Restorative Grief with Mandy Capehart

“The goal was never to become our old selves again. The invitation is to build a life that can hold the person we’re becoming.” What if self-care stops working after grief because we’re asking it to do a job it was never designed to do? In this episode of Restorative Grief, we’re exploring why the things that used to help us recharge can feel like one more thing to manage after loss. Grief changes...

"We need to live in a culture that supports that instead of running away from it." What happens when we stop treating grief as something to overcome and start treating it as something worthy of our attention, care, and community? In today's episode, I'm joined by journalist, essayist, and author s.e. smith, whose book All My Dead Cats and Other Losses: Practicing Good Grief in a...

"The laundry was never the problem. The laundry was a reflection of something else." We often expect grief to break our hearts. We don't expect it to disrupt our routines. In this solo episode, I explore one of the most common and misunderstood experiences of loss: the way grief changes our capacity for everyday life. From forgotten appointments to overflowing laundry baskets, grief...

"You can't solve uncertainty, but you can empower people with tools and information to navigate it." What happens when grief, illness, caregiving, or unexpected change disrupt the life you thought you'd have? Dr. Lucy McBride, physician, patient advocate, and author of Beyond the Prescription , joins me for a conversation about health, uncertainty, and the difference between agen...

"Grief does not require us to become less independent. It gives us an opportunity to become less alone." If you grew up a little feral and learned early how to take care of yourself, grief can create an unexpected challenge: learning how to receive care without feeling like you've lost yourself. In this solo episode, I explore the tension between self-reliance and connection, why gri...

"When I began to recognize that one step forward, two steps back was part of the work, it was part of the process." What if the moments that feel like setbacks aren't signs you're grieving wrong? In today's conversation, I'm joined by Dr. Jennifer Dall, a grief-informed neurodivergence specialist, educator, ADHD coach, and founder of ADHD Holistically. Together, we explor...

“We accidentally communicate that their feelings are something to be argued with instead of something to be witnessed.” What do you do when someone you love says something that makes you wonder if they might be suicidal? Most of us were never taught how to have this conversation. We’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, making things worse, or asking too directly. In this episode, we talk about how...

"No one is actually grading you on your grief." What if the pressure to be "strong" is keeping you from being honest about what grief actually feels like? Today's conversation is with Leslie Harter-Berg, author of You're So Strong: On Grief and Letting Go of My Favorite Compliment . After the sudden death of her husband, Ryan, Leslie found herself trying to live up to e...

"Maybe that is what these seasonal transitions are really offering us. Not a chance to get back to normal, but a chance to become more honest about what is changing." What if some of the grief in your life is coming from a transition you actually wanted? In this episode, we are talking about the grief that can show up when life changes, even when the change is exciting or necessary. Send...

"Living a full life, living a beautiful life, means learning how to carry grief." What if grief isn't something we're meant to get over, but something we're meant to learn how to carry? In today's episode, I'm joined by therapist and author Margaret Bryden to explore the intersection of grief, creativity, and the healing power of honest expression. Margaret's upcoming book, How I Understand It: A...

“I’m fine” is often less a truth and more a reflex that pulls us away from what we actually feel. What if that phrase is quietly shaping how you move through grief, stress, and relationship without you realizing the cost? Beneath it, self-abandonment can start to look like stability. Today’s conversation explores what I’m calling high-functioning grief; the kind that runs underneath daily life whi...

“The invitation has always been towards a descent.” Grief is a core human faculty that requires skill development rather than simply passing through. This week, we’re exploring these skills through the lens of an apprenticeship of sorrow with author and teacher Francis Weller. Francis’ work invites us to consider the necessarily communal reality of grief work and in this conversation, we also cove...

"Gratitude does not require us to appreciate suffering. Sometimes gratitude simply invites us to notice what is present alongside suffering." What if gratitude was never meant to replace grief, but to sit beside it? In this episode, I'm sharing the story of one of my last visits with my grandfather before his death and exploring why gratitude and grief are not opposites. Together, we...

"Most of us spend far more of our lives in the middle than we expect." What happens when grief is not tied to a single event, but to a season of becoming? Today, I'm joined by writer and author Adriel Booker, whose newest book, Tethered to Hope, explores the liminal spaces of life. Those moments when something has ended, something else is beginning, and we find ourselves navigating u...

What if the small, everyday signals you’re ignoring are actually wake-up calls from your grief? In this episode we talk about how grief doesn’t always show up in big, obvious ways. Sometimes it shows up as irritation, loss of motivation, dreaming of a different life, or even constant planning. We break down nine common emotional and physical signals you might be brushing off and explore how you ca...

"Grief isn't always about losing what was. Sometimes it's grieving what you thought would be." What happens when grief collides with personality, parenting, and identity? Today I'm joined by Enneagram teacher, author, and Type-ish founder Tyler Zach for a conversation about infertility, adoption, parenting through unexpected challenges, and the grief of letting go of the futures we imagined. Toget...

This is not for you to make a list of things to handle, but for you to witness my story alongside me while you remember what matters the most here and now. Grief changes the way we move through the world after we encounter loss, but it can also inspire us to move with intention while we are in the middle of this messy life, too. Listen as I recount some of the beautiful and hard lessons of loss in...

“I don’t want to stay in my grief. I know I’m going to carry it with me, but I don’t want to stay in the sadness.” What does it look like to stay connected to someone you love after they die? And how do we make space for grief without losing ourselves inside it? Today’s conversation is with children’s author Jenny Robinson Clark, whose book Are You Here? was born from the loss of her mother, the e...

“You are not responsible for removing your child’s grief. You are responsible for the environment you help create.” What if parenting through divorce didn’t require you to make everything okay, but instead invited you to understand what is actually yours to carry? This conversation holds space for the quiet, often unspoken grief that comes with the end of a relationship, especially when you are st...

What does grief need from us - time, understanding, or something else entirely? In this episode, I’m joined by Kyle Kittleson, host at MedCircle, to explore what it means to live alongside grief rather than trying to fix or outpace it. We talk about how loss shapes the way we listen, why grief resists timelines, and what thousands of conversations with mental health experts have revealed about wha...

Have you ever sat with someone who is grieving and felt completely unsure what to say? If so, you're in good company! This week, let's talk about how the awkward silences you fear are an offering of solace and care for your beloved grievers. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable; that's where the magic is! Links + Resources from this episode: Learn more about Stanier's work Listen...

“Becoming a grief ally isn’t about having the perfect words—it’s about cultivating the humility, courage, and self-awareness to show up with compassion when someone you love is living through loss.” When grief enters the life of someone we care about, many of us freeze. We worry about saying the wrong thing, doing too much, or not doing enough. In this conversation, Aly Bird—life coach and author...

"What will you do when all your self-awareness isn't making a difference?" This is more common than you suspect, because learning alone doesn't move the needle in our search for the path toward wholeness. This week, we're talking about how the Enneagram is a helpful tool for language of what we're experiencing, and then we'll learn how to start integrating that langua...

“Sometimes grief isn’t just about losing a person. It’s about losing the story we thought our life would follow.” The stories we inherit shape who we are, but they aren’t always meant to stay. In this conversation, Kaitlin B. Curtice, author of Everything Is a Story: Reclaiming the Power of Stories to Heal and Shape Our Lives , invites us to notice the narratives we carry, grieve the ones that no...

“Grief is not something to get over. It is something to carry with awareness, intention, and openness to transformation.” In this episode, we explore what it means to live with grief rather than move past it. Through a restorative framework of sight, insight, action, and healing, we consider how grief becomes a guide for self-awareness, intentional living, and deeper connection. We also reflect on...