Title: Connected Through Grief: A Community-Based Grief Literacy Initiative in Rural Nova Scotia
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Description: Thisis a community-based program is designed to reduce social isolation and strengthen grief literacy among adults experiencing grief across the Tri-County region of Nova Scotia (Yarmouth, Digby, and Shelburne). The initiative recognizes grief as encompassing both death-related losses (e.g., bereavement) and non-death-related losses (e.g., illness, aging, divorce, and major life transitions), with the goal of fostering social connection and compassionate community responses to grief.
Delivered in partnership with Circles of Grief, a registered Nova Scotia society based in Clare, the program builds on an established volunteer-led model of community grief gatherings. Over a one-year period, the project will expand this model by delivering six facilitated grief gatherings across the Tri-County region, alongside three grief education sessions led by Dr. Mary Ellen Macdonald, co-founder of Grief Matters. The education sessions will focus on increasing public understanding of grief, developing skills to support oneself and others, and building more grief-informed communities through interactive, discussion-based learning.
Participant feedback collected through pre- and post-session surveys will be used to refine program delivery and improve accessibility, relevance, and community impact. By expanding access to peer support and grief education in underserved rural communities, the project aims to reduce loneliness, improve access to community-based grief supports, and strengthen community capacity to respond compassionately to grief.
Funding: The project is supported by the Reciprocity Health Fund with $29,087 in funding.
The Death and Grief Research Collaborative 