Grief is a teacher

Tools for finding hope along the journey: Grief’s lessons


Grief is a teacher. Like many teachers we have had we may not like the things being taught. Even when we see a value in what we have learned we know that the price was too great. We may look at the new skills and hate them and what they represent. Can we look and see that these are part of the legacy left behind. Given the choice we would have preferred that nothing change but that choice was not ours. What we do now with these skills is our choice.

Artwork by Tanya Lord
About the Artist

Tanya Lord was a special education teacher when Noah died. After his death she read The Institute of Medicine’s report To Err Is Human and realized that the errors responsible for her son’s death were not unique. This created a desire and determination to better understand and work towards improving health care. Currently she has completed a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in clinical and population health research and is completing a post-doctoral fellowship. Lord shares her personal and professional experiences in presentations and workshops for medical staff and students focusing on the importance of effective communication with patients before and after an error. She also is a co-founder of The Grief Toolbox (www.thegrieftoolbox.com), which offers tools to help those along the grief journey. Lord may be contacted at [email protected]