Grief Circle with Sammy

In this episode, I got to speak to the staff of Emma's Place which is a grief center on Staten Island. Emma's Place not only has bereavement groups for kids but they also have for adults as they are focused on a whole family approach. They aren't just limited to grief circles, they also have educational support for schools and businesses as well as events that they plan for the whole c...

In this episode, I got to speak to Matthew Burgess who is a children's book author based out of Brooklyn, NY. In 2023, he published Sylvester's Letter a book that covers childhood grief . Matthew and I had a great conversation on how books such as the one he recently wrote play a huge part in developing children's sense of grief and overall emotion. We also spoke on what goes into maki...

This episode I had the honor of meeting with Jill Cohen, a grief counselor based in NYC. Jill told me about her opinions on how grief is different in kids than in adults and also how not all kids express grief in the same manner. We shared our analogies of how grief is in kids, mine being a cell, hers an ice cream sundae. Jill also shared how her experience as a train thanatologist has helped her...

Welcome back to Grief Circle! On this episode, I update you all with the current state of my life: college application season. College essays often have us dig back into our lives and think to ourselves, how have we gotten to where we are? This reflection can be nerve-racking for anyone, however, for children who have lost a loved one, this reflection can be very tough. I talk about how I have dea...

Enjoy this brief update of me giving some quick updates about how I have been handling grief in my life. I talk about how I have been dealing with grief, especially during a day such as Fathers Day. I also talk about how I have handled grief as I have just started my position in a cancer research lab.

On this episode of Grief Circle with Sammy I spoke with my sister Isabel who was only 8 years old when our dad passed away. She talks about her recent experiences with what it was like not having her dad at her bat mitzvah, which is a pretty big experience for young Jewish girls, and an event which her father couldn't be at. Listen along to hear her story!

Just me in this short episode, however, I talk about something very important. Letting your single or widowed parent date someone else. As grieving children we often get caught in the idea that our parents dating means that they are replacing our other parent, however, this is anything but the truth. Our widowed parent is just trying to find happiness in the world, just as any other person deserve...

On this episode, I got to speak with Emma, a junior at Pace University. Emma was only 10 years old when her dad died of sever coronary artery disease. She had no time to say goodbye to him as her family had no clue he even had the disease. One day her brother walked into a bedroom and saw her dad lying on the floor, he tried to wake him up, but he wasn't able to. Listen to hear her story on wh...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tory who is a 24-year-old English teacher in Japan. Tory's dad died when she was 18 years old after a 10-month fight with lung cancer. The age of 18 is a very formative age for most people as they are heading off to college and figuring out what they want to do with their lives, now image what this pressure is like after you just lost a pare...

I wanted to keep this episode brief since I have no guest, however, this episode is about how we shouldn't compartmentalize death. Death and grief are not something that should be left behind or left in 1 "bucket" of your life. It's okay to incorporate death into your work at school, into your conversations with friends, and your daily thoughts. At the end of the day, it's al...

While I have no guest this episode, I do sharing some interesting stories and tips about how we need to make death less about us. Often times we feel the need to make our loved ones death about us, but the real story we should be sharing is about our parent, sibling, or friend who is now dead. It can be tough as a kid to put your self in the rearview mirror and change your actions to be about some...

This episode is a MUST LISTEN! I got to speak with Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air . Some background on Paul, "Paul Sudhir Arul Kalanithi was an American neurosurgeon and writer. His book When Breath Becomes Air is a memoir about his life and illness with stage IV metastatic lung cancer. It was posthumously published." Paul and Lucy...

In this episode, I speak about how an "adventure" that I recently took gave me a lot of perspective on how we as grieving kids and adults should act in a world where we don't know people's backgrounds. Listen to hear my point of view on how to look at the world from the perspective of a grieving child.

This episode I had the pleasure of meeting with Lyla P. Lyla is a junior in HS and she suddenly lost her mother at 12 years old. Lyla was only in 6th grade and she shares with us her experiences as a young girl who lost her mother too soon. Listen to hear how Lyla has taken on young-adulthood and all the tips she has for children who have lost a loved one too early.

In this episode, I met with Chloé Richards who is currently a student at NYU pursuing a Masters in Journalism. I was introduced to Chloé as she is writing a paper on childhood grief. I was honored to be interviewed for her paper and then we got to speak a little. Chloé lost her dad at 10 and therefore her story is very relevant to the show. Listen to here how her paper and her life story intersect...

In this episode, I got to speak with middle school guidance counselor, Allison Holtman. I had the pleasure of asking her about how grief fits itself into a kid's life, especially in a school environment. As you can imagine, it is very difficult for a grieving child to go back to school after losing a parent or loved one. Ms. Holtman was able to provide significant insight on what this timeline...

In this episode there is no special guest, however, I go through the process of summarizing what brought me to make this podcast. My journey to this podcast is one of self-realization (or a series of them). The episode continues with me giving my thoughts on how grief is special to children in its own weird way, while I am no psychologist (by any means), I still do have opinions on how grief shows...

In this episode of Grief Circle with Sammy, I interviewed Dr. Elena Lister who is a childhood and adult psychiatrist specializing in grief. I got to here about her perspective on grief as well as how she gets to help children going through the grief process after they have lost someone. Dr. Lister provides great advice so listen along to hear about tips on how to handle grief in your life.

On this episode of Grief Circle with Sammy, I interviewed a senior at my school named Dylan. When she was in 8th grade she got the devastating news that her friend named Laurel Griggs had died due to a sudden asthma attack. Dealing with the death of a parent is hard, but imagine dealing with the death of a friend your age at only 13 years old, The moral of the story is that its not easy. Laurel wa...

In this episode, I come to you all solo with no guest and speak about how grief shapes my perspective of the world and allows me to be a better global citizen because of it. I may sound a little overly philosophical and harsh, however, please know that it comes from a place of great understanding of how many who are like me deal with grief.

Today I met with Emma, a girl who lost her dad to brain cancer at only 13 years old. Emma and I know each other as our moms are in a widows group together - however - this was our first time actually meeting! Tune in to see how the two of us have dealt with things as little as Instagram posts to learning how to drive a car without our dads.

In this episode, I spoke to my close friend Zach who also lost a parent to cancer when he was young. Listen to this episode to learn more about the teen grieving experience and how both Zach and I handled having a parent with cancer in our lives. Also, if you would like to be featured on the podcast, drop your name and email or phone number in the suggestion box and I am happy to reach out to hear...

In this episode, I talk about my experience with handling death and grief after I had met with death in my life. When my father died at 12 it was tough to deal with grief, however, I am getting better with it as time goes on. Listen to hear my timeline of grief. Stay tuned for next week's first guest!

Welcome to Grief Circle! Listen to this episode to find out a little more about who I am and about my mission with this podcast. I am excited to share my story and experiences as well as others in the community experiences. Grieving is difficult and I am here to share my story to make YOU feel not alone in this process. Stay tuned for more interviews and stories about grieving and death as a teen...