Grief Out Loud
Episodes
Death With Dignity - Dr. Peg Sandeen
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the age of 27, Dr. Peg Sandeen faced an impossible request. Her husband, John, who was dying from HIV/AIDS, told Peg that he couldn't stand the ...
Normalizing Grief - Grant Garry & "Meet Me Where I Am"
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Me Where I Am, a new film by Grant Garry, explores the topic of grief through individual stories of loss, love, and hope. The film aims to normal...
Finding The Words - Colin Campbell
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Colin Campbell is a lot of things - writer, husband, friend - but the role he identifies with most is being a father. So, when his two teenage childre...
(Re)Constellating After The Death Of A Partner
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Jessica Schaffer's partner of 25 years, Patrice, died in March of 2021, she found herself untethered. In the early days of grief, Jessica went w...
Both Sides Of The Story
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's rare for a story to have just one side, especially in grief. This is true for Eddie, whose father died of suicide in 2021. One side of the story ...
Cultural Bereavement - Tida Beattie
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Tida Beattie's Thai immigrant parents died in 2019, she went from being a long-distance caregiver to an overwhelmed & grieving daughter. In her s...
Navigating Grief At Work
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The list of things to do when someone dies is long and burdensome. If one of the things on that list was, "return to work," then this episode is for y...
When Every Item Is Precious - The Grief Gallery
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After her mother died in 2013, Charlene Lam faced the daunting prospect of dealing with all of her belongings. Making decisions about what to keep fel...
Signs & Messages - Psychic Mediumship
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We wanted to release this episode at the beginning of the new year, because it hits on a topic we haven't explored much before – psychic mediumship....
Are We Going To Be Okay? - Grief, Collected & The Mash-Up Americans
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Are we going to be okay?" This was one of the first questions Amy Choi & Rebecca Lehrer, co-founders of The Mash-Up Americans, posed in their new pod...
"I Needed To See People Who Looked Like Me" - Luna Peak Foundation
10 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us end up working in the grief world because of our personal experiences. We want to give others what we most needed. This is especially true ...
One In A Million
03 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When your parent is one of six people in medical history to be diagnosed with and die from a rare disease, the phrase, "The odds are one in a million"...
The (Not) Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Holidays & Grief Mini-Episode
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For a lot of us, the end of year holidays + grief = the (not) most wonderful time of the year. Rebecca Hobbs-Lawrence, Pathways Program & Group Coordi...
Grief Doesn't Fit In A Box, But You Can Make A List - What's Your Grief
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you found it difficult to read anything longer than a paragraph since your person died? It's a phenomenon familiar, both personally and professio...
"These Relationships Matter" - Grieving The Death Of A Pet
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We deliberated for a long time about whether it was appropriate for us to do an episode on pet loss. We know from those grieving the death of a person...
Celebrating Día de Los Muertos
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Día de Los Muertos, or "Day of the Dead," is a two-day holiday to remember family members and friends who have died. Día de Los Muertos has origins ...
"They Were Part Of My Firefighter Family" - Grieving A Coworker
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Tull has two lives, but he's not deceiving anyone. There's his civilian one that he lives with his kids and family and there's his professiona...
Caring For A Parent At The End Of Life - Mark Chesnut & Prepare for Departure
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Chesnut is a NYC-based journalist, editor, and public speaker. His book, Prepare for Departure, Notes on a single mother, a misfit son, inevitabl...
The Awkwardness Around Grief Is International
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This was meant to be a story about grieving in a foreign land. A story about navigating cancer treatment and funeral planning in a different language....
"We Did Everything We Could Not To Be Here"
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is a story about the people behind the numbers. A new study came out this week (September, 2022) estimating that 10.5 million children, across th...
Embracing Grief In Community - Adam Stevens, RDT
12 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Stevens, RDT, (he/they), knows grief. He grew up in a family of five. A family that is now a family of one. Adam brings this deep knowing of grie...
It's Complicated
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The word complicated came up a lot in this episode with Joe, whose dad died in 2017 after a decade of failing health. Joe's dad was a complicated guy....
Things Others Never Even Have To Think About - Grief & Identity
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Everett's spent the last few years trying to access and process the emotions that come with grief. Emotions that he learned to push aside when he was ...
Born For This Work - Supporting Grief & Death (Valenca Valenzuela, MSW)
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Valenca Valenzuela, MSW, was born on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) which seems fitting for someone who grew up to hold space for people before...
We Have No New Memories - Amanda Drews & Buzzy's Bees
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda Drews is the founder of Buzzy's Bees, the organization she started after her son Hudson, who was 13 months old, died of SUDC (Sudden and Unexpl...
Comedy & Grief & Father's Day - A Reprise
17 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode originally aired in June, 2019. What is it about dark humor and why are we drawn to it when wrestling with painful life events? Laugh...
