Grieving Voices

Based on the experiences she had in the first decade of her life, Angela was destined for a life of struggle, and, as her mom declared - die with a needle in her arm by the time she was 16. This prophecy nearly came true more than once. Instead, she got her Ph. D.. A life of trauma, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by her mother led to early motherhood, heroin addiction, looking for love in a...

In this episode, I dig more into the topic of faith and spirituality that Lizzy and I touched on in her episode.  Communication and support were a huge influence on her grief, whereas, I share how my experienced differed, despite both of us having the exact same losses which occurred in the same order, too. From Margo's episode, I talk about how hope greatly influences our outlook. Also, beca...

In this conversation, Margo shares the lessons she learned from her son, Jimmy, as he battled brain cancer for eight long years.  His cancer took his life at the young age of 21. What is a little different about Margo's share is that, prior to her son's death, loved ones close to her who had passed had all lived long lives; close to or in their 100s.  Her own father had passed away, also...

Lizzy and I share a similar loss experience. So much so, we both experienced the death of a grandmother, father, then uncle - in the same order. We have a conversation about how those losses have shaped and shown up in her life, from her perspective of being in her early 20's. Also, being only ten years past the death of her father, she shares what's helped her throughout her youth. The...

Through childhood grief and trauma, we are greatly shaped and influenced by the experiences we go through well into adulthood. I reflect on Nicky's episode, where he shares what life was like growing up as a child of artificial insemination and growing up in an LGBTQ home. We talked a lot about personal growth and how growing up surrounded by diversity helped him be accepting of all people. S...

Sandi Derby, a fellow Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, and Life Coach, shares her life's traumatic story that led her to do the work she does today. As a child, Sandi was sexually abused by her father, followed by sexual, satanic/ritualistic abuse at her uncle's hands (a pastor) and his friend (also a pastor). In adulthood, she became a functioning meth addict (by outside appearances)...

Nicky Scorpio, singer, songwriter, producer, and host of Scorpio Rising Podcast shares his experience being a child of artificial insemination, whose biological father later died of AIDS, and who was raised in an LGBTQ home. Through growing up in and around diversity all of his life, he gleaned many lessons. At age 12, he started to understand where he didn't fit and became an angry child as...

Episode 28 with  Quandell Wright offered me a perspective of what life was like for him growing up on the streets of Detroit, MI. He had to grow up fast, growing up with a single-parenting mom during his younger years, and how he found himself in a gang. I share thoughts about how easily a parent can make parenting choices based on fear. I share, from Ruthie Bowles episode ( Episode 29 ) more abou...

Ruthie Bowles shares her story of being raped not once but twice during her time serving in the U.S. Army full-time. The first assault occurred at the hands of her then-boyfriend. The second time she was assaulted was the very day she came back from deployment.  Surviving a deployment, only to come home and be assaulted in her own private space, along with the previous assault, set Ruthie up for a...

The odds were stacked from the get-go for Quandell. He grew up on the poor side of Detroit, Michigan, falling into gang activity, and, although he never used drugs, his life trajectory was greatly impacted by his decisions. He became a father at age 16 and again at age 19. Having never dealt with his past experiences, after a 3rd suicide attempt, he found himself admitted into a psychiatric hospit...

Episode 25 with Katie Chonacas was difficult for me to hear. I saw myself in her story and, although my experiences have been different, I felt for her, what I had been feeling also for myself. And, that was incredible sadness for what she went through. In this episode, I reflect more deeply on those experiences and, you'll also get to learn and understand how it is I found my way to do the w...

Victoria Shaw is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified School Counselor in the State of Connecticut.  She is also the author of four books, for tweens, teens, and adults, and the mother of two spirited, adult children. Victoria shares the loss of her sacred, beloved self, as she refers to her then self; the part of herself who she always was, however, lost touch and connection with over...

