Documentary Response Paper 2 Lundy 1

Documentary Response Paper 2

Emily Lundy

University of South Carolina, College of Social Work

SOWK 422-002: Advocacy- Social and Economic Justice

Professor Melania Popa-Mabe

January 28, 2024

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Documentary Response Paper 2

The name of my chosen documentary is ‘Speaking Grief’. The documentary agenda

discusses the importance of having a support system and resources throughout the grieving

process. The documentary also serves as a resource as it offers guidance for individuals who are

currently experiencing different kinds of grief and uses the interviewee’s responses as a way for

them to find services that have proved successful. The key message is that being extremely sad

is the ‘gold standard of grief’, but that is not the correct message since you can feel so much

more than sadness throughout grief, also known as secondary losses, and that the feelings you

face are all correct.

The interventions that my film suggests are not policy related but instead make sure

that all reactions to grief are acknowledged. This includes physical or mental limitations that

develop, talking about different types of services or supports, and that there are various types

of grief. The limitations consist of but are not limited to mental illness, physical pain, health

issues that form when experiencing grief, and any tangible changes or challenges that develop

during grief. The support that is given consists of interviewed individuals who express their

situation, and the important services they received, as well as the narrator highlighting that the

lack of societal support is worth discussion. They mention that grief is often perceived as

something you go through and come out of, and not seen as something that you live with

forever and affects other aspects of your life. The importance of making sure support exists is

prominent since grief over one thing can lead to or include the grief of losing other aspects of

your life too. The narrator states that grief causes shock waves throughout your life and can

make it difficult for people to function. Such an ongoing lifelong issue should have more
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resources than exists today. An interesting point made is that many people say nothing to the

person grieving since it is seen as safer than saying the wrong thing. However, that act of

saying nothing can lead to the griever losing the person they are grieving alongside the support

system they need to live with the grief.

This film furthers my belief that focusing on the lack of grief services as a social injustice

is both a strong argument to get into but has also shown that this can be a hard advocacy

project since there is a significant lack of research and support services available. The film

discusses aspects of grief that are not necessarily talked about, secondary losses. These

secondary losses include but are not limited to financial loss, the loss of identity, the loss of

perceived community, as well as many others. By discussing secondary losses as a means of

validating those going through a grieving process, the documentary influenced me to instead

focus on the lack of support for secondary losses associated with grief. Secondary losses

become an emergent need for those grieving and can make or break the grieving process when

not addressed. After watching this documentary, it helped me narrow down the aspects of grief

that I want to focus on during my research, rather than having a broad idea.
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Documentary Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mELerlSakg