Giving Grief Grace, a Grief Podcast for the Sandwich Generation

Writing has been a thread running through Lisa's grief journey long before she had a name for it. In this mini-sode, she introduces "scriptotherapy" — a term coined by Suzette Henke, researched by James Pennebaker — and explores why putting pen (or pencil!) to paper is one of the most accessible, intimate tools we have for processing loss. Lisa shares why writing is helpful because...

What does a Zanzibar vacation have in common with a terminal diagnosis? More than you'd think. In this solo episode, Lisa reflects on a pattern she noticed during her recent trip to Tanzania — every single day for five days, there was one more thing to finish before vacation could really begin. Sound familiar? That "one more thing" mindset doesn't just follow us on trips. It fo...

What does it look like to give yourself permission — really, truly, no-guilt permission to rest, restore, and fill your own cup? In this special field note episode, Lisa calls in live from her balcony in Zanzibar, Tanzania.  In this intimate, meditative episode, Lisa leads listeners through a guided visualization with waves, warm sand, a fancy drink with a little umbrella and gently names what so...

In this field-recorded episode, Lisa broadcasts live from rural Tanzania during a work trip with her day job with a water nonprofit. Visiting communities at different stages of clean water access, she finds an unexpected throughline: grief, love, and motherhood look remarkably similar across cultures and continents — and joy and grief can coexist in the very same moment. What You'll Hear: How...

Grief doesn't wait for a convenient moment. Sometimes it finds you mid-walk, while packing for a trip, or when you are stressed, missing the woman who would have been your first call. In this solo episode, Lisa shares what she's learned about grieving her mother, Emily, while still choosing to live fully. She discusses the tradition she's not ready to bring back yet, the ordinary mo...

What do you do when grief meets a house full of craft supplies? For Kenya McCarthy, creator of @chronicallykenya and @k.carthydesigns, the answer was to start making things, sharing the process online, and building a strong grief community so people wouldn't feel alone.  Kenya's story is layered: she was already navigating a multiple sclerosis diagnosis when her mom Nikki suffered a sudd...

She feels 45. She has been all around the US. She planned a month-long trip through England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1971 with no cell phones, no credit cards, and a 9-year-old in tow, and she thought nothing of it. She lost her first husband Vincent to lung cancer when he was just 41, raised her daughter Tammy on her own, and kept going. She still walks the halls of her building every day, still...

Have you ever carried grief you didn't have a name for? Today's guest, Dawn Michele Jackson, a registered nurse, bestselling author, and Advanced Grief Recovery Method Specialist, spent decades watching patients' unprocessed emotions show up as physical illness. When her own life was fraught with an alcoholic father, an abusive boyfriend, and she later experienced a painful divorce,...

What if the most profound life lessons you ever received came from the dead? In this episode of Giving Grief Grace , Lisa sits down with Mary McGreevy, the creator of @tipsfromdeadpeople and author of an upcoming HarperCollins book (August 2027), to explore what over 10,000 obituaries have taught her about grief, imperfection, and what it means to live a life well-lived. Mary shares the origin sto...

One year. 52 episodes. 62 countries and territories. 454 cities. Thank you for a year of grace, gratitude, and being part of this grief journey.  In this special solo anniversary episode, Lisa Hartung pauses to celebrate what Giving Grief Grace has become. She reflects honestly on the time commitment, what it gave back, and who the show supports. Lisa shares the origin story behind the podcast: th...

What if the simplest thing you did today — curling up the corners of your mouth — could make you feel even 1% better? In this solo episode, host Lisa Hartung laces up her running shoes and shares a reflection born from the road: smiles are free, they cost nothing, and they might be exactly what a stranger needs today. Lisa talks about the science behind smiling, how the physical act of smiling, ev...

According to A Haven, one in five children will experience the death of someone close to them before they graduate high school. That means grief is already in your classroom, your neighborhood, and your faith/athletic/artistic community, whether you can see it or not. Many well-meaning people surrounding that grieving child have no idea how to show up. In this final episode of our A Haven mini-ser...

