30 Days of Grief Cards

Self-care strategy cards for managing life and loss

In pictures and words, these cards provide reminders of simple but effective strategies for managing yourself when overwhelmed by loss, or life. Small acts of self-care can make a significant difference to your well-being during tough times.

Pictures are powerful because they speak in ways that words cannot and sometimes, words are not enough. A picture can convey feeling, meaning, tell a story, evoke memories and shift perspective.

While some cards are clear and straightforward in their directive, others need interpreting in a way that works for you. For example, good company will mean different things to different people and while I chose the image of a dog to represent this, you need to ask yourself who or what is good company for you. 

Resource for support workers, counsellors, therapists and facilitators

These cards are a useful tool for working alongside clients and facilitating groups, supporting all manner of conversations around self-care and more. They can be used as prompts for questions, sharing, identifying strategies in place or to try, monitoring and affirming progress among other things.

Using the cards

There is no set order to the cards or ways of using them. Here are three approaches:

Rotate – systematically turn one card over at a time to focus on.

Resonate – an intuitive approach. What card calls your attention?

Random – draw a card without looking. This approach supports learning to trust what turns up and going with it.