Elephants & Empathy CIC

18/10/2023

Just because someone seems ok, doesn't mean they are. No one's a mind reader of course, but bear this in mind, especially when you know someone's bereaved and you assume they're ok now. Grief doesn't always look like you think it does. It shifts and shapes and hides and is disguised. Grievers are masters of masking - it's a survival technique. Another that you're lucky if you don't know.

10/06/2023

When a group really clicks and bonds in just one day, it restores your faith in humanity. can be a lonely place, so when you're with others who just get it, it can really help. No AI can ever replace the power of people! 🐘❤️

01/06/2023

If you are & would like to have a day with others who just get it, book your place now on what might be our last group for some time. Say the things you might not be able to say to anyone else, be truly heard in your . 🐘❤

18/04/2023

Such a lovely way to spend a Saturday! With the fabulous group at in the . Thanks so much for having us. What an honour to share that time with you and witness such and amongst each other. Made me proud to have Bootle roots! 🐘❤️

31/10/2022

Our first officially and workshop (Part 1) took place on Friday at 's beautiful space. It was an absolute honour to facilitate the group's sharing and to witness a c***k of lightness in the heaviness of their grief. 🐘❤️

18/10/2022

TWO spaces have become available! Get in touch asap as it starts this Friday, 21st Oct.
[email protected]

10/09/2022

It's . It's another chance to stop. Reflect. What can we do that can make a difference to someone? It's hard to hear 'You're not alone' when you feel alone. Thinking especially today of anyone who's struggling and those who have lost loved ones to su***de. If you yourself are struggling, please . 🐘❤️
***deawareness ***deprevention

05/09/2022

Not feeling better with time is in grief. This is very common, but it still surprises both grieving and non-grieving folks. You aren't alone if you feel worse as the date of your person's death (or other life-altering event) gets farther away, if you feel like everyone else has forgotten, like no one ever talks about them anymore.⁣
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Because we don't talk about what grief is really like, people expect that they (or the grieving people in their lives) should "feel better" after such-and-such amount of time. Give them a month, 6 months, or 1 year and they'll "get over it" or "move on" and feel better. But that's just not reality.⁣
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If you find that the farther away from the date of your loss, the worse you feel - you aren't doing grief "wrong." Grief is part of love and you're a human who loves someone. ⁣
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One of the reasons it's so common to feel worse over time is because support drops off while our need for support stays the same. There are people who were instrumental in helping me survive early on who eventually moved back into their own, intact lives. Good people will show up as they can, for as long as they can. That they leave is not a failure, even though it hurts. ⁣
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Again we circle back to how important it is to have people with whom you can share the truth of your experience - no matter how recent or distant the date of your loss - and have that truth acknowledged and validated. Online communities of grieving people can give the support and attention that non-grieving people simply can't.⁣
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Now, as always, the very best place I know to connect YOU with other grieving folks is inside the community. These folks understand and honor the importance of talking about your person. Visit refugeingrief.com/wyg to join our next session.⁣
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How about you? How do you feel the farther you get from the date of your loss?⁣

31/08/2022

Elephants & Empathy honours all those we've loved and lost. We keep their ripples flowing. We say their name. Elephants & Empathy is not about 'closure' or 'moving on' and 'getting over'. We are about learning to live alongside our grief, because grief is love with nowhere to go.

Happy Birthday Craig. We love you always. 🐘❤️

27/08/2022

This 🐘❤️

Maybe you're here because someone is dead. I'm here because someone is dead. Maybe you've come because life has irrevocably changed—through accident or illness, through violent crime or act of nature.

How random and fragile life can be.

If you've found yourself here, in this life you didn't ask for, in this life you didn't see coming, I'm sorry. I can't tell you it will all work out in the end. I can't tell you things will be just fine.

You are not "OK." You might not ever be "OK."

Whatever grief you're carrying, it's important to acknowledge how bad this is, how hard. It really is horrendous, horrifying, and unsurvivable.

This place is not about fixing you, or fixing your grief. Our work is not about making you "better" or getting you back to "normal." This is about how you live inside your loss. How you carry what cannot be fixed. How you survive.

And even though that thought—that you CAN survive something as horrifying as this—is unsettling and horrifying in its own right, the truth is, you will most likely survive.

Your survival in this life post-loss won't follow steps or stages, or align with anyone else's vision of what life might be for you. Survival won't be found, can't be found, in easy answers or in putting your lost life behind you, pretending you didn't really want it anyway.

In order to survive, to find that life that feels authentic and true to you, we have to start telling the truth. This really is as bad as you think. Everything really is as wrong, and as bizarre, as you know it to be. When we start there, we can begin to talk about living with grief, living inside the love that remains.

I am so sorry you have need of this place, and I'm so glad you're here.

22/08/2022

We're back from our summer rest with some BIG NEWS! We have been successful in bidding for £8.3K of funding from The National Lottery, which means ALL SYSTEMS GO! Coming VERY soon: our first official face-to-face workshop dates for community groups in Liverpool. Get in touch with our Founder Chell to reserve a place on: 07502 222078 or [email protected] 🐘❤️

Thank you and

18/07/2022

Whether you are an individual looking for support with your own grief or how to help someone else who's grieving, or a business looking to learn how to be ready to support bereaved colleagues, call us now on 07502 222078 or email [email protected], to find out more! 🐘❤️