Grief doesn't arrive at the door of a family and touch everyone the same way. One child draws. Another runs. Another goes silent. And somewhere in the middle of it all is a caregiver trying to hold everyone together while barely holding it together themselves. In this episode, Lisa sits down again with Carrie Silver of A Haven, a free child and family grief center in Exton, Pennsylvania, to t...

Easter has a way of cracking grief wide open. In this solo episode, Lisa shares a raw and vulnerable reflection on how the season of resurrection intersects with loss. From waking up before dawn in a small Maine town to sing "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" on a hillside with her mom, to attending Duke Chapel's sunrise service the year after her mother Emily passed, Lisa walks us th...

What happens when a man is diagnosed with a disease the world has decided belongs to women? Jake Messier , known as @theguywithstage4breastcancer , is living that answer every single day. After a stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis in 2023 progressed to metastatic disease in August 2025, Jake turned his 30-year marketing career into a mission: building the largest male breast cancer community in the w...

What do you do with your grief when you've spent 25 years as a nurse helping families through their hardest moments and then overnight, you become the family in need? That's the journey Kelly Edmondson found herself on three years ago when she lost her oldest son, Darius, to epilepsy in his sleep. Kelly shares how that loss became the catalyst for Timely Presence , a year-long grief supp...

What do you say when a child asks, "Is Mommy coming back?" This week, Lisa sits down with Carrie Silver, Clinical Director of A Haven , a nonprofit child and family grief center in Exton, Pennsylvania, to explore one of the most important and often-avoided conversations we can have with the children in our lives: talking honestly about death.  Carrie brings both professional expertise an...

In this episode, Lisa sits down with her grandfather, Alton "Honky" Hartung who recently turned 97 and is still living alone and driving! Honky is a living piece of American history who has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Born and raised on a farm in Manchester, Maine, Honky takes us back to a simpler time, describing what it was like working as a meat cutter at the local mark...

This week, we welcome back Melanie Ezell — writer, mother, yogi, and surfer from the North Shore of Oʻahu — to celebrate the release of her new book, INHERITED: A Life Without a Cure . Diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer at a young age, Melanie has shared honestly and been a luminous voice on grief, mortality, and the art of being present. Melanie unpacks the layered meaning behind the title IN...

In this bittersweet finale of the Ash Rose Project series, host Lisa Hartung and artist/Executive Director of the Ash Rose Foundation, Ian McCartor close out their 30-day grief journey with a conversation full of hope, whimsy, and renewal. The conversation was recorded, fittingly, on Ash Wednesday. Week 4's theme is Looking Toward the Future: Continuing the Legacy and Embracing Hope. As Ian p...

In Week 3 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, host Lisa Hartung continues her 30-day grief journey with Ian McCartor of the Ash Rose Foundation. This week centers on finding meaning in the present moment. Lisa and Ian discuss integrating remembrance and creative exploration from the first two weeks into a grounded sense of healing, hope, and transformation. Lisa reflects on what it has felt like...

In Week 2 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, Lisa continues her personal grief journey with Ian McCartor, Founder of the Ash Rose Foundation. They move from honoring the past in Week 1 to processing grief in the present through creativity. As Ian begins sketching the portrait in her mother’s honor using her ashes, this week’s conversation explores what it means to actively create while grieving....

In Week 1 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, Ian McCartor of the Ash Rose Foundation and Lisa Hartung begin the most emotionally intense part of the journey: honoring the past. This episode centers on reflection. Of memories, values, rituals, and the everyday moments that continue to shape us after loss. As Ian begins the artistic process of creating an ash portrait, Lisa walks through the first...

This week we welcome back Ian McCartor, Founder and Executive Director of the Ash Rose Foundation , for a first-ever behind the scenes exploration of the Ash Rose Project.  This episode marks the kickoff of Lisa’s own Ash Rose Project, a sacred 30-day grief journey that culminates in the creation of a memorial portrait made using her mother’s ashes. Together, Lisa and Ian invite listeners into the...

What kind of support actually helps after loss—and what role does community play in healing? Everyone is different and has their own unique grief journey.  In this episode, the original Giving Grief Grace small grief group comes together for an honest conversation about the power of grief group support after losing a parent. Together, they explore how connection, vulnerability, and shared experien...