Most employer bereavement supports, from a note in a benefits booklet to a few paid days off, switch on after someone dies. Canadian employment law has been drifting the other way. Compassionate care leave, critical illness leave and family medical leave all give employees job protected time away from work while a family member is still alive but gravely ill, often for months rather than days. That gap between when the law says work disruption begins and when most employer support begins is worth examining closely, because the research behind it is more nuanced than a simple case for earlier intervention. What anticipatory grief actually means Anticipatory or pre loss grief is the distress, sadness and anticipatory loss that can build in a caregiver or family member before a death, often during a serious illness. It is tempting to assume that grieving in advance somehow gets some of the grief out of the way, making the bereavement that follows easier. A 2016 systematic review in Clinical Psychology Review looked directly at that assumption and did not confirm it.
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