In Episode 27 of the Power Your Platform Podcast, my guest is Grief Literacy expert V. Ophelia Rigault.
With more than 20 years of experience as a trainer, speaker and success empowerment coach, Ophelia specializes in emotional resiliency, grief literacy, assertiveness communication, mental-health wellness and mindfulness practices.
In this interview, Ophelia and I get real about grief and the impact it has on the workplace and why it’s so important to address the different forms of grief.
What I love about Ophelia is her calm way of approach what for so many is a nearly impossible topic of conversation. So I hope you’ll get real with us for the next few minutes and explore your own understanding of what grief is and the important role it plays in our lives.
Here are my Top 10 Takeaways from today’s interview:
1. Grief takes time. We may never fully get over some losses in our lives – and that’s OK. It just makes us human.
2. We need to get REAL by embracing Resiliency, Equity and Authentic Leadership.
3. We move through grief as grief moves through us.
4. Organizations need to have a grief wellness plan.
5. Women in leadership are ushering in a new era of Emotional Intelligence – and that’s a good thing.
6. Grief needs to be a part of our everyday conversation, not avoided as some taboo topic.
7. Different countries, cultures and races have different views on loss.
8. We need to take a more inclusive approach to grief literacy.
9. We don’t need to fix people’s grief; we just need to be there for them.
10. Organizations can distinguish themselves as employers of choice by creating an inclusive work environment that invites employees to bring their whole self to work.