The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

  By: Elizabeth McKeehan, LMHC When the Other Shoe Drops…   Surviving the unthinkable. Extreme loss & hard happen.  When multiple tragedies happen all at once or close together what do you do?   What is shoe dropping, much less the other one? Is it even possible in this life to keep both shoes on? Who does it happen to? When does bad happen?   What if more bad happens when things are already bad? What happens in our brains and body? How can we keep moving forward? How can we support those in it?   If Haley Joel Osment’s famous line (from the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense) “I see dead people” has become your mantra of “I see devastating/doom/danger/dreadful/dark/deplorable things”, this may be a sign you have experienced more than your share of compound loss. You may be experiencing PTSD symptoms and your body may be feeling the weight of carrying too much trauma. Notice and pay attention to what your body is saying.   Trauma = Unexpe...

What Can We Learn and Apply to Grief from  Day of the Dead? By: Elizabeth McKeehan, IMH   Day of the Dead is celebrated October 31 - November 2 within Mexican tradition. You may be thinking, is Day of the Dead a mockery of death or a celebration of life? Yes, and yes. For the better part of my 10-year Spanish teaching career I minimized this seemingly creepy and odd celebration. The Aztecs viewed death in a positive light, as ever present and integral to life itself. This current tradition goes back 3,000 years and embraces Mesoamerican ritual, European religion, and Spanish culture.   Skeletons, candy skulls, altars, and yellow marigolds all hold significance and are visible everywhere during this holiday. Skeletons are created that depict everyday life and hobbies but look comical in their lack of skin or clothes. Kids enjoy eating the candy skulls that poke fun at death, the altars are a way to honor the memory of their loved ones by preparing t...