Theatre maker Johanne Webb facilitated a weekly Grief Café on Druid Lane in Galway where she offered a safe space for people to reflect on loss with a particular focus on families, displacement, and the impact of losses at distance in a gentle and creative way. As Johanne told us:
“We had one woman in her ‘70s who came along on the first Monday we opened. She hadn’t spoken to someone without a mask in 18 months so that normal human contact was a huge loss.”
All were welcome to drop in and spend time, have a cup of tea, chat, listen to poetry or be silent. As one participant told us:
“For someone who is grieving, you don’t want to go out into the world but at the same time you need to escape your own bubble, your own house, your own loneliness. There’s a big shift in your feelings and mental outlook when you come into the Grief Café.”
A directory of resources was compiled for visitors to have places to send them for further support, and a special evening memorial celebration event was held at the end.
The Grief Cafe was also featured on RTE. View the Grief Cafe on RTE piece.
Read about the Grief Cafe in the Galway Daily