We are very excited to announce that we have received a travel fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for THE GOOD GRIEF PROJECT to make a documentary film in the USA and Mexico about how bereaved parents are finding new, creative and (some may say) healthier ways of grieving for a son or daughter who has died.
We are Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds (psychotherapist and film maker). Our son Josh died in January 2011 while travelling in SE Asia. He was 22. Our grief for Josh is ever present and since his death we have thrown ourselves into a number of different projects that provide comfort for us but also, we hope, for others too, especially those who are also grieving or wanting to know more about what bereavement means in jimmy and jane on train contemporary society.
We’d be delighted if you would like to help fund THE GOOD GRIEF PROJECT. In doing so you will be helping to bring much comfort to bereaved parents and a greater understanding of what it means to survive the death of a child.
Based on the ideas that flow from the concept of ‘continuing bonds’ we are keen to research the many creative ways families are choosing to work through their grief. Bereaved parents both here and in the States (and in the western world in general) have found that it is just not possible to continue living what might be called a normal life, without maintaining a meaningful and on going relationship with their dead child. But in a culture where grief dare not speak its name, this is such a big ask and many bereaved parents often find themselves isolated from family and friends who find our grief disturbing and uncomfortable.
This doesn’t have to be so. Whether you ‘move on’ or continue to hold your child close to your heart, there seems to be no end of information and advice about the best way to grieve. But as one contributor in our film SAY THEIR NAME wisely observed
“grief is about love. And no one can tell you what you need to do because it is about love and it’s about your unique relationship with that person who’s died and only you can possibly find the right symbols or metaphors or things that express that. No-one can lecture you, you can’t read a book that tells you. It comes from within that stuff …”
The Good Grief Project is about discovering some of that stuff that comes from within.
We will be travelling by road across the States during late August, September and early October 2015. Our exact itinerary will be determined by the stories we select though we must be in Mexico for the weeks leading up to Dias de Muertos on November 1st. On our return we will be editing our footage in the New Year in preparation for the documentary’s release and distribution in the spring 2016.
The Good Grief Project already has generous and financial support of THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST (they fund overseas travel and research for British citizens who are enabled to bring back best practice for the benefit of their community or profession in the UK) and THE JESSICA MATHERS TRUST (a bereavement charity based in South London). This amounts just half of the total budget, (principally travel and accommodation), and we do need more in order to complete the film production to the highest possible standard. We have also been endorsed by The Compassionate Friends, Cruse Bereavement, The National Council for Palliative Care and Dying Matters.
But we also need your support. We are looking for an extra £5000 in order pay crew and production costs in order for us to be able to proceed to completion.
And how ever much you feel like donating, and no amount is too small, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You will be contributing to a really important idea that both the bereaved and the non bereaved can share –
See more at: THE GOOD GRIEF PROJECT | BEYOND GOODBYE