Compassion Magazine Winter 2022

Winter 2022 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 12 Book Reviews When Words Are Not Enough by Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds (published by Quickthorn) “Grief is the form love takes when someone dies.” Josh, the son of Jane Harris, a psychotherapist, and Jimmy Edmonds, a photographer, died in a road accident in 2011. In 2017 they founded The Good Grief Project dedicated to the understanding of creativity as a help in understanding the trauma of grief and loss, especially of a child. They organize weekend retreats, and have produced a number of documentaries including the award winning, “A Love that Never Dies”. The subtitle of this book is “creative responses to grief” and it features 13 contributions from people dealing with grief (not all following the loss of a child), interspersed with accounts of Jane and Jimmy’s own grief journey and how they helped themselves. The premise is that creativity or a new activity can be highly therapeutic, trying to do and make things to fill the void which will remember and honour the dead. The fear of forgetting is acknowledged and the creative responses can help to continue the bond and allow those left behind slowly to come to terms with the death. All the contributors to the book have found this to be truly cathartic. Examples of “creative responses to grief” featured, are: creating a book of a child’s life to distribute to friends and family, making cushions from a child’s t-shirts, making pressed flower bookmarks, and creating a memory box. In addition, a number of people found open water swimming quietened the mind, and one father took up green woodworking. This is a beautiful book, wonderfully and copiously illustrated with often very moving photographs. It is a book to be savoured, the wise words absorbed slowly, a book to return to again and again according to where you are along your particular journey of grief. And it is an optimistic book. As one