A Ripple Effect, Digital Storytelling Connects SIDS Families
“I no longer fit in with my new mom friends, I no longer fit in with my old life. I didn’t belong anywhere.”
In the space of a few months, Digital Storytelling has impacted SIDS Calgary Society members and their mission to support families, raise awareness, and encourage research.
After attending the Common Language Collective Story Slam, parent board members from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Calgary Society commissioned CLDST facilitator Melody Williamson to run a workshop for parents who had lost a child to SIDS. They were deeply moved by the power of digital storytelling and the conversations that were ignited after watching a day of personal stories.
As a result, the workshop process was highly effective in helping parents who had lost a child to SIDS deepen their healing. The feedback from parents was overwhelmingly positive, with one parent saying, “I’ve done 15 years of grief work and I’ve never experienced something like this.”
Digital Story Highlight
Gillian shares her story about motherhood and how the sudden loss of two of her infant children, Hazel and Lily, inspired her to create a healing space for other bereaved parents. Hazel’s Heroes offers wellness retreats for parents who are grieving the loss of their children, and provides a platform of connection around an experience of loss that is often isolating.
SIDS Calgary will continue to use these stories to further their mission to support grieving parents to heal and to inspire them to reach out for help. They also intend to share these stories to further awareness of the various factors impacting SIDS families within the research community.
Melody Williamson is the Digital Storytelling Team Lead for Wellspring Alberta where she facilitates therapeutic digital storytelling workshops for individuals on their cancer journey. Melody collaborates with non-profits and private organizations to help people whose voices need to be heard.
