A Wind Phone is for anyone who has lost someone special in their life. It provides a way to express feelings, share memories and say the goodbyes you never had the opportunity to say.
The concept is simple, yet incredibly profound. While the actual phone is not connected to anything, it offers an opportunity for people who are grieving to talk with their special person — to say what they need to say, and release it to the wind.
The Wind Phone is located on the Cataract Trail along Twenty Mile Creek at Ball’s Falls Conservation Area, halfway between the pedestrian bridge and Upper Falls. It is a short walk to the Cataract Trail from the Centre for Conservation, via the Switch Back Trail.
For more information about Ball’s Falls Conservation Area, including entrance fees and a comprehensive trail map, please visit: npca.ca/parks-recreation/conservation-areas/balls-falls
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The Wind Phone is located in the Memorial Forest at the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site, 1860 Sir Isaac Brock Way in St. Catharines. The Memorial Forest was founded in 2009 and seeks to reduce the stigma around mental illness and promote greater understanding and compassion from the community as a whole.
For more information about the Memorial Forest visit www.niagararegion.ca/living/health_wellness/mentalhealth/memorial-forest.aspx
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While Niagara has two Wind Phones, there are many around the world.
In 2010, the original ‘Telephone of the Wind’ was created in Japan by a man who needed to talk with his cousin who had died of cancer. These one-way conversations made his grief more manageable. A year later, when a tsunami devastated the coast of Japan, he opened his wind phone to others who had lost their loved ones. People travelled from around the world to visit, grieve and remember.
Grief is a natural response to loss and is unique to everyone. We hope you find comfort in allowing the wind to carry your thoughts and words high over the trees, and into the beyond.
Give yourself permission to feel whatever you feel, without judgment.
Hospice Niagara offers a variety of programs and workshops that encourage healthy, real conversations about grief and promote strategies for wellness. Grief support is provided at no cost. It is available for children as young as six, teenagers and adults, regardless of cause of death.
If you’d like to share your experience with others, send us a note at windphone@hospiceniagara.ca.
We would like to create awareness of the phone so other people can find it too. We may share some of your thoughts (such as this poem) on our social channels, website or in publications.
The day you left,
I let rain wash my tears
Unsaid goodbyes can never be heard
My heart is crushed, my soul is broken
Now, shattered, I am standing here,
Hearing the roaring of the water falls
Staring at the telephone booth
Nature embracing my grieving soul
No dial tone but provides endless connection
I dialed your number, I started to tremble
As I started to talk, tears started to flow
I can say my goodbyes, all the unsaid
“Hello?”
