, or hold a funeral, or grieve the way they needed to," she said.
"Grief is inevitable - it's the one thing each of us is guaranteed to experience. Yet we're so awkward around it. We don't know what to say or do, or how to help someone who is grieving. So what ends up happening is that people feel like they have to get over it as quickly as possible, or pretend that they're feeling better, when they're not.
The online grief course provides an opportunity for people to have conversations around grief, and provide support to those who are grieving.
"We're offering it on a donation basis, so that everyone can have access. It's an empathetic, gentle guide through grief. It's self-paced, there are zero expectations or requirements, and no assessments. It's really just a way to come to terms with your grief in a supported environment," said McNulty.
Thomas defined grief as an invitation into a kind of intimacy with ourselves as well as our recently departed loved ones;
"It's both an opportunity to mourn, and honour and celebrate a life gone by. If we can, it’s also a chance to reflect on our own relationships with being alive and the inevitability of our death," she said.
"So often we are uncomfortable or awkward around grief and so we gloss over talking about the process with those who are going through it. We expect them to put on a happy face because we don’t know what else to do.
The course is available online at www.griefcourse.com