Intersecting Individual, Social, and Cultural Factors in Black Mothers Resilience Building Following Loss to Gun Violence in Canada

Abstract

This chapter explores the resilience process of Black mothers following the loss of their children to gun violence. It draws on the narratives of 12 Black mothers interviewed for an exploratory qualitative study conducted by the first author to understand the contextual factors involved in gun violence survivorship in Canada. Further information related to this study is reported elsewhere. For the purpose of this chapter, a metaphoric artwork was constructed from the mothers' narratives to represent the complex relationship between violent deatail bereavement and mothers' resilience building. This chapter discusses this representation through an intersectional process of transformation. Prior to describing the artwork, we explicate the traumatic nature of gun violence loss. In the response section. Reverend Sky Starr, a Grief Therapist and community advocate, reverberates the relevance of the representational artwork to her experiences of working with Black mothers who suffer the loss of children to gun violence. She validates the importance of community-based organizations like Out of Bounds Grief Support in providing much needed culturally relevant trauma focused support, education, and other appropriate services to facilitate the growth and resilience of gun violence survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)