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Easing the burden with a little help from the experts

When a loved one passes away, it can be a challenging time wrought with emotion and loss. At Forest Lawn Funeral Home, they understand this almost better than anyone else.
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When a loved one passes away, it can be a challenging time wrought with emotion and loss. At Forest Lawn Funeral Home, they understand this almost better than anyone else.

Andrew Knapman, the manager at Forest Lawn Funeral Home located in Central Burnaby, said that a lot of grief is acknowledging that your life has changed traumatically. “Your life will never be the same and you won’t really be the same person that you were, because part of your identity, as the spouse, child, relative or friend of this person who is no longer alive, has changed,” Knapman explained.

At Forest Lawn, they believe that moving forward, your self identity changes and being involved in the service of a loved one can assist you in dealing with that change. Once a family member has died, Forest Lawn gives each family access to an Imagine Book.

“It’s a way to open the family’s mind, and to focus their mind, on celebrating the individual’s life and making their service less generic and far more specific to the person who has passed away,” Knapman said.

In many Western societies, death has become very compartmentalized and separated from our everyday life. Knapman spoke of older eras when families would be more involved in the funeral process, from viewing in the home to even the digging of the grave. “There was very much a more hands on approach back then as compared to now, so we’re trying to invite people to be a little more involved and to make it more personal,” he said.

“The reasoning is that their involvement in the celebration of their loved ones life, though it may be difficult at the time, can assist in their grieving process,” Knapman said. What Forest Lawn Funeral Home does for families is help them by easing their burden through the arrangement, onwards to the service which helps them acknowledge their bereavement and begin the grieving process.

To find out more about Forest Lawn Funeral Home, visit www.forestlawn-burnaby.com, call 1-800-34-DIGNITY or call 604-299-7720.