Grief Dreams Newsletter Summer 2017

Grief Dreams Newsletter

Summer 2017

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams ~Eleanor Roosevelt (She must have had a comforting grief dream)

Thank you for your interest in the grief dreams newsletter! We have lots of exciting news to share!

Joshua Black has been very busy since the last newsletter promoting the topic of grief dreams and completing research. Since the last newsletter, he has been interviewed on different live radio shows and podcasts (see full list on www.griefdreams.ca under media/articles). Joshua was able to discuss how to approach grief dreams with clients at a mandatory volunteer bereavement training session. This was exciting for Joshua as it has been a goal of his to get the topic incorporated in the training of new volunteers. Additionally, Joshua is helping organize the 2nd Annual Children’s Grief Awareness Event at Brock University on November 18th.

Good News for Grief Dreams!

Here is a list of movies released within the last year that have grief dreams in it…

War of the Planet of the Apes (2017) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) Beauty and the Beast (2017) King Arthur (2017) The Shack (2017) Ghost in a Shell (2017) Manchester by the Sea (2016) Collateral Beauty (2016) Pete’s Dragon (2016) Note: The Dark Tower (2017) mentions the topic

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Lorem Ipsum

Grief Dream Story Submission About 10 years ago I lost my

In my dream I found myself

best friend. The type of friend you

back in my grade 1 class. All of my

look up to, is the life of the party, in a

friends and buddies were there and

band, in the army traveling the world,

we were all kids again. I was seeing

and someone whom always seemed

one old friend after another in this

happy. We were best buddies since we

classroom setting. I knew I was

were in primary school. I was his best

dreaming and I knew my deceased

man at his wedding. Well I guess I

best friend could be there (like

was wrong… he unfortunately

everyone else). I looked and looked.

committed suicide 2 years after his

I then turned around and he was

wedding. To this day I have no idea

sitting directly behind me with the

why. I felt like he had everything.

most amazing smile. He gave me a

I really did not take his death very well. I used alcohol or drugs (whatever I could get my hands on) to numb the pain. I was walking through life like a numb zombie. Thankfully, I had a wife that kept me from taking it

thumb up…like he was telling me he was ok. I should mention he was an adult in the dream. He was approximately 35, which was his actual age when he passed away.

The dream felt so real! It was

to a dangerous level. However, I was

so vivid! I can still see his smile. I

numbing the pain everyday. I was just

woke up that morning feeling

done… like nothing made me smile.

incredible… like I had a new lease

Then I had a dream!

on life. I felt joy again! I got my shit together after that. The dream helped me out of my darkest days.

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The Grief Dreams Podcast has shown great success over the last 43 episodes, with over 4500 downloads. The

We want to hear from

podcast continues to grow with each episode as awareness expands. There is a new episode each week.

To record so many episodes we included a guest host (Jade Black) to fill in periodically when Joshua or Shawn are away to tend to other tasks. The podcast episodes are featured on iTunes, iHeartRadio, PodBean.com, Stitcher, Overcast, and many other podcast platforms (just search Grief Dreams).

you!

If you are interested in being a guest on our Grief Dreams Podcast or have your story featured in our newsletter, please forward us your story and what you would like to share!

You can submit any inquiries to griefdreams@gmail.com

Editors: Jade Black, MA Joshua Black, PhD (student)

Grief dreams newsletter

Summer 2017

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Grief Dreams is on now on Instagram and Twitter (under the handle @griefdreams). Follow us for grief and bereavement related content intended to both raise awareness and inspire!

Also, if you are not already aware we have a group on Facebook titled Grief Dreams. We use the space to share stories of loss and inspire each other to move forward in healing. Please feel free to join us there!

Newsletter subscriptions are FREE. To subscribe visit our website www.griefdreams.ca

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Research Updates Joshua is currently writing a manuscript based on two studies that investigated what factors predict dreaming of the deceased. Additionally, Joshua (in collaboration with Aubrey McCann and Dr. Kathy Belicki) have just finish collecting data on dreams after a loss of a miscarriage/still birth (from both partners). Next he will be exploring what factors predict having a negative vs. a positive dream of the deceased.

New Researcher Studying Grief Dreams: Isaac Taitz, M.S., is a 4th-year graduate student at Palo Alto University. While conducting a rotation in pediatric assessment for ADHD and Autism at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, he will be conducting a study on the cultural differences of bereavement dreams to see whether our bereavement dream themes change across differences in race, religion, and gender. The night before defending his proposal to conduct the study, he recalled a lucid bereavement dream! He will be conducting the study online through MTurk to solicit the many different dreamers all over the US. Stay tuned for the results!