For more than a decade, numerous comfort organizations and grief specialists have been building the #mourningrevolution.
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This gentle movement represents a warmer, more personal way of saying goodbye. From lots of angles, we sense that something is moving in the grief landscape. And we are happy to put our shoulders to the wheel. On this page, we like to highlight these organizations.
#mourningrevolution
Atelier ik (Lesley Vermeyen)
Grief therapist and teacher Lesley Vermeyen, along with her husband, makes cemeteries child-friendly with serene, respectful and, above all, very poetic interventions. These "play works of art" are based on in-depth research about grief processing and handmade to suit the location. Vzw Reveil is big fan of Lesley Vermeyen's work and believes she is an important link in a gentle grief revolution.
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BOVEN DE WOLKEN
Boven De Wolken is a non-profit organization that supports parents when they lose their baby. They do this by giving them tangible memories and assisting them during those first difficult moments. Their professional photographers do this for free, with heart and soul, with love for precious memories and with respect for them and their baby. The photos are a lasting memory that will never fade. Photos of their baby, of their new family. Photos that help them learn to live with the loss of their child. Photos that they can proudly show to everyone, because star parents are also proud parents.
BERREFONDS
Berrefonds wants to be a handhold for (grand)parents, family and friends when the unthinkable happens to them: the loss of a child. In recent years, they have developed a wide offer to help you in a way that suits you best. On their website, you can discover their operation and use the phrases at the top to look for the information you need today in a focused way.
Rouw- en verliescafé Vlaanderen
The Grief and Loss Café offers a new, casual way to bring people together around a difficult topic: loss. Everyone is welcome to attend. After all, loss excludes no one; sooner or later we all face it. At a Mourning and Loss Café there is time, attention and space for loss in an atmosphere of trust and conviviality. Hence the metaphor of a café: nothing has to be done, just being there, having a cup of coffee and listening is already okay. The Mourning and Loss Café meets four to five times a year in different places in Flanders (Temse, Bruges, Ghent, Denderleeuw,...), each time about a different theme.
FARA
Fara is a non-profit organization that makes pregnancy choices discussable. Have you ever made a choice and are struggling with it? Then Fara is there for you. You can and may experience loss at something you chose. Both with pregnancy loss after termination for pscyho-social or medical reasons, and with parenthood "different than expected. The Fara team offers a warm listening ear, professional guidance and contact with fellow sufferers. They also currently have a comfort campaign "Forever in my heart" ongoing from people who found support there.
AVANSA
A year ago, Avansa started the project "a contemporary farewell ritual. In this project, they started from the need to say goodbye or commemorate a goodbye together in diverse communities. More and more, live/work communities are diversely composed. In all times, in all cultures, people make use of rituals to reflect together with others at important moments on that which is difficult to grasp, where connection with others is very important.
BEYOND THE SPOKEN (Barbara Raes)
Beyond The Spoken seeks to give recognition to the big and small "tipping moments" in life and helps to guide that transition well. This can include positive events, as well as unrecognized tipping moments. All rituals are customized. For the form, Beyond The Spoken collaborates with artists from various disciplines. They start from your personal story and look for the right approach that fits your process of change. Beyond The Spoken finds it important that every choice made is in line with the objective of the ritual. Aftercare is always provided for this often intense experience.
VERLIESKUNST (Babet Te Winkel)
After the death of her mother, Babet te Winkel finds little guidance in the existing language surrounding grief. The work of American psychotherapist Megan Devine did offer it, and led her to the realization that we desperately need a new grief dictionary. So Babet was on a mission to create a new (visual) language for loss, because we can't stop at "words fall short. She creates this new visual language, among other things, in the form of Loss Cards, an alternative to traditional condolence cards.
Lost & Co
Lost & Co is for youth and adults who feel lost at times: for those who have lost someone dear to them or for those who have lost themselves due to illness, such as cancer, depression or burnout. At Lost & Co, you get to share your story with a "companion" who knows what it's like or you do something that feels virtuous (something sporty, creative, something sweet). You choose who or what suits you and it costs you nothing. This is how many of us together give loss a golden edge.
Amfora
Amfora provides a language for naming farewell and death. Incurably ill and elderly people who know their lives are coming to an end often feel the need to talk about it, although for many this is not easy. We conduct Amphora interviews ourselves, but we especially want to share our expertise through multi-day training and education for healthcare professionals and volunteers. Participants learn how to bring out a story in people during an interview. They incorporate that story into a booklet as a lasting and tangible reminder for the next of kin. In this way an end-of-life interview has a connecting effect beyond death.
YOT
YOT is a lab for life philosophy, located in the Magdalene Church in Bruges. Eline Van Steenkiste works there on "new rituals." The search for a new language of mourning is an important part of this. For example, at YOT they designed the "small remembrance ritual for home. With the ritual box, you give words to loss, make a gesture in tribute and gently recall memories.