Grief Out Loud

When Leena Magdi's younger brother, Hamoodi, was killed, her world shifted entirely. In her debut book Mourning Air , Leena explores how grief reshapes identity, faith, and love. In this conversation, Leena shares what it meant and means to be Hamoodi's sister, how sibling grief is often dismissed, and how writing helps her navigate the grief. Leena also shares about her family's forced displaceme...

When someone you know dies suddenly, everything changes in an instant. The world you once knew can feel unfamiliar and unsafe, and finding your way back to even the smallest sense of stability can feel impossible.   In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jennifer Levin , therapist, educator, podcast host, and author of The Traumatic Loss Workbook: Powerful Skills for Navigating the Grief Caused by a Su...

When Tiriq Rashad , artist, poet, and performer, sits down to write , he's not just telling his own story - he's carrying his daughter, his brother, and his mother with him. In this conversation, Tiriq shares the layered ways grief has shaped who he is: from the death of his first child before she was born , to growing up caring for his brother who lived with cerebral palsy and autism, to the sudd...

When Tyler Feder was 19, her mom died of cancer, an experience she captured years later in her bestselling graphic memoir Dancing at the Pity Party . In the years since, Tyler has described herself as a "dead mom person" - reflecting just how much of her life was shaped by the death of her mother . But this past winter, Tyler's dad also died, adding a new aspect to her identity, this time as an ad...

In 1986, when Kristine S. Ervin was eight years old, her mother was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in Oklahoma. Decades later, Kristine tells her story in Rabbit Heart - A Mother's Murder, A Daughter's Story , a memoir weaves together her fragmented childhood memories, growing up with grief, and then as an adult, reckoning with the painful details of her mother's death. The course of t...

When someone dies, the story is often one of sadness, longing, and loss. But what happens when the person who died was also someone who caused great harm ? For Kathy, who was sexually and emotionally abused by her father, his death when she was 11 brought more relief than grief. In this conversation, Kathy shares how her early experiences with grief and trauma shaped her path as a social worker an...

How do we move from seeing grief as something to fix or overcome, to understanding it as a lifelong companion and guide? In this conversation with Rev.  Dr. Jamie Eaddy CT, CTP - educator, death doula, founder of Thoughtful Transitions , and creative force behind The Ratchet Grief Project® - she invites us to reimagine grief as a friend who helps us navigate loss, change, and transition. Drawing f...

Welcome to a special "podcast takeover" episode. This week, Lindsey Whissel Fenton , creator of Speaking Grief and Learning Grief , steps in to interview Jana. Their conversation centers on Jana's beloved Boston Terrier, Captain, who died in December 2024 at the age of 15. Lindsey understands this heartache well, as her own sweet dog, Birch, died in May 2022. As a skilled interviewer and a thought...

When Susie and Nick Shaw's nine -year-old son William died in a skiing accident, their world shifted permanently. In the six years since that day, they've found ways to carry their grief and stay connected to William, while continuing to honor the boy who inspired so much good in their lives and in their community.   In this deeply moving conversation, Susie and Nick reflect on William's life—his...

Jess i e was 21. Molly was 11. Two days after their joint birthdays, their mom, Jill, was murdered by Molly's father. In the hours, days, and years that followed, there was little room for grief. Jess i e and Molly were expected to keep going — and they did. But that forward momentum came at a cost.   It's been nearly 20 years, and only recently have Jess i e and Molly begun to revisit what happen...

How do you keep your heart open to love after it's been broken apart by grief? Danielle LaRock was just 19 when her father died of a heart attack. In 2022, her partner Ian died suddenly. Then, in 2024, her beloved dog Blue died, and with Blue went many shared memories of time spent with Ian. The experience of loving and being loved by Ian opened up places in Danielle's heart that had closed down a...

Sometimes we can't really begin to understand grief - ours or anyone else's - if we don't have space to talk about the death. The context surrounding how someone died matters and can shape our grief in meaningful ways. This was true for  Kari Lyons-Price, MSW, who was a caregiver for her parents, Hal and Sylvia, for many years. They died three years apart, her dad in 2019 and her mom in 2022, and...

