Grief is a Sneaky Bitch

About the episode: You asked and I answered! In this final episode of Season 2, I invited the Reimagining Grief community and listeners of the podcast to ask me anything about grief and loss. I am so incredibly moved by the flood of DMs, comments, and emails I received from so many of you. I take seriously the vulnerability it took you to ask the questions and I did my best to answer man...

For this episode, I was joined in conversation by the lovely Lindsay Joy Taylor, the owner of The Joyful Jewelry Box , jewelry and keepsakes to honor and remember your loved ones. Lindsay’s grief story begins early on, her mother was murdered when she was only one and even if she doesn’t have explicit memories of her, the grief and trauma it left on her family made an impression on her throughout...

In this episode, Lisa talks to British-Iranian poet Fad Jamal (Khorsandjamal) about the power of artistic expression in the process of grieving. Fad intertwines her love of nature, the losses she’s faced, both death and non-death, and the poetic notions and sensibilities of her Persian heritage and the Farsi language to explore love and loss in two volumes of poetry - Quixotic Nature and most rece...

Lisa was joined by Biological Anthropologist and author, Barbara J King, for an eye-opening and compassionate conversation about grief and love in the animal kingdom. They explored how Barbara has come to understand grief in the animal kingdom, how finding compassion for animals helps us be more compassionate to our fellow humans, and why this perspective requires us to call into question some of...

In today’s episode, I was joined by two incredible women, Rachel Carnahan-Metzger and Sierra Herbort. Rachel and Sierra are really special humans, who have both dedicated their careers to supporting children and families going through the most difficult times in their lives. Working at Dell Children’s Medical Center, Rachel serves as a pediatric palliative care social worker and Sierra as a Certif...

I was joined in conversation by the warm and wise Dr. Carolina Giacobone. Carolina’s grief experiences spans two continents, two cultures, and two lives - her personal and her professional. From Argentina to Ireland, from the loss of her mother to a miscarriage, from her role as a Perinatal Psychiatrist across continents, she reminds us that self-compassion and showing up in our full humanity is a...

In today’s episode, I was joined by a beautiful soul, Shelby Forsythia. College years can be full of new beginnings. For Shelby, they became what she describes now as her 4 years of hell, resulting in the death of her mother. While I’ll let her tell you about it in her own words, what I want to tell you is how much I appreciate the way she thoughtful peels back all of the secondary losses many of...

My guest Junice Rockman is a Neuropsychotherapist, Media Correspondent & Mental Health Policy Advocate. In this episode, she brings her personal and professional wisdom to our powerful and far-reaching conversation. We explore so many topics from the impact of unprocessed grief and trauma across generations to the embodied nature of grief. We share some of the insights and practices we’ve both...

You’re going to meet my inspiring new friend Kate Manser. She is the author of the book (and the movement), YOU MIGHT DIE TOMORROW. SO LIVE TODAY. What you will quickly discover through our conversation is that this isn’t just a flippant slogan or catchy phrase aimed to shock. It comes from hard-won growth in response to the loss of 4 friends in a span of 2 years.   Though her initial respons...

In this episode, I'm re-airing an episode (with a new introduction) that was originally released in October 2019. In When Stillness Silences Our Grief with my guest Autumn Campbell, we explored the incredible harm and isolation she experienced in the wake of delivering her son Zion stillborn more than 19 years ago. The reason I'm choosing to re-air this episode today is that 1 in 160 pregnancies e...

I’m thrilled to be bringing you a conversation I had with not just one, but two incredible humans, Michelle Williams and Rachel Bensoussan. These two are bringing their unique lived experiences, both personally and professionally, to honor the humanity in death, dying and grief. Both have faced personal loss, including the death of Michelle’s mother and the death of Rachelle’s partner Diane n...

In Expansiveness of Grief, I’m bringing you a very special and personal conversation. I’m actually inviting you to listen in on a pretty typical conversation I have quite often with my longtime friend, Shonagh Taruza. In addition to being one of the most insightful and deeply compassionate human beings I know, She is a daughter without parents, losing her mother at 17 then her father at 30. She is...

