After Devin Shyminsky lost his wife Johanna to suicide in 2012, he was desperate for resources to help him cope with his loss.
Through online searches he heard about Camp Widow, a yearly conference in Toronto meant to help widowed persons recover from their grief.
“They have a workshop for every kind of loss,” Shyminsky said.
In addition to workshops for different types of loss – from suicide, to cancer and sudden death (including car crashes and heart failure) – Shyminsky discovered the camp offered him a place for him to share his own story with other widowed persons who understood what he was going through.
“I just wanted to be better,” he said. “What I learned is that there is no 100 per cent better, it's a continuum instead of an on or off kind of thing.”
When he returned to Sudbury in August 2015 (he lived in the Waterloo region with Johanna), Shyminsky found there wasn't much in place locally for widowed persons.
“There are some bereavement groups out there, but nothing specific to people who are widowed,” he said.
Soaring Spirits International, the California-based organization that hosts the Camp Widow event in Toronto and other cities, also helps organize regional social groups for widowed persons.
The groups get together once or twice a month for various social events, and to find support from people who have been through a similar experience.
To fill the void he has found in Sudbury, Shyminsky has created a northeastern Ontario Soaring Spirits group,
Shyminsky said he has come a long way in the nearly five years since he lost his wife to suicide.
He recently got engaged, and said he is in a position now where he can share his experience with other widowed persons to help them along their own journeys.
Shyminsky said he hopes to organize a first meeting for the northeastern Ontario Soaring Spirits group before the Christmas season, which tends to be a difficult time for widowed persons.
Anyone interested in joining the group can contact him through Facebook.