In this episode, Camila returns to Grief Out Loud six years after her first appearance to share how grief continues to evolve. What began with the sudden loss of her mother at age 21 has now expanded to include the ongoing grief of caregiving for her father, who is living with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.   Camila discusses  the unique challenges of long-distance caregiving, the differences b...

In this deeply personal episode, Mark Chesnut returns to Grief Out Loud to share his experience of losing his sister Glynn to ovarian cancer. Glynn chose medical aid in dying after nearly four years of treatment, giving Mark and his family the unusual experience of knowing when death would occur. This conversation explores the complexity of "scheduled death," the challenges of finding appropriate...

When someone dies, our relationship with them doesn't just disappear. Sometimes the relationship changes in ways we never expected, allowing us to feel closer to them than we did when they were alive. This can leave us learning to grieve not just for what we had, but for what never got the chance to have with them.  In this episode we talk with Never Faull about grieving for their father, who died...

Daria Burke is an author, executive, and healer-at-heart. She's also a grandchild grieving for her grandmother and a daughter estranged from her parents. In this episode, Daria shares the profound impact of losing her maternal grandmother at age seven and how that early loss reverberated through her life. This loss and grief exist alongside the immense healing she's done around growing up in pover...

In this episode, we delve into the grief experiences of children and teens with autism. Our guest, Jennifer Wiles, M.A., LMHC, BC-DMT, FT - Director of the HEART play Program and a dance movement therapist with decades of experience - joins us to discuss how children with autism process grief and how parents and others in their lives can support them. Drawing on her background in both nonverbal fo...

Grief often arrives without warning and changes everything we thought we knew about ourselves, our families, and the world around us. In this episode, we talk with Erin Nelson and Colleen Montague about their new book,  When Grief Comes Home , a resource created from years of both personal loss and professional experience supporting families who are grieving. Erin, founding Executive Director of J...

What does it mean to lose your anchor people? In a short period of time, Renée Watson experienced the death of her mother, her mentor Nikki Giovanni, and her childhood friend, Charnetta. Renée shares how these experiences influenced her latest novel for young readers, All the Blues in the Sky , which follows 13-year-old Sage as she navigates grief after the death of her best friend. Renée Watson i...

In this deeply moving episode we talked with Myra Sack about the love, loss, and legacy of her daughter, Havi. Diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease at just 15 months old, Havi's life was brief but profoundly impactful. Myra shares how she and her family navigated the unbearable reality of their daughter's illness and death, including transforming their Shabbat ritual into "S habbirthdays"  held every...

What does it mean to live with an incurable illness while navigating grief, time, and the complexity of human connection? In this episode of Grief Out Loud , we sit down with Caroline Catlin —writer, artist, and grief care worker —to explore her experience of living with an incurable brain cancer diagnosis.   Caroline shares how her relationship with cancer has evolved over the past six years, fro...

In this episode of Grief Out Loud , we welcome back Carla Fernandez , co-founder of The Dinner Party , to talk about her new book, Renegade Grief , in which she explores the question: "Now what? What are we supposed to  do after someone dies?" Carla reflects on the death of her father, the unconventional paths she's taken to process her grief, and how  The Dinner Party  came together from a desire...

In this episode Bryan Jung talks about the experience of being only nine years old when his father, a prominent lawyer in the Korean community, was  tragically shot by a nother lawyer.  Fifteen  months later and just nine days before Bryan's 11 th birthday, his father died. Bryan reflects on the impact of his father's death, the strength of his family, and how he continues to honor his dad's legac...

In this episode, we talk with Judy Lipson, author of A Celebration of Sisters . Judy shares her journey of sibling loss, reflecting on the deaths of her sisters—Margie, who died of anorexia, and Jane, who died in a car crash—and how their absence shaped her identity. She opens up about the complexities of sibling grief, the impact of Margie's long battle with an eating disorder, and the moment whe...

When Jessica Waite's husband, Sean, died suddenly, she knew him as a dedicated father to their young son and a loving, engaged spouse. In her book, The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards, Jessica reveals the shock and heartbreak of discovering Sean's double life. What began as a devastating loss quickly became even more complex as she uncovered the many secrets he had kept—hidden debt, drug use, and i...