Tendrils of Grief

Kristina Shands is a transformational launch strategist and copywriter. She shares some social media best practices when dealing with grief and handling the pouring in of messages from friends and family. What's the best way to share the news? If people are hurt, how do you navigate that? And so much more.    Key Takeaways: Kristina shares her grief story.  As a launch strategist, Kristina shares...

Christie was married to her husband, Brian, for 30 years before he passed away suddenly one night. He was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by an oncoming truck. It was so sudden that Christie didn't even believe it was real until after she received the autopsy report, despite already having a funeral for him. She was not able to say goodbye to him one last time due to it being a closed casket...

Clarke McBee is a Licensed Professional Counselor and the Director of Community Relations at Home Instead Senior Care. In this podcast episode, she shares why someone should consider hospice care, how people can best navigate anticipatory grief, and why certain strong emotions (like anger) come up during the grieving process.    Key Takeaways: How did Clarke get into this field of work?  What is t...

Linda was married to Scott for 35 years and it was a rocky marriage. They got accustomed to living as roommates and were close to throwing in the towel when Scott got diagnosed with cancer. They spent a year working on all the pain their relationship had and it became a year of healing where they both forgave each other. Even though it was a very horrible year, Linda is so grateful because it brou...

Miranda Parker is the Executive Director of Hospice Foundation of the South and the Hospice House. Miranda is also the co-founder of Loss Love, a project that supplies care packages for child survivors of suicide. Miranda shares why a hospice house can give you the space and self care you need to reconnect with friends and get the extra support you need as your loved one's journey begins to pass. ...

Melanie Green is a Bereavement Counselor at Hospice of Washington County and she shares some of the common struggles her clients go through when they've experienced intense loss. People sometimes feel like they're abnormal for showing so much emotion and for crying all the time, but this is a perfectly okay thing to do. We each navigate through our grief journey differently. Melanie shares how eac...

Alison shares her grief story when she lost both of her parents within a short period of one another. Her dad had always been sick and so when his passing came, Alison was prepared for it. She had her mom to help her through that grief. However, when her mom had passed away from cancer, even though she knew it was a '5 year diagnosis', it still came to her as a shock. She was 21 when she found out...

Jen shares her painful story of losing her husband to a rare terminal cancer at 38. He had been diagnosed with cancer as a teenager and was in remission for 25 years. However, when the cancer came back, her husband wanted nothing more than to connect with his absent parents. They didn't get involved until the very end and Jen ended up being pushed out in some of the key decisions during that chall...

Dr. Eileen L. Cooley lost her husband of 30 years in a span of 2.5 months after he was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was shocking, it was painful. Her children had grown and were no longer living at home and Dr. Elieen was struggling with her grief in the beginning. She found writing to be a comforting thing to help her work through her emotions and through that experience, she wrote...

Jill lost her husband, John, in early 2018, after being married for 30 years. In 2007, she saw that John was acting weird and not like himself and he was misdiagnosed as bipolar, but his erratic behavior was far more extreme than the standard bipolar symptoms. On top of that, none of the medication was working. It was not until 10 years later, did Jill realize the true nature of his illness, it wa...

Gene is the mother of five children and grandmother to five children. Gene recently lost her 24-year old daughter to heroin two years ago and her older son, who is 33 years old, has terminal cancer. Gene has lost a child and is about to lose a second child and she shares how God has helped her through the passing of her daughter. She also shares coping strategies the various people in her family u...

To continue from episode one, my daughter, Madison, shares her perspective on coming to terms with the passing of my husband, Paul. Madison opens up and shares what it was like seeing her father become a different person through treatment. She also shares how a lot of her peers did not completely understand what she was going through and she ended up losing life-long friendships because of her gri...

My story is that of a lot of love and a lot of loss. My husband felt resentful towards the people who were trying to steal his already-borrowed time, but as I helped him and supported him through his journey, Paul and I became closer than we ever had before. At the end of your life, what matters are the relationships you have, nothing else. For me, it's about connecting with the right people and f...

Grievers and grief professionals share their personal stories and describe what was helpful for them or their clients in working through grief. This podcast will outline steps to have hope and build meaning into your life.