Learning to Live in a World Without a Loved One
How can we cope with loss and navigate the grieving process?
By
Lucy Hone
| June 2, 2021
Coping with the loss of a loved one is hard at the best of times. At the worst of times, as COVID-19 continues to ravage the planet, it can be even harder to bear. Not only has the virus caused the unexpected, sudden deaths of so many, but the circumstances accompanying those deaths—and the limitations the pandemic placed on mourners—have made the grieving process that much harder to navigate.
In my capacity as co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, I’ve been working with companies around the world to support the resilience of their teams throughout the pandemic. The multitude of grief stories has been harrowing. Only this week I spoke to a client whose work colleague had lost four members of his family to the virus. I’ve also spent time supporting a family whose husband/father was dying in a care home, after COVID restrictions had prevented them from seeing and touching him for over a year. Every training webinar we run, every breakout room I sit in, tales of sadness, isolation, and loss dominate.