Dr. Susan Cadell has been working with grief for the bulk of her academic career, but it was an evolution of study, rather than a decisive direction, over the last three decades. Cadell’s work has shifted focus several times, from caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS, to pediatric palliative care and memorial tattoos, but has maintained a link to grief and grieving. It’s no surprise, then, that her most recent work focuses on grief directly; Grief Matters is a not-for-profit, Canadian organization that welcomes all types of grief, with the goal of increasing understanding and making room for grief.
Grief Matters, co-founded by Cadell and Mary Ellen Macdonald, uses creative, community-based activities to explore and share grief. The nature of grief is complex; while it is universal (we all experience it), it is also personal, and each experience of grief is unique to the individual. That’s why Grief Matters uses the grief literacy framework to centre their work. In simple terms, grief literacy imagines a world that “gets” grief.
There are a few basic principles: grief is a part of life, grief is whatever the griever says it is, grief belongs in public spaces, and it takes a village to advance grief literacy. With all of this in mind, it’s important to build social spaces that are inclusive and safe for grievers – which is where Grief Matters comes in.
Among the activities facilitated by Grief Matters is something called a Grief Gathering. These informal gatherings bring people together around grief: it might be a silent walk or painting rocks or a discussion group. Many people find comfort in knowing that they’re not alone in their grief, and these gatherings provide an opportunity to connect and share with others. Grief Matters provides support, but they leave the running of individual events up to the organizers. In a way, you may say each Grief Gathering is as unique as the experiences of the people in attendance.
Cadell’s search for the words to talk about grief started in the mid-1990s with the deaths of five friends, all gay men who died of HIV-related causes. “I know from Rob, Doyle, Jean Pierre, Bill, and Greg, that grief matters,” says Cadell. One of the challenges for Cadell was finding language that fit with her experiences. “I had no language to describe what I was going through,” she explains. “This is one of the reasons it was important to me that we defined grief literacy and one of my principal reasons for beginning Grief Matters.”
Why is grief so difficult to talk about? Though she has been asking this same question for decades, according to Cadell, it’s because the subject is still largely taboo and, as a result, we still don’t know a lot about it. “We never learn about grief, how it might or will happen to us, or how to talk to people who are grieving,” says Cadell. “We used to have social rituals after a death, but many have moved away from those practices.”
Myths about grief persist, according to Cadell, and there are still ideas about how someone should grieve, how long it should last, and how to do it “well.” But, she explains, grief is far more complex. “It is about much more than death: it can happen when we lose a job, an opportunity, or a relationship,” says Cadell. “Grief can even happen around happy circumstances, because most gains involve some kind of loss or change.”
What’s clear is that grief and grieving is anything but straightforward. Grief is messy, personal, emotional - and an essential part of the human experience.
For more information on Grief Matters, and Susan Cadell’s work, visit griefmatters.ca.
2025 Renison Reports
This is part of the 2025 Renison Reports publication. Return to the Renison Reports page for other articles.