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Mary Ellen Macdonald

@memacdonald.bsky.social
281 followers 254 following 91 posts

Grief and death literacy. Medical Anthropologist in Palliative Medicine, Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). Check out Griefmatters.ca and TEDx www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBulO8OsQ3M

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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Happy New Year! and Thank You! from Grief Matters 🥰
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
We all can benefit from a grief-literate world.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Saying it again for those who need to hear it again 🧡
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
I love bumping into creative #DeathLiteracy while Christmas shopping!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
All grief matters.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
New podcast episode: Grief in all the wrong places. Have a listen at GriefMatters.ca
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Repeat with me: There are no stages of grief! griefmatters.ca/blog/what-br...
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
New blog at GrieMatters.ca: Small talk, big pain: How casual questions sometimes touch the raw edges of grief.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
#GriefLiteracy is about helping community members to better understand their own and other people’s experience of grief.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Want to know more about Grief Matters? Sign up for our newsletter!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Lori Weber's husband chose Medical Assistance in Dying - she generously shared her family's story and her advice for anyone making this choice. (Many thanks to Charlit Floriano and Cartoonist-in-Residence Susan MacLeod) Check out the full animation here: griefmatters.ca/cartoons/mai...
griefmatters.ca
MAID, Grief Sisters and Rainbows — Grief Matters
Lori Weber's husband chose Medical Assistance in Dying three years ago. Lori generously shared her family's story and her advice for anyone making this choice. (Many thanks to Charlit Floriano for her...
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
I love it when I bump into #GriefLiteracy as I wander through my world
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
October's blog is up at ww.GriefMatters.ca, and it's such an important topic: managing small talk when you're grieving.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Wondering what to do today? Join us!
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Reposted by Mary Ellen Macdonald
nancyforde.com @nancyfjorde.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
TODAY! If you live in #HFX/HRM, I'm leading a free 'FotoBalm' event (photo walk exploring the practice of #photography as healing for the #grief process.) Part of GriefMatters.ca Grief Gatherings Week happening all around Nova Scotia. Bring your camera and meet at The Dingle gazebo for 4 PM start.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Good morning! Just another commute to work 😊
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Wondering what to do today? We've got two in-person events, if you happen to be in this beautiful part of the world #NovaScotia #GriefGatherings2025
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Two more beautiful events tomorrow - both in Nova Scotia. www.GriefMatters.ca #GriefGatherings2025
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Gather with us for a grief walk today in Bedford (Nova Scotia). More at wwwGriefMatters.ca
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
There are so many amazing offerings - join us! More details at www.GriefMatters.ca #GriefGatherings2025
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Join this #GriefGathering2025 event - essential learnings are promised!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Another great #GriefGatherings2025 event in the bag! Thanks to @whenyoudie.bsky.social and Hospice Halifax
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Last Saturday, #GriefMatters took to the Sackville Farmers' Market (Nova Scotia). Stay tuned for future pop-up stands! For a full list of gatherings, visit out website here: griefmatters.ca/grief-gather... #GriefGatherings2025 #GriefGatherings
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Just dropped! And with that, #GriefGatherings2025 is underway. Join us, www.GriefMatters.ca
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Grief Gatherings starts tomorrow! #GriefMatters
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
From September 19-28, in-person and online grief literacy activities! Join us! #GriefGatherings2025
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Two more sleeps! #GriefGatherings2025 Schedule at: griefmatters.ca/grief-gather...
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
The countdown to this year’s Grief Gatherings has begun! We’re so excited for what’s ahead. Which events are you planning to attend? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you! #GriefMatters #GriefGatherings2025
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Yes, Grief Matters!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Just follow the geese to #GriefGatherings2025🪿
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
#GriefGatherings2025 are coming up! Join us!
griefmatters.ca
Grief Gatherings — Grief Matters
Grief Gatherings was a week-long event to increase grief literacy in our communities.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Have you heard about #GriefGatherings2025? Check out griefmatters.ca