All About The Kids - And The Adults Who Support Them
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Micki Burns, Chief Clinical Officer at Judi's House and Dr. Laura Landry, Director of Evaluation & Research at the JAG Institute join us to talk n...
We're All Experts In Our Own Grief - Rebecca Soffer & The Modern Loss Handbook
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of the Modern Loss Community, started becoming an expert in grief the moment she learned that her mother Shelby was killed ...
Grief Is Love - Marisa Renee Lee
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As humans, we have a pervasive desire to compartmentalize. To box up messy thoughts and emotions and "just get on with it already." For Marisa Renee ...
"How Are Your Parents?" - Sibling Grief & Jordon Ferber
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In grief land, lots of groups are talked about as invisible or forgotten. Children, parents grieving a miscarriage, ex-partners, and siblings. For si...
Trauma & Grief - Meghan Riordan Jarvis, LCSW
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Being a plumber doesn't mean the pipes in your house never leak. Being a landscaper doesn't mean your own yard is magically free of weeds. Why is it...
Splintering Grief - DJ Arsene Versailles & Marked By COVID
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lingering. Shivering. Simmering. Splintering. These are the words DJ Arsene Versailles wrote to describe grief after his mother, Florcie Yves Versaill...
"The Silent Third Parent" - A Family Blended By Grief
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Gudger was pregnant with her first child, Jake, when her husband Kent died in a car crash. Years later she met and married Scott and they had a d...
"We All Crave A Sense Of Hope" - Kathryn Schulz
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of things in life that are difficult to describe. That's why it can feel so gratifying when someone gives voice to something that we c...
Being Grief Responsive In The Classroom - Brittany Collins
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brittany Collin's father died of breast cancer the summer before her sophomore year of high school, Like many students who are grieving, she had educa...
"Grief Is So Lonely" - Good Mourning Podcast
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When Sal and Im first met at a grief support group, they connected on being young, motherless, and feeling alone in their grief. From that initial mee...
Welcome To The Grief Club - Janine Kwoh
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, when they were in their late twenties, Janine Kwoh's partner died. Nap's death launched her into a new world of grief. Janine was the first p...
The Power Of Loss & Love - TJ Jackson
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
TJ Jackson had just gotten his driver's license as a teenager when his mother, Dee Dee Jackson, was murdered. Almost three decades later, TJ and his b...
Suicide Postvention - What Schools Can Do
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Moss Rogers never imagined she would dedicate her working life to reducing suicide risk and supporting those grieving a death by suicide. She fir...
Grief & Money - A Legacy Of Financial Fear
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the last of our three-part series on Grief & Money, we explore how fears about financial stability can be part of grief. When she was 13 and her fa...
Parenting Parentless - Katie C. Reilly
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up, Katie C. Reilly, hadn't thought much about grief or mental health. Then, within the span of four years, Katie's mother died of ALS and her...
She Was My Favorite Person - Hello, I'm Grieving & Dr. Julie Shaw
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When our favorite person dies, our entire world gets up-ended. That person was often the planet in our galaxy that all the other planets and moons orb...
Grief & Money - Suddenly Responsible For Everything
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second episode in our three-part Grief & Money series. We don't get through life without grief and we also can't get through life without ...
Self-Care In The Early Days Of Grief - Paula Becker
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paula Becker is a writer, so when her son Hunter was killed in 2017, she searched for help in the pages of books. What she found were books heavy with...
A Kids Book About Grief
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jelani Memory is the co-founder of A Kids Company About, which publishes books for kids about important topics like anxiety, empathy, racism, body im...
An Altered State - Jeff Porter & Planet Claire
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Jeff Porter's wife Claire died of an aneurysm, his world imploded. As he spent time with her in the hospital and started to wander that imploded ...
Making Grief Less Lonely - Reid Peterson & Grief Refuge
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Reid Peterson, MA, recently launched Grief Refuge, an app that enable users to access daily grief support, when and where it's most convenient for the...
Grief Is Not The Great Equalizer - Supporting Queer, Trans, & Justice Involved Youth With Lamya Broussard, Uplift
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While will all experience some type of grief before we die, the prevalence of loss and how the world responds to our grief are shaped by racism, clas...
Grief & Money: (Re)Building A Life's Purpose - Robert Pardi
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first episode in our three-part Grief & Money series. We don't get through life without grief. We also can't get through life without deal...
Titrating Grief
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Jonna's mom, Anita, died just a few days after Jonna's 26th birthday, she prepared herself to completely fall apart. She imagined not getting out...
Grief Wanted My Attention - Nnenna Freelon
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nnenna Freelon's beloved husband Phil died in July of 2019. Six months later her sister, Dr. Debbie Pierce, also died. Then, COVID hit the United Stat...
End Of Life Care With A Death Doula - Oceana Sawyer
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oceana Saywer is a death doula who supports people at the end of life. She came to this work through being with her father during his last days. An ex...
