Grief Circle with Sammy

On this episode of Grief Circle, I got to speak with Ann and Carly from Camp COPE - a bereavement weekend camp. Ann is the director and has been with the camp since its inception, and Carly is the clinical director and took on the role around 2 years ago. We got to speak about the opportunities COPE provides for children to come together with other kids in their situation and just "be kids&qu...

On this episode of Grief Circle I got to speak with two representatives from OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center NYC (website linked below), Casey and Brady. The three of us got to speaking about the amazing programs that OUR HOUSE offers for not only children who have just lost someone close to them, but also family programs that focus on the adults and kids as a unit. Programs like this are rare in t...

Welcome back to Grief Circle in 2026! In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Shruti Trivedi, a life coach who helps mothers that recently suffered a miscarriage or who lost their baby to complications. Shruti had some spectacular insights on how to help the unborn child's siblings understand what loss. Not only did she give great tips for young children who may not know what death...

Welcome back everyone! It has been a while since I have been active and I am thrilled to be back and better than ever with guest Michael Cholbi, a philosopher at the University of Edinburgh who explores grief and the human relationship with death. On this episode we got to speak about how grief, especially in children, can be looked at through a philosophical lens. One of my favorite things we got...

On this episode I had the pleasure of speaking to Diane Namm, a picture book author who has published countless books throughout her career. However, there is one book of hers that especially caught my eye: What Happens After? This picture book is so special because rather than serving as an instruction manual for teaching kids how to grieve, it draws from Namm's personal experience with loss and...

On this episode of Grief Circle, I got to speak with Sabrina, a recent graduate at Villanova. I found myself in contact with Sabrina after a TikTok of hers landed on my "For You" page, where she was telling her grief story. Sabrina unfortunately lost her mom on her second day of college, which as you can imagine, was not an easy loss to take. Tune in to hear how she got through grief eve...

On this episode of Grief Circle with Sammy, I got to speak to Esme H who lost her father to bile duct cancer in her teenage years. Esme and I got to speak about all the various ways her and her family cherished the time they had with their father throughout COVID, what his presence meant to those around him, and how they keep his legacy alive. Listen along to hear about the wonderful ways Esme has...

Big news viewers... I'm heading to college! I am here today to speak about what that means for the future of Grief Circle with Sammy. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere! I plan on continuing Grief Circle no matter where I end up because it is such an important resource for all the kids and teens out there who are going through loss. During this episode I also speak a little about all...

On this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking to Liam, a 15 year old boy from Connecticut. Liam lost his father at the age of 13 to a car crash, and ever since Liam has dedicated all his passions such as baseball and finance to his father. Liam shares how just because there is a death in your life, it doesn't mean you have to sulk -- you should turn the death into something good. Liam published...

On this episode, I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Robert Accordino, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University about childhood grief in the hospital with patients. Dr. Accordino taught me so much about how pediatric patients with terminal illness often find themselves grieving their parents loss of themselves, before they have even died. We also spoke abo...

Hey fellow teens, usually these episodes are for you, however, today I decided to mix it up a bit. Todays episode is for the parents, guardians, and caretakers of grieving kids out there. On this episode I discuss what you as a caretaker can do to help your child through their grieving process. The answer might surprise you...

On this episode I got to talking about something I like to call my frame of reference. This idea was first introduced to me from my late therapist Dr. Bubrick when we talk about the college admissions process. Frame of reference in grief is a mindset, it is a mindset that challenges us to talk about how sad something really is, in terms of other sad things that can happen in our lifetime. Many tim...

On this episode I share with you all my reflections and thoughts on the tragic sudden loss of my therapist, Dr. Jerry Bubrick. Dr. Bubrick is survived by his two kids, who he always spoke about with such light in his eyes. Dr. Bubrick had a very profound impact on my life for the brief time that I knew him and I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you all to honor him. I frequently talk about...

On this episode I spoke about where we start the grief process immediately after the loss of a loved one. I discuss my own model of grief that guides us through a process of teaching that there really is no one special place to start in the grief process, especially as a kid. If there is one thing you take away from this episode, it is that we start our grief journey at our own personal point, and...

Happy 35th episode of Grief Circle with Sammy! On this episode I got to speak with Jessica Correnti, a child life specialist, who founded Kids Grief Support. Jessica is also the author of manny illustrated children's books on grief, including the ABC's of Grief! Jessica and I spoke about what led her to become a grief specialist and what her role is like in helping her clients overcome and deal wi...

On this episode I had the honor of speaking to Haleh Shoa, an archivist based in LA. Haleh archives families memories of digital and analog photos, along with any artifacts into observable "exhibitions" for the families to look back on. Haleh has an interesting perspective as her work can be a tool to grieving kids to be able to look back on memories with their loved ones who are no longer with th...

On this episode I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Marissa Slaven who is a palliative care doctor who helped in the founding of the Children's Grief Foundation of Canada. This organization is an amazing non-profit that works to give grants to families in need who need hep in supporting their kids who are coping with loss. They also help to provide education initiatives around Canada. Listen to...

Join me on this short episode as I talk about something that I have waned to talk about for a long time: the grief that kids must deal with during this terrible conflict. In the wake of the anniversary of October 7th, I found it necessary to talk about the feelings, that I can only even begin to hit the top of the iceberg of, that the kids who have lost people in their lives to this war feel.

This episode I had the pleasure of speaking to Jessica Fein, author of Breath Taking . At only 17, Jessica's daughter Dalia died of a rare genetic disorder, leaving behind her siblings and parents. I got to speak to Jessica to hear the perspective of losing a kid young as well as what it was like for Dalias siblings to lose a kid. At the end we exchanged one of my favorite parts of speaking to...

Welcome to episode 30! I cannot believe it's been 30 episodes of grief circle. That's a lot of time reflecting that you all have done with me and I thank you for it. For this episode I wanted to reintroduce myself and my story for all my new viewers. I also wanted to take the time to reflect on the highlights of Grief Circle over these past 30 years and talk a little more about my future g...

On this episode I speak on something that I think a lot of children who lose someone have to think to themselves which is, "How old is too old?"; its something that I know I find myself asking a lot. In my opinion what this means for grieving kids who have lost a parent or sibling is: how is my grief different than those who have lost an 84 year old grandparent. This is something that we...

On this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking to Annie Orenstein who is a full-time tech employee, but on the side has taken up the trade of writing about grief. She has recently published the book Always a Sibling: The Forgotten Mourner's Guide to Grief , about her brother who died in Afghanistan. We got to speaking about how oftentimes kids are the forgotten mourners when it comes to losin...

On this episode, I come to you all with one of my recent grief thoughts which is that it's very important that as kids we maintain our dead parents our sibling's relationships with others in order to keep their memory alive. It's our dead loved ones friends who knew them in a different way than we do, and it's crucial to keep that part of their memory alive and well.

On this short episode, while I have no guests, I got to speak a lot about opinions. While you may think that's a weird topic for a podcast about childhood grief, you'd be wrong! Often times in households where there is a loved one missing from the child's life, we find ourselves deciding the opinions of our missing loved ones. However, at the end of the day, we never truly know what ou...

During this episode, I had the honor of speaking to Kate Mohan who is a therapist affiliated with Cope with School. Cope with School is an organization that aims to help kids deal with issues that can be affecting their lives in school, one of the main ones being the death of a loved one. Kate shared with me what a normal therapy session looks like and how she helps kids figure out how to... cope...