Grieving Out Loud: A Mother Coping with Loss in the Opioid Epidemic

Marijuana is a word that can quickly spark debate. Should it be legal? Does it offer real medical benefits? Is it a gateway drug? These questions continue to fuel controversy, and strong opinions exist on all sides. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud , we sit down with Crissy Groenewegen, director of the Parent Action Network . She works closely with parents and families impacted by marijuana, h...

When you think of a trailblazer, you think of someone who walks into the unknown and leaves a path behind for others to follow. Dr. Sophie Two Hawk is one of those people. She spent her childhood moving from place to place, living on and off reservations. And by 16, she had already graduated high school — not just early, but as valedictorian. Three years later, she’d finished her undergraduate deg...

In a special year-end edition of Grieving Out Loud , we take a look back at some of the emotional and meaningful conversations featured on the podcast this year. The show, produced by Emily’s Hope and hosted by Angela Kennecke, spotlights families affected by the opioid epidemic, as well as experts working to curb the growing mental health and substance-use crisis. Throughout 2025, Kennecke interv...

The holidays can be especially painful when you are carrying grief. While the world celebrates joy and togetherness, many people are quietly navigating loss, absence, and memories that feel heavier this time of year. Dr. Ken Druck has spent decades helping others understand grief, but his work is deeply personal. After losing his 21 year old daughter in a tragic accident, he was forced to walk the...

In American culture, men and women are often expected to grieve in very different ways, but those expectations can leave many men feeling pressured to stay silent, stoic, or emotionally closed off. Morgan Rich is working to challenge that pattern. Rich, a writer and life coach, focuses on helping men navigate grief, change and pain in healthier, more authentic ways. His work also explores what hea...

The teenage years are a crucial time to prevent addiction. The brain is still developing, making it more vulnerable to the lasting effects of drugs and alcohol. It’s also a time when peer pressure can lead to risky choices. So how do you help teens not only say no, but also inspire their friends and communities to make better decisions? In this episode of Grieving Out Loud , meet Annabelle Lovell,...

Loss shows up in every part of life. We lose games, we lose jobs, and sometimes we lose the people we love most. This week on Grieving Out Loud , Marcia Earhart shares a story shaped by more heartbreak than most people could imagine. Before she reached adulthood, she had already faced 17 major losses. She believes those early experiences may have prepared her, at least in some small way, for the u...

"Dopesick" — the Emmy Award-winning series that dives deep into one of the most devastating crises of our time: the opioid epidemic. The show pulls back the curtain on Purdue Pharma, the company that aggressively marketed OxyContin and helped fuel addiction across America. It’s gripping television based on real events—and real people. Today on Grieving Out Loud, you'll hear from two...

Terry Almanza knows a thing or two about gangs, drugs, and organized crime. She spent nearly three decades with the Chicago Police Department, following a long family tradition of public service. But after her teenage daughter died from an overdose, Almanza says she was devastated by how law enforcement handled the case. Now, she’s traded her badge for advocacy. Terry believes too many drug dealer...

Imagine going to a treatment center for addiction, only to be sent to work at a chicken processing plant for no pay. That’s one of the shocking realities investigative reporter Shoshana Walter uncovered in her national investigation into court-mandated addiction treatment. Her reporting exposed how a broken system turned thousands of people into an unpaid workforce for some of the country’s larges...

Grief changes everything. It’s the kind of pain that steals your breath and reshapes your world, a weight that never fully lifts. For Stephanie Wiley, that pain runs deeper than words can express. She suddenly lost her teenage son, the boy who never missed a chance to say “I love you,” to fentanyl poisoning. In the aftermath of unimaginable loss, Stephanie found healing in an unexpected place: her...

A 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles, introduced the world to David and Jackie Siegel, the powerhouse couple behind Westgate Resorts. The film showcased their booming business, lavish lifestyle, and bustling household of eight children. But behind the glamour, life took a devastating turn. The Siegels’ world came crashing down after the loss of their 18-year-old daughter, Victoria — a trage...

