Reflections on “Grief Literacy in the Community” : A Life Review panel discussion
“Grief is everything we think and feel inside of us whenever our attachments are threatened, changed, or broken.”
At The Life Review, we believe that conversations about grief are essential to the health and resilience of our communities. Grief is universal, but too often it remains hidden - wrapped in silence, stigma, or discomfort. By creating spaces to talk about loss, we open the door to compassion, connection, and shared understanding.
As part of Mental Wellness Week 2025 at The Foundry, we hosted a panel discussion on “Grief Literacy in the Community.” The session was moderated by our founder, Ming Li Tan, who invited speakers representing diverse perspectives on grief - from trauma work to education and caregiving
Who was at the table ?
Ruth Chew – Principal Social Worker at AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre, with 18 years of experience across family violence, suicidality, and mental health.
Jacqueline Toh – Principal Counsellor at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), with more than 18 years of experience in student wellness and systemic strategies for holistic care.
Roger Pua - Part-time lecturer at Nanyang Business School, author of “Sundays Are for Mummy”. In 2020, he left his corporate career leading communications and brand teams at American multinationals to care for his mother with dementia.
Moderator Ming Li Tan - Founder, The Life Review. Trained as an End-of-Life Doula, Ming Li brings both professional and personal commitment to helping communities face death, dying and grief with compassion.
“Silence around grief carries hidden mental health costs”
The silence around grief
Too often, grief is shrouded in silence and stigma. Even when well-intentioned, many struggle to know what to say or do, leaving the bereaved feeling isolated. The panelists highlighted that unacknowledged grief can surface later as depression, anxiety, or other mental health struggles. By talking openly, communities can replace silence with compassion and isolation with connection.
Creating grief-aware environments in workplaces, schools, and community spaces ensures that loss is recognised and support offered without judgment. This not only benefits individuals but strengthens the mental well-being of society as a whole. Grief literacy offers a framework of knowledge, reflection, and compassionate values to help people navigate loss with empathy.
“Grief is not a problem to be fixed; it’s a process to be supported.”
The Complexity of Grief
Grief is multifaceted and complex. It extends beyond bereavement to include non-death losses like the loss of identity, safety, health, dreams, or purpose. Survivors of trauma may grieve the loss of their sense of safety. Caregivers may grieve the fading of a loved one with dementia, or the future they once imagined together. These overlooked losses carry profound emotional weight.
Grief can also defy timelines, resurfacing unexpectedly through a song, a scent, or an ordinary moment. This unpredictability underscores the need for safe spaces where people can express grief without judgment or pressure to “move on.”
Grief and Mental Health
Unprocessed grief often fuels downstream mental health issues. Addressing grief early and compassionately, through awareness, education, and support, is a vital form of upstream mental health prevention.
Grief Literacy*: A New Concept?
Many in the audience were unfamiliar with the term “grief literacy” highlighting the need for greater awareness and education in the community. Societal pressure to “move on” compounds the problem, leaving grievers feeling guilty or inadequate. Attempts to “fix” grief by offering unhelpful suggestions often miss the mark, when silence and presence can be more powerful.
Workplaces, in particular, remain a challenging frontier. While some organisations show flexibility, many lack structured support and coordinated systems, leaving grieving employees dependent on the discretion of their managers.
True grief literacy requires cultural change - shifting from reactive sympathy to proactive, sustained support.
“Sometimes, the most helpful thing you can do is simply be present.”
Practical Approaches to Grief Literacy
The panelists offered several practical approaches to fostering grief literacy within communities, consolidated into five key points:
Empower the grieving with agency: Respect the choices of those grieving by allowing them to process their emotions in their own way and at their own pace. Offer support on their terms, whether they need space, conversation, or rituals.
Balance compassion with life’s realities: Acknowledge that grief has no timeline while creating flexible systems in schools, workplaces, and communities to help individuals reintegrate into the necessities of daily life without feeling rushed or unsupported.
Foster emotional, somatic and spiritual awareness: Recognize that grief impacts emotions, the body, and the spirit. Equip individuals with tools like emotional literacy, somatic practices (e.g., breathing or movement), and existential exploration to process grief holistically.
Normalize collective grieving: Create safe spaces for shared grief in schools, workplaces, and communities. Memorials, group discussions, or shared rituals can foster connection and reduce isolation.
Educate and build awareness: Promote grief literacy through early education, starting with children and teenagers, to normalise conversations about both death and non-death losses. Train student leaders and communities to recognise and respond to grief with empathy, compassion, and understanding.
These approaches emphasise the importance of creating a culture and ecosystem where grief is acknowledged, supported, and integrated into the fabric of community life.
Moving Forward
The panel discussion concluded with an invitation for continued dialogues, for individuals and organisations to embrace grief literacy as a vital component of mental wellness.
This involves not only educating ourselves about grief but also taking proactive steps to support those who are grieving. Whether it’s through small acts of kindness, offering a listening ear, or co-creating grief-informed spaces in schools and workplaces. Each of us, whether as friends, colleagues, family members, or leaders, can play a role in building a more compassionate and grief-literate society.
“If you had a magic wand...
how would you change the way communities support each other through grief?”
*References
Breen, L. J., Kawashima, D., Joy, K., Cadell, S., Roth, D., Chow, A., & Macdonald, M. E. (2020). Grief literacy: A call to action for compassionate communities. Death Studies, 46(2), 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1739780