When Your Pillar Parent Dies - Grief As A Young Adult With Monday Mourning
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's our 200th episode! To celebrate we talked with Harry, Gabby, and Madison, the crew behind the Monday Mourning Podcast and the Dead Parents Club. ...
Living Brave In Grief - Shannon Dingle
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a love story. And, because it's on this podcast, it's also a grief story. Shannon and Lee Dingle met when they were 18. As Shannon describes i...
Interviewing Grief - Caitlin Garvey & The Mourning Report
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Caitlin Garvey's mother died in June of 2008, the summer after Caitlin's freshman year of college. Many years later, Caitlin decided to interview a se...
Grief Doesn't Stop When You Clock In - Supporting Employees In Grief
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Leslie Barber is back for another episode! When Leslie's husband Steve died of cancer, she had a lot to figure out. How to live without the love of he...
Anger & Grief
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Keyana was 9 when her dad died. He died of suicide, but at the time her mom just told her he was gone. Eventually Keyana learned the truth and wrestle...
When Grief Goes To Camp - Brie Overton
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Grief might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to summer camp, but there are thousands of children and teens who take their grief with ...
Widowed By COVID-19
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As of April 29th, 2021 over 3 million people across the globe have died of COVID-19, including 575,000 in the U.S. What gets lost in these numbers a...
Superhero Grief - Dr. Jill A. Harrington
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jill A. Harrington grew up surrounded by superheroes on television and in comic books and movies. As a parent and a professional, she turned to su...
I Had A Brother Once - Adam Mansbach
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just weeks before Adam Mansbach's wildly popular book, Go The F**K To Sleep, was published, his brother David died of suicide. In interview after inte...
Find The Helpers - Fred Guttenberg
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Valentine's Day of 2018, Fred Guttenberg rushed his two children, Jaime and Jesse, out the door to school. He had no idea it would be the last time...
Caregiving For A Parent - Priya Soni & The Caregiving Effect
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One day while driving between visiting her mom who just had knee surgery and caring for her dad who had a progressive illness, Priya Soni wondered, "W...
Grieving While Black - Breeshia Wade
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Breeshia Wade's new book, Grieving While Black: An Anti-Racist Take on Oppression and Sorrow, puts grief into a wider context. The context of our rela...
Living With Loss Over A Lifetime - Hope Edelman & The AfterGrief
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we live with grief over the course of our lives? Hope Edelman, author of the groundbreaking book, Motherless Daughters, joins us again to talk ...
"Am I Even Safe In My Home?" Collective Grief In Communities With Marginalized Identities - Dr. Amber Nelson PsyD
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is collective grief and how does it affect members of communities with marginalized identities? Dr. Amber Nelson, PsyD talks about both her profe...
"I Can't Even Imagine" - Grieving Both Parents
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mariyam was six when her father, Nurtay, died just before his 34th birthday. Over the next 14 years, she would experience the deaths of four more fami...
Widowish - Melissa Gould
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of the word "widow" what image comes to mind? When author Melissa Gould's husband Joel died, she didn't fit what she imagined widows lo...
The Indigenous Death Doula Mentorship Program - Chrystal Wàban Toop
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to train to be a death doula for your community? This is a question a group of Indigenous youth in Canada grappled with as part of t...
Love Stories - A Griefy Valentine's Special
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even if you don't really celebrate it, Valentine's Day can be rough when you're grieving. This year, we decided to bring you a compilation of love sto...
Ep. 182: Healing Trauma, Attending To Grief - Native Wellness Institute & Jillene Joseph
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For the past twenty years, the Native Wellness Institute has worked to promote wellness and balance for Native people throughout North America. Their ...
Ep. 181: "She's Always With Me" - Finding Peace In The Permanence Of Grief
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Molly loves her life, but she didn't always feel that way. 18 years ago, on a rainy winter morning, Molly's life changed in an instant. The instant wa...
Ep. 180: More Than Just A Number - Grieving When Someone Dies Of COVID-19
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As of January 21st, 2021, over 400,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by the coronavirus. Globally, the number is over 2 million. Despite attempt...
Ep. 179: Sons Of Suicide - 50 Years Of Friendship & Grief
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of how a random encounter led to a transformative friendship that's lasted for more than 50 years. A friendship rooted in the shared...
Ep. 178: Survivor's Guilt - Julia Mallory
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After her oldest son was killed in 2017, Julia Mallory had a sense that creativity was a place she could go in her grief. In that place, she wrote Sur...
Ep. 177: The Relentless Nature Of Grief - Carmel Breathnach
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Carmel Breathnach was 11, her mother died of cancer. While she felt supported at home by her father, she didn't feel that way at school. Now as a...
