Eleanor Haley and Litsa Williams, cofounders of What’s Your Grief?, have a lot in common. They both lost a parent, work as mental health professionals, and have a mission “to promote grief education, exploration, and expression in both practical and creative ways.” What’s Your Grief? manifests in many ways. It is a podcast, a website, a book, and a valuable resource for anyone grieving or supporting a grieving loved one, and for people in deathcare or health care fields who may have clients who are grieving. They also offer online courses such as Sorting Through a Loved One’s Belongings After Death and Exploring Grief Through Photography.
Through their community-driven site there are many opportunities to engage and share one’s personal experience of grief, whether through uploading a snapshot, sharing a short story, posting a recipe, or engaging with others via the blog posts. Their project Grief in Six Words displays short lines limited to six words from contributors who have distilled their grief to the essence; the entries read like a captured thought. Another project, Grief Secret, encourages people to release their fear, shame, sadness, or guilt around grief in a mailed postcard which is later posted on Instagram @griefsecret.
Visitors to the site can sort resources by “‘I am a grief professional,” “I am grieving,” and “I am supporting a griever.” Depending on the profile selected, users can find designed brochures to order for clients (professional), articles to help understand and process grief (griever), and tips on reading signs from a griever and packs of sympathy cards to mark the anniversary of a death (supporter). By creating What’s Your Grief?, Eleanor and Litsa offer a creative and exploratory way to process not only death but the many different ways grief shows up.