One of the hardest parts of living through COVID-19 restrictions is missing important events, such as attending a funeral or tangihanga, as well as regular and special spiritual occasions, such as Easter and Ramadan.

Key points

1. Losing someone we love is one of the hardest things we go through in life, and to not be able to use our usual rituals of grieving makes that loss even harder.
2. Spirituality or taha wairua is one of the 4 cornerstones of mental wellbeing. Not being supported by our usual spiritual gatherings is also particularly hard as we go through one of the biggest global events of our lives.
3. There have been many creative responses to all aspects of this pandemic, including finding different ways to grieve and connect spiritually.
4. We’ve gathered some of those ways people are finding to grieve and honour their dead and express their spirituality in connection with others.
5. Many people have missed other meaningful moments too, such as the birth of a child or grandchild, celebrating a milestone birthday or anniversary and delaying a wedding. These tips are for you as well.

Read more about COVID-19 – missing meaningful events. 
 

Other related topics you may be interested in:

• Grief and loss
• COVID-19 care package
• Te whare tapa whā and wellbeing
• Depression
• Mental wellbeing tools during COVID-19