TAPESTRIES OF GRIEF
4 - 19 September 2021
What is Tapestries of Grief ?
Tapestries of Grief is a multi-platform ‘festival’ that combines virtual talks, face-to-face experiential workshops, and a community art exhibition
TALKS
Understand more about the grief experience and how to support someone who is grieving in this series of virtual talks by professionals and bereaved persons.
Date: 4 September 2021
Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
Different people can come into the journey of a dying person and experience grief and loss.
Through this panel sharing, we explore how even care professionals in the hospice setting need to acknowledge and recognise grief responses, and what it means for them to grieve.
How might they face their own grief in the losses that they encounter?
What can we learn from each other in our own need to grieve, regardless of the role we play, as a community of caregivers?
Come join our panel of care professionals who will share their grief experiences and how they cope with grief as part of a larger community of caregivers during a time of Covid-19.
About the speakers
Heng Xiao Wei, Doctor
Koh Tang En, Senior Medical Social Worker
Kay Chew Lin, Spiritual Care Counsellor
Jasmine Tsoi, Senior Occupational Therapist
Moderator
Ong Gillian, Senior Medical Social Worker/Senior Art Therapist
Dover Park Hospice
Date: 6 September 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm
Organ donation can be a challenging topic to raise with family members of a person who had just passed away.
The family is often in grief, struggling to accept the sudden loss of a loved one. The stakes are high as one donor can save up to seven lives, with families’ reactions ranging from gratitude for the opportunity to help others to distress of potentially causing harm to the deceased’s body.
This talk shares some of challenges faced by families during deceased donor organ donation and the processes put into place to help them through during this difficult period.
About the speaker
Mr Samsudin Nordin
Assistant Manager, National Organ Transplant Unit
Date: 9 September 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
When a loved one is dying, children may often be the forgotten voice in the family. They are likely to experience a disruption in their routines and difficult feelings arising from separation anxiety, fear of losing their loved ones, depression and poor family cohesion.
In this talk, we will be sharing our experiences with working with bereaved children and their families. The talk will cover how bereaved children are impacted by the death of their loved ones, the needs of the bereaved children, and how bereaved children can be supported in their grieving process. We hope that this talk will ultimately give a space for the voices of the bereaved children to be heard.
About the speakers
Esther Malar,
Assistant Senior Social Worker, Children's Cancer Foundation
Gabriela Gan,
Social Worker/Therapeutic Play Worker,
Children's Cancer Foundation
Date: 11 September 2021
Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
Losing one’s husband, whether through an illness or an accident, is a catastrophic loss. It’s losing one’s anchor, best friend, and provider. All the building blocks that were carefully built up over the years are completely shattered.
How do well-meaning relatives and friends help them at this time when they are most vulnerable. How do we help them. What do we say. How do we respond when they cry, or talk about self-harm. How long will their grief last.
Two widows who have walked this journey and now reach out to the bereaved will share their stories of pain and loss, and how, with renewed hope, they are now able to help and give hope to many others.
Wicare is a peer support group that provides a safe place for bonding, caring and healing as they share the same background and challenges, speak the same language, and are readily understood and accepted.
The sharing illustrates how through a supportive community, hope is rekindled, and members rediscover the courage and resilience to move on.
About the speakers
Lim Poh Hong,
Chariperson, Wicare
Joyce Lye,
Founder, Wicare
Date: 12 September 2021
Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
What makes suicide grief different from other forms of grief and losses? How do individuals make meaning in this grief journey? What helps in the grieving process?
Learn more about these questions and hear from individuals who have been impacted by suicide in their lives and learn about their experiences in coping with their grief.
About the speaker
Nathan Khor
Senior Counsellor, Samaritans of Singapore (SOS)
Bereaved mother
Bereaved spouse
Bereaved member of the community
Lived experiences to be shared by:
Date: 13 September 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm
Have you ever found yourself named as an executor in a Will? Or perhaps a parent passed away without a Will? What are the steps you need to take in the midst of the grief you are experiencing? Are there ways in which we can help our families better prepare for the inevitable?
The unexpected death of a loved one can occur in many different ways—leaving family members, friends and others to process the emotional aftermath. In the midst of the grief, there are unavoidable matters that have to be managed with a clear head.
Come join our talk, where our experts discuss the steps one has to take when a loved one departs, and learn to better prepare yourself or your loved ones for this difficult time. They will share real life examples, your legal rights, and how you can manage affairs of a deceased loved one, legally and emotionally.
About the speakers
Patrick Tan, Chief Executive Officer, Fortis Law Corporation
Chee Wai Yee, Senior Director, Grief Matters
Liyen Lim, Moderator
Date: 15 September 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm
Funerals help us say goodbye to our loved ones and to receive support for our grief, from the community of relatives, friends and colleagues. Yet, not many of us would think much of funerals unless we are faced with the death of our loved ones.
Learning about the role of funerals is part of death literacy. This talk will not only cover the importance and benefits of pre-planning for funerals, whether for ourselves or our loved ones but also the impact of funeral rituals which are reflective of the mourning culture in a society and have direct impact on the expressions of grief.
Come find out how embalming makes a difference in bereavement outcomes. Let the panel of speakers from the Association of funeral directors offer insights into the meaning of their work and its relation to the community at large.
About the speaker
Mr Ang Ziqian, Vice President, The Association of Funeral Directors Singapore (AFD)
Mr Darren Cheng, Treasurer, AFD
Ms Ang Jolie, Committee Member, AFD
Date: 17 September 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm
The process of grieving that occurs after a death is well-recognised and is a concept familiar to most people. However, the anticipatory grief that arises upon the diagnosis of terminal illness is often left unacknowledged and unaddressed. It can be a challenge to juggle the professional demands of work while coping with the life changes that occur when a loved one has a terminal illness - this includes the struggle to draw the boundaries between personal and professional matters and financial considerations when it comes to having to take unpaid leave. Returning to work after the loss of a loved one presents a new set of challenges as it reflects a return to routine life but with the difference of the loved one no longer being around.
The speaker shares her experience on her grief journey of losing her mother to cancer while balancing her career ambitions.
About the speaker
Chia Lingyi, Medical Officer
Currently a volunteer with the Singapore Hospice Council.
Date: 19 September 2021
Time: 10:00am-11:30am
The finality of the loss of a loved one is one of the hardest truths to bear. The resulting negative emotions weigh us down, becoming painful obstacles to overcome and move forward in life. We share our journey through grief and the growth we eventually found from suffering the loss of our children.
About the speaker
Valerie Lim, Co-Founder of Child Bereavement Support Singapore (CBSS), Bereaved Mother
Lionel Lim, CBSS Supporter, Bereaved Father
Sharanjit Dhaliwal, CBSS Supporter, Bereaved Mother
