Grief Awareness Day

Where did Grief Awareness Day Come From?

I wanted to mention that today, August 30, 2024 is Grief Awareness Day. Grief is an experience after a loss that has mental, emotional, and physical components. It’s important to recognize when you are in grief and to be mindfully and intentionally aware.

National Grief Awareness Day, also known as National Bereavement Day, is honored annually on  August 30th. In 2014 Angie Cartwright initiated the day inspired by the loss of many of her loved ones. The intention of the day is to raise awareness of the different ways in which grief can manifest in our lives. 

Honoring National Grief Awareness Day is an opportunity to recognize the range of grief and coping. There are multiple types of losses and grieving experiences. 

Grief as a Co-occurring Disorder with Substance Abuse Disorder and Mental Health

As a highly trained and  specialized substance use disorder clinician, I view grief as a co-occurring issue which I address in a recent video.

Grief is not exclusive to the death of a person. It can also emerge from:

1. Changes in identity
2. Job loss and change
3. Being diagnosed with a chronic illness
4. Pet death
5. Financial impact: bankruptcy, foreclosure, eviction
6. Changes in friendships
7. Quitting substances and/or other unhealthy coping
8. Pregnancy loss
9. Divorce, separation, breakup
10. Transitions like a becoming an empty nester or even a child leaving home
11. Developmental milestones in children: when your baby becomes a toddler, or attends school
12. A physical move
13. The loss and change associated with not drinking or using anymore (this changes people, places, and things)

If you are experiencing grief, it’s important to be aware, mindful, and intentional. Grief can show up physically impacting sleep, appetite, and immunity. It can show up mentally with repeated thoughts. It can show up emotionally with sadness, confusion, lack of clarity and reduced motivation. Know that grief, mourning, and bereavement are often accompanied by secondary losses. A death may impact finances, so will a divorce. A loss of a child will create a loss of identity. 

Some things to consider in addressing grief:

1. Join a support group. Research shows that social support and connectedness are helpful.
2. Practice excellent self-care in ways that nourish you.
3. Consider specialized professional support.
4. Consider developing a simple ritual to respect and honor your grief
5. Allow the process; Don’t try to hurry your way out of it. 

For more information, content, support, and tools on how to manage executive stress and enjoy life without drugs, alcohol, or over-relying on unhealthy coping, subscribe and check out my description for a link to a free workbook on managing stress to help stop drinking. 

• For those experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988
• For those experiencing abuse, please contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

**Person-centered language note: As a leading clinician in substance use disorder assessment, treatment, and recovery, I am committed to elevating the language around mental health and substance use disorder. This means I will use “alcohol use disorder” rather than “alcoholic.” It means I will use “person with a substance use disorder” rather than “addict.” I minimize my use of the term addiction because it carries stigma, often people have their own relationship with the word accompanied with misinformation. I use the term recurrence or return to use rather than relapse. However, it’s important that people searching for help get connected with services that benefit them. In this regard, people are not searching “am I a person with a substance use disorder?” They are searching “am I an addict?” They do not search, “can a high functioning person have an alcohol use disorder?” They search “am I a high functioning alcoholic.” They don’t search “treatment for people who have a recurrence” but do search “how do I stop being a chronic relapser?” As such, I want to affirm people with substance use disorders with my care, which includes language but I also need to structure my business in a way that google searches find my material.