griefmatters.ca
Grief Matters
Grief Matters is working to increase grief awareness and grief literacy so that we all can better support ourselves, others, and our communities. Please join us!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
This new policy demonstrates such impressive leadership - thanks @cjphrcsp.bsky.social for your vision!
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VOICE: The Childhood Ethics Project @childhoodethics.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Children grieve too! In this paper, we contest views of children as immature, used to justify their exclusion from discussions about death. This exclusion breaches children’s participation rights. We propose a rethinking that recognizes young people as active moral agents. doi.org/10.1177/0030...
doi.org
Re-Imagining Childhood Grief: Children as Active Agents in a Transactional Process - Ceilidh Eaton Russell, Meg Chin, Georg Bollig, Cheryl-Anne Cait, Franco A. Carnevale, Jody Chrastek, Bianca Lavorgn...
Bereavement during childhood impacts children’s wellbeing and biopsychosocial development. Research examining impacts and outcomes of childhood bereavement and ...
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Too true.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
A little #DeathLiteracy humour to start the day
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Started my day with this genuine approach to children's #DeathLiteracy. Thank you @drjrubenstein.bsky.social
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Some timely local🍁lore (and a great interview with historian/writer, Craig Ferguson)
cbc.ca
Man who burned down White House buried in Halifax
Craig Ferguson, a director of the Old Burying Ground Foundation, shares the story of Maj.-Gen. Robert Ross and how he ended up in Nova Scotia. Watch his interview with Amy Smith.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Grief is grief. Ireland's leading with #GriefLiteracy once again - well done!
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
This point is what crushed me when the Buffy Sainte-Marie story broke. Within her false claim of being Indigenous was her false claim of being adopted. The false Indigenous claim angered many people (rightly so). I did not see the false adoptee claim getting such attention. Thoughts?
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
*Mind blown* I haven't thought of the grammar - thanks for this. 'I was' (adopted at 6 weeks old) vs 'I am' (forever adopted)
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
(More) life lessons from Dolly Parton 🙏 #GriefLiteracy
uk.style.yahoo.com
How to cope with the death of a lifelong partner as Dolly Parton's husband of 60 years dies
Carl Dean, the longtime husband of the country music icon has died at the age of 82.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
(Sober) Grief Disco - brilliant #GriefLiteracy!
bbc.com
Grief Disco: The women helping people cope with loss
Georgina Jones set up Grief Disco events after she lost her 16-month-old son Osian in March 2023.
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Kelly Anderson @kellykanderson.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
We will begin reviewing applications for these post-doctoral positions in March, so get your application in soon!
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Compassionate Communities UK @compassionatecomm.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Our good friend, Professor Allan Kellehear has asked us to share this closure conference focusing on grief and loss taking place in #Durham. For more info and to book: For more information and link to book: pay.durham.ac.uk/event-durham... #Conference #Grief #Loss #Bereavement
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
In 'North of North,' a Joyous Celebration of Being Inuk via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...
thetyee.ca
In ‘North of North,’ a Joyous Celebration of Being Inuk | The Tyee
It’s a striking reminder of why locally made TV matters more than ever.
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
A 'grief with no name' is still grief. We need to stop disenfranchising grief with our own labeling. Thanks to Jelena Markovic for helping me think about this today. #GriefLiteracy
aeon.co
Identity is painfully contingent for the culturally bereaved | Aeon Essays
As a child, I was torn from a culture that I never knew. It is a loss that defines me, even as I struggle to define the loss
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Weaving and grieving, that's #GriefLiteracy
talkdeath.com
Weaving and Grieving: How Fiber Arts Can Help us Grieve and Heal
Knitting and other fiber arts are a delicate, slow, and repetitive process. Isn’t this just like the experience of grief?
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
What do grief and Queer Eye have in common? New blog at GriefMatters.ca!
linkedin.com
Grief Matters on LinkedIn: #grief #griefmatters #griefliteracy #blogpost #whereifindgrief
What do grief and the show Queer Eye have in common? That grief is met with love, shares Susan in her new blog post, Finding Grief in Queer Places. Read all…
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Mary Ellen Macdonald @memacdonald.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
The message on this rock worked. I learned about #HIE on my morning walk. More about Lola's life and legacy at: www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/...
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