On any given day, paramedics are called into chaos—heart attacks, car crashes, overdoses, and everything in between. For Aaron Westfall, those emergencies too often involve the painful grip of addiction. But instead of only seeing tragedy, he chooses to see the person behind the struggle. That’s because Aaron has been there himself. He not only battled his own addiction, but also survived brain ca...

This fall, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was transformed into a sea of grief and remembrance. Four thousand tombstones stretched across the grass—each one representing a life cut short by substances. The Trail of Truth was more than an event; it was a call to action, shining a light on the nation’s fentanyl and substance use disorder epidemic and urging lawmakers to finally take notice. A...

From appearances on the Oprah Show to features in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Ken Druck has long been recognized as a leading voice on grief. A pioneer in grief literacy, he has earned numerous honors, including the “Distinguished Contribution to Psychology” award. But what makes his voice so powerful isn’t just decades of expertise—it’s the personal heartbreak that shaped his path. When his 21-y...

The numbers are heartbreaking. Nearly 40% of high school students say they feel persistently sad or hopeless, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in five reported struggling with anxiety or depression in just the past two weeks, and another one in five said they seriously considered suicide in the past year. In this episode of Grieving Out Lo...

From a school shooting in Minneapolis to bomb threats against Jewish hospitals in New York, hate crimes continue to make headlines across the country. FBI data shows that reported incidents rose by more than 200 in just one year, from 2022 to 2023. With every act of hate comes unimaginable grief, something today’s guest knows far too well. Mindy Corporon’s life was forever changed when a hate crim...

What began as a joyful winter break reunion quickly turned into tragedy. In January 2016, a group of college friends gathered at a lake house in southern Wisconsin to celebrate the new year. But before the celebration was over, four of them had vanished—including Sally McQuillen’s 21-year-old son, Christopher. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud , Sally shares her son’s story, the heartbreak that...

Picture this: 3,800 tombstones stretched out near the U.S. Capitol. Each one represents a life lost to substances— not a number, not a statistic — but a son, a daughter, a sibling, a friend. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud , I sit down with Kimberly Douglas and Alexis Pleus, the women behind the Trail of Truth . For them, this mission is deeply personal. They’re turning their grief into actio...

Grief is something most of us will face at some point in our lives—but it’s not exactly coffee shop conversation. Gary Roe is hoping to change that. He’s not only an award-winning author who’s written more than 20 books on grief, but also someone who speaks with honesty, compassion, and deep personal experience. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud , Gary shares about his painful childhood, the le...

How do you keep going when your world falls apart? It is a question even adults struggle to answer, so imagine what it is like for a child. For many, the pain of losing someone they love becomes unbearable. In the search for something, anything, to numb the hurt, they turn to alcohol or other substances. When grief is left unspoken and untreated, that path becomes even easier to fall into. Ellen I...

New York City is home to more than twice the population of any other U.S. city, so when a story makes headlines there, it usually means it’s something big. But for Scott Caddell,  the reason his son’s name appeared in the news was devastating. First, Scott lost his oldest son to a brutal and widely publicized murder. Then, years later, his younger son died from fentanyl poisoning. Long before eith...

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, we sit down for a one-on-one conversation with a man who’s spent decades on the front lines of the United States' battle against illicit drugs and overdose deaths. Derek Maltz, who recently served as acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), built a nearly 30-year career as a special agent. He also led the New York Drug Enfor...

Imagine watching a documentary about the dangers of opioids—then moments later, learning your only living child is gone. That’s the devastating reality Michael Land faced when his son unknowingly took a pill laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl. In the wake of unimaginable loss, Michael is choosing to keep his son's memory alive by living out the adventures they once dreamed of doing together...

They call themselves “bereaved besties,” but it’s a bond born from heartbreak.  Amy Neville and Bridgette Norring never imagined their lives would intersect like this, until both of their teenage sons died after taking what they believed was a prescription pill they bought on Snapchat. Instead, it was a deadly dose of fentanyl. Now, these two mothers are learning how to live with the unthinkable,...