Strong response for grief seminars in Steinbach

Birchwood Funeral Chapel Co-op in Steinbach is hosting a grief seminar this month that will focus on stillborn and miscarriage loss. 

Kris Bachmeier, Assistant Managing Funeral Director, agrees that it seems to be more acceptable these days to talk about the loss of babies before they were born. 

“That’s part of our goal, right? Not only with Birchwood, but who's presenting in May, it'll be Candace Loewen, who runs an organization in town supporting parents that have experienced that kind of loss. So hopefully even through this, we're able to point some people to local resources that are around to support you, right?” 

This grief seminar will take place on May 21st at Birchwood Funeral Chapel Co-op. It will begin at 7pm. 

Bachmeier says the April seminar had a lighter topic, looking at how the role music plays in the grieving process. 

“We had a good reaction,” he says. “People really appreciated, I think, the interactive element of it, right? You're not just sitting back and watching something happen. You get to watch and experience it, but then talk as a whole group about it and that seemed to go really well.” 

Bachmeier says congregational hymns have often been part of funeral services. And people seem to be finding new ways to incorporate music into the celebrations of life. 

“Now you're starting to see lots of people do special numbers or there's a slideshow incorporated in the service that have specific songs.” 

He believes music is becoming a bigger part of these services, adding that some people will attach very heavily to the music. 

“I actually just met with a family (recently), and they were choosing a lot of music from the soundtracks of movies that this gentleman really appreciated and so I thought, ‘well, how cool...’ right? You can incorporate something that he was passionate about and just a very, very good way to honour someone's life.”  

The grief seminar in March focused on the loss of a child, specifically by suicide. 

There will also be a seminar on June 18th that will focus on self-care in grief. 

-With files from Carly Koop.