In Bearing The Wait, my guest Christina Bain and I sat down together (physically distanced of course), to hold this beautifully intimate and special conversation about the grief that comes about when you face your own mortality. Christina was so honest and vulnerable as she opened up about the journey she’s been on over the past 5 years. She is 36, married to Wes, her husband of 12 years, and she...

ABOUT THE EPISODE My guest, Michael Hebb, is an innovative and influential cultural figure and our conversation was fascinating, inspiring, and frankly blew me away. In End of Life Conversations, you’ll hear from a man who, since losing his father at 13, and feeling like a teenager out of touch with his peers and his family, has been on a quest to understand the secrets of human connection.&n...

The River in Her Heart with guest Amber Smith I am so honored to be bringing you the conversation Amber Smith and I shared recently. Amber’s wisdom, warmth and kindness touched my heart and I know it will touch yours too. Amber and her husband, country music singer Granger Smith, lost their 3-year old son River in an accidental drowning in their backyard pool in the summer of 2019. In today’s epis...

If humor is the best medicine, then my guest today is going to make you feel so much better! When you find someone who just gets it, you want to hold on to them forever. That’s how I felt as I laughed and cried my way through today’s conversation with my guest, Leslie Gray Streeter . Leslie is the absolute queen of pop-culture references and she found a way to weave in more than a dozen as we expl...

In This Episode Do you ever have a moment when you meet someone, a fellow traveler on their grief journey, and you know immediately you’re going to be friends? Well that’s how I felt the first time Elizabeth Benton and I spoke. Her warmth, thoughtfulness and tenderness shone through. Elizabeth is a successful entrepreneur, owner of Primal Potential . An inspirational author of the book Chasing Cup...

Season 2, Episode 1: What I’ve Learned So Far Whether you’re a first-time listener or you have listened to every episode, I’m thrilled you’re here. And today, I’m equally excited to say, welcome to SEASON 2 of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch !  This episode is a little bit unique because I don’t have a guest. Today I’m talking directly just to you, my incredible listeners. I'm sharing some thing...

BONUS EPISODE I set aside my title as host and took a turn as a guest on The Death Dialogues Project, a podcast hosted by the talented and generous Becky Aud-Jennison. Much like the work I’m doing Reimagining Grief , Becky is seeking to do the same with death. As the guest, on the other side of the microphone, we shared a deeply honest, reflective, and emotional conversation about the experience o...

In this final episode of Season 1, I was joined by Ryan Bouman and Michael Janke, two filmmakers out of Calgary. They recently released a powerful short-form documentary film on grief called We, The Bereaved . In this meditation on grief, their goal was to show solidarity for those who are grieving and permission for those who felt they were never allowed. From the beginning of our conversation, R...

In today’s episode, I was joined by Krissy Teegerstrom , an Austin-based artist and creative consultant at Featherweight Studio , and podcast host of Beyond and Back Podcast . Krissy bravely explores how her father’s death due to addiction when she was 11, a condition her family never discussed, profoundly impacted her life. She reveals how her mother’s insistence on not talking about it, virtuall...

In today’s episode, I was joined by Renee Rouleau. She is a dynamic and inspiring woman who has many titles. Founder and CEO. Esthetician to the stars. Globe-trotter. Adventurer. Motorcyclist. About one year ago she added another title. Widow. Renee shares the lessons she learned from her business partner and husband, Florian, over their 22 year relationship. She reflects honestly and openly...

In this episode, my guest Mark Garza reminds us that honoring someone after loss can look like so many different things. Since the loss of his father, Mark has dedicated his life to shining a light on a critical but often unmet need in everyone’s grief journey - access to quality mental health services. Through his work at the Flatwater Foundation , Mark is carrying on a family legacy of honoring...

In today’s episode, I was joined by a very special human, Kelly Abbott. On a call from his home in San Diego, Kelly was open, thoughtful, and at times poetic about the journey he has been on for the past 4 1/2 years since his son Will drowned a few months before his 5th birthday. He shares what it has meant to him to have people show up for him and his wife in the beginning … and now. He explores...

This episode has been one of the most powerful and transformative experiences for me so far this season and I hope it will be for you too. As a trained narrative therapist, I understand that words and language are constitutive of our identity, our experience, our world view. And yet, there are some words that evoke so much shame, judgement, blame, vitriol and other emotions that they make conversa...