AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Emily Krekelberg, an educator for farm safety within the University of Minnesota extension services. This episode was developed by the AABP Mental Health and Well-Being Committee.

This episode of Have You Herd? is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and the PYRAMID(R) line of vaccines, a premier choice to protect calves from BRD. Get relentless protection at PyramidVaccines.com.

Krekelberg defines ambiguous loss as a loss that is unclear or lacks closure. Some loss, such as death, is defined both physically (the person is no longer with us) and psychologically (we understand that the person is gone). With ambiguous loss there is an incongruence between physical and psychological loss. Krekelberg provides some examples of ambiguous loss from our everyday lives.

Krekelberg discusses how ambiguous loss might look in a person and offers suggestions for how we can recognize this in our friends, family and clients. Ambiguous loss can be challenging to overcome because we do not know what we are experiencing and grief complicates this process. She also provides some suggestions for coping with ambiguous loss including understanding that conflicting feelings are normal, finding meaning and identifying the loss and discovering hope.

If you are an AABP member interested in this and other mental health topics, consider joining the AABP Mental Health and Well-Being Committee by going to this page. 

Resources:

The Myth of Closure by Pauline Boss. 

University of Minnesota Extension and type ambiguous loss in the search bar.

The Moos Room podcast or find on your favorite podcast platform.