The interconnection between being a student and dealing with grief and the correlation of knowing no one is alone.
Students need to know that having conversations like these does not make them weak but can help them rediscover the beauty of life once again.
Ava Corbet, a first-year Social Justice student at Humber, said she felt very shocked that it could happen to someone close to her age when an acquaintance died in a car crash early last week.
"The fact he was my age and it can happen to anyone. I was really shocked," Corbet said. He was 18 years old when he died. "Whenever I sit, I think this could happen any day," Corbet said.
People aren't supposed to die so young, she said.
But in the face of grief, beauty can be found.
"His girlfriend was saying he used to love looking at sunsets and every day I have been seeing the most beautiful sunsets and can not stop thinking about what happened," Corbet said.
When a family member or friend dies, no guide or book is telling you what to do or how you should act.
My grandfather Nino D'Angelo died in July. He was 82, it was a difficult time for my family and it changed the course of our lives.
It happened so fast and so unexpectedly.
He will never be forgotten and his memory will always be cherished. Nevertheless, this is a time when everyone is learning and adjusting to the void in their way.
It is common to feel disconnection after experiencing traumatic grief, as well as loss.
When we are aware that a student is suffering from a loss, we can give them support and reassure them that they are not alone.
I was fortunate enough to have such a caring system and reinforcement around me, some can’t say the same.
Sharing compassion and genuine support will help anyone going through loss to know that they are not isolated.
“Nothing puts a person’s support system to the test quite like a crisis,” Eleanor Haley said on her website What's Your Grief.
"A person often sees their support system accurately for the very first time," Haley said.
"Many grieving people find that changes and disappointments within their support system become a secondary loss," she said.
I found that surrounding myself with people who truly wanted the best for me has been very moving.
I now understand that grief is a universal experience and when we connect it is better. It's all about giving in to connection, communication and celebration.