Katie speaks up, for the first time publicly, about a moment that wrote on the slate of how she would show up in the world moving forward. Follow along, as Katie shares how the very decision to speak up alone, has helped her to begin to heal years and years of emotional dis-ease. It takes an incredible amount of courage to speak about our trauma, and also, for the first time in this very public wa...

This episode digs more deeply into the grief of those left behind when a loved one dies by suicide. I also share three unhelpful words for grievers related to grief due to sudden and traumatic loss, particularly suicide. In this episode are some personal takeaways or a-ha's that have stuck with me. This episode is all about that and more from my interviews with David Woods Bartley and Bob Kru...

How would you feel if, as a parent, you were only allowed to see your kids for supervised visitation for 72 hours total out of an entire year? That's exactly what happened to my guest, Bob Krulish, and as a result of his bipolar diagnosis. However, he had always been a father with undiagnosed bipolar. And, the court system failed him. Today's story is about so much loss. In fact, Bob say...

** This episode is Part II  - Listen to Part I HERE * David is a mental health speaker, educator and holds certifications in Mental Health First Aid for adults and youth, SafeTALK (Suicide Awareness for Everyone), and the suicide prevention technique known as QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), which he mentions in this episode.  In Part I, David shared his story around a day like no other - the day...

** This episode is Part I of II: Listen to Part II HERE ** David is a mental health speaker, educator, and holds certifications in Mental Health First Aid for adults and youth, SafeTALK (Suicide Awareness for Everyone), and the suicide prevention technique known as QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), which he mentions in this episode. David shares his story around a day like no other - the day he was...

The child-griever club is not a very big club, and yet, big enough. 5% of children in the United States have lost one or both parents by age 15. This episode is a reflection of a shared experience with griever, Lindsay, from episode 18. She lost a parent, her mother, at 13 months old. If you haven't listened to her episode, and episode 19 with Reena, check those out then come back to this one...

**Reena shares graphic details of her two miscarriages. Please consider this if you have personally experienced a miscarriage.** We go deep in this conversation, talking about the environment a bereaved mother experiencing miscarriage goes through, through the eyes of Reena's experience. We touch on the loss of her grandfather as well, and the relationship he and her grandmother had. Reena re...

Lindsay's mother was murdered when she was a toddler. Being the youngest of three children, she speaks to her experience of what it was like growing up without her mom, and how she found a way to honor her mother's memory. Lindsay found the joy in her middle name again, with the birth of her business, The Joyful Jewelry Box, and as a Grief Advocate. Be a fly on the wall of a conversation...

There were some wonderful insights shared by guests Susay Ways on Episode 15 and Danielle Duffey on Episode 16.  In this episode, I share some highlights and dig a little more deeply into some of the topics we only scratched the surface of during the interviews.  Learn more about how I got through my grief, shifting energy and perspective, and how we want others to perceive us can actually hurt us...

One loss no mother ever wants to experience, and one most of us cannot even fathom, is the death of a child. Danielle shares how she and her family navigated the most devastating loss of their lives. Danielle says that we are not meant to live this life alone, and through her grieving voice, you will hear just how important support was to her and her family. You will also learn of resources that h...

We're taught how to attain relationships, careers, things, etc.. However, we're not taught what to do when we lose them. When Susan lost her husband to a rare form of lung cancer, she was surrounded by grief. From her own pain, she created the Tendrils of Grief podcast , which showcases grief professionals who can help provide guidance and advice to those who might feel so alone in their...

Through the conversation on Episode 12 with Patsy, the conversation led to how we live is how we die - "a good death." Through personal example, I illustrate how grief and loss during life do, indeed, impact our bodies until our very last breath. I then go into my thoughts on how men and women grieve differently, as it was briefly mentioned in Episode 13 in my conversation with Patti. Wh...

Patti shares her grieving voice on being a widow and how, despite moving on with life, her heart still grieves the loss of her first husband. However, grief didn't start for her there, and she touches on grief with the living, and later, a miscarriage, and her and her current husband's shared experience with IVF. Patti also shares what's helped her get through the hard days and how...