In our experience creativity, whether through the arts or simply attempting to do things differently can unlock doorways to the soul when experiencing tough times. The Loss Project is a social enterprise which embodies a creative approach to exploring significant life challenges, such as grief and loss, supporting communities across the UK and beyond.

Connecting people is hugely important especially when experiencing grief and tough times, which can be a very lonely experience. If your whole world has been turned upside down, it can feel like everyone else is carrying on as normal whilst you’re unsure of who you are anymore. There is also an underlying knowing which means if you’ve experienced a bereavement, you won’t have an awkward moment where someone doesn’t know what to do or say. There’s a baseline understanding in a group setting.

Our work to date has employed many creative methods including an online film project during the pandemic, a community development programme which saw participants starting slow stitch group for bereaved mothers, and community memorial trees using ribbons up in Liverpool. We’ve delivered creative writing workshops, collaging workshops, zine making and drawing to help people discover a way to express what can often be inexpressible.

An important part of our work is ensuring that there are different access points, not everybody feels comfortable talking, or has the language too, whilst others find some quieter time for reflection more important. You don’t always have to talk about grief in a grief session; sometimes people want a distraction, some respite or to have a bit of fun and there’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve also seen a shift in a desire to use physical activity, whether through dance or boxing to move through grief. Our work over the last five years has given us a range of insights into the importance of a creative approach to these stigmatised and difficult life experiences:

1. Creating gentle, open spaces with invitations rather than a prescription for how “to do grief” is appealing to many, especially if things have been particularly difficult. Creative pursuits have a wealth of benefits, allowing people to express themselves, connect with how they’re feeling, and slow down to be more mindful.
2. Creative approaches often enable more inclusive space using tools that anyone can engage with such as music and dance; this has been demonstrated in the range of diversity we’ve seen of public engagement.  The collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist, Annie Frost Nicholson, on a series of public realm art installations including the Fandangoe SKIP and DISCOTECA. These installations convert existing structure into beautiful art pieces, with a social purpose, to support people experiencing grief, loss or might need a boost for their wellbeing. We’ve used dancing at our Grief Raves to enable people spaces to remember their loved ones whilst dancing to songs of nostalgia. These gorgeous, gentle, open spaces give the opportunity to express feelings through your body, to shake out any grief, anxiety or sadness whilst sharing in a collective dance floor of joy, hope and togetherness. The Disco had more than sixteen countries songs represented in one week alone!
3. Enabling spaces with alternative methods like using boxing for bereavement or creating open spaces for the public to dance through their grief can be quite surprising as people often think of counselling and more traditional support services, however we’ve witnessed them to be powerful opportunities for people to release some of what’s been going on for them with a team of people who are highly skilled in facilitating them however they’re feeling that day.
4. Creative approaches can be done individually as well, with our Creative Bubble writing packs; including a series of journal prompts alongside a wellbeing package to encourage reflection and expression for the bereaved.