Ep. 176: Grief In Your Twenties - Amber Jeffrey/The Grief Gang
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Amber Jeffrey is the creator and host of The Grief Gang, a podcast by and for young adults who want to normalize the conversation about loss. Amber w...
Ep. 175: Grieving A Mother While Becoming A Mother - Dara Kurtz
13 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Dara Kurtz was in her late twenties, she was excited. Excited about being pregnant. She was also devastated. Devastated that her mother was recen...
Ep. 174: Holidays & Grief + A Pandemic
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's our third annual holidays & grief episode with Rebecca Hobbs-Lawrence, Pathways Program Coordinator at the Dougy Center. We share updated ideas f...
Ep. 173: Grateful In Grief? Never, Ever Give Up – Allison Hite
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For Allison Hite, two questions sparked a community project called Never, Ever Give Up. The first question was, "How do I be grateful in grief?" The ...
Ep. 172: Living After Your Child's Life Ends - Margo Fowkes
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you go on living after your child's life ends? How do you continue to find connection, beauty, and meaning when someone we can't imagine living...
Ep. 171: Reckoning With Grief At The End Of Life - BJ Miller
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
BJ Miller is a Hospice & Palliative Care Medicine physician who works with patients facing the end of their lives. When BJ's sister Lisa died of suici...
Ep. 170: Grief & Identity - Alica Forneret
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We can't separate grief from our identity. Grief is interwoven with our race, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, access to economic resourc...
Ep. 169: When It Comes To Grief, What Counts? - Shelby Forsythia
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shelby Forsythia returns to Grief Out Loud to talk about her new book, Your Grief, Your Way, a secular daily devotional for anyone dealing with grief...
Ep. 168: Giving Forward - Grief & The Foster Care System (Derrick Kirk)
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Derrick Kirk was six years old, he and his two sisters were removed from their home and placed in the foster care system. For Derrick, growing up...
Ep. 167: (Trying To) Understand Suicide - Paula Fontenelle
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paula Fontenelle is a journalist turned therapist who specializes in suicide prevention and supporting those who have had someone die of suicide. Paul...
Ep. 166: Emotions Aren't Problems - Krista St-Germain
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us grew up believing that some emotions are good, some emotions are better, and some (most) emotions are bad. When it comes to grief the list ...
Ep. 165: As The Shock Wore Off - Grief's Second Year (Mira Simone)
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mira Simone is a writer, mother, and grieving wife. Her husband Brian died of cancer in the winter of 2019, just seven weeks after a diagnosis of stag...
Ep. 164: Supporting Children & Teens In Grief - Kevin R. Carter, LCSW
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For the past three decades, Kevin Carter, LCSW, has worked as a clinician, administrator, and educator. He currently serves as the Clinical Director a...
Ep. 163: Capital L Love - Caring For A Parent With Alzheimer's (Brianne Grebil)
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Brianne Grebil's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 62, Brianne packed up and moved from LA back to northern Idaho to help ca...
Ep. 162: When The Professional Becomes Personal - Alesia Alexander, LCSW
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For the past two decades, Alesia Alexander, LCSW, has worked with grieving children, teens, and families. The original inspiration for doing this work...
Ep. 161: Preserving Memories -Love Not Lost With Ashley Jones
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To heal you have to feel it and to feel it you have to be present with it. When Ashley Jones's infant daughter Skylar was diagnosed with SMA (spina...
Ep. 160: The Shared Room - Kao Kalia Yang
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Children's books transport us – sometimes to places of imagination and sometimes to places rooted in place and culture. A children's book can also ...
Ep. 159: Back To School With Grief & The COVID-19 Pandemic - A Tip Sheet
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a little different. Rather than an interview, we are sharing information from the Dougy Center's most recent Tip Sheet - Back to Scho...
Ep. 158: Growing (Up) With Grief - One Teen's Story
02 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to grow and grow up with grief? Aliya, a recent high school graduate, spent the past three years reckoning both with her mother's de...
Ep. 157: Let's Talk About Loss - Beth French
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beth French started Let's Talk About Loss in December of 2016, eighteen months after her mother Susan died of cancer. Beth was in her early twenties a...
Ep. 156: Death As Resistance - Dr. Kami Fletcher
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do historic and present-day death rituals and funeral practices in the Black community serve as acts of resistance? Dr. Kami Fletcher is a ...
Ep. 155: Gratitude, Guilt, & Grief - Ty Alexander
07 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to choose joy and gratitude when you're in the depths of grief? For Ty Alexander, joy and gratitude became her two main survival str...
Ep. 154: Memories And Legacy - CircleIt & Art Shaikh
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you found yourself wishing you could hear from your person one more time? Wondering what advice, wishes, or words they would share about events b...
Ep. 153: Big Emotions In Grief - Jenny Delacruz, LPC
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jenny Delacruz is a family therapist and author who specializes in working with children and families. Her newest book, "Momma, Can I Sleep With You T...