What's Your Grief Podcast

People are complicated. Human relationships are complicated. There are many people in our lives with whom we have love-hate relationships with.  We don't just grieve when the people we have positive relationships die. We can also grieve people who harmed us, caused us pain, and were abusive. There are many reasons why grieving these people can bring up unique challenges. In this episode we talk ab...

You hear all the time that grief isn't linear, but that doesn't change the surprises in the ways it ebbs and flows over time. In this episode we talk about the predictably unpredictably cycles of grief and the ways grief continues wax and wane as it intersects with so many other aspects of life. But we start with a good old chat about trying to get our sh*t together and just how hard that can be. ...

In this episode, we talk about grieving a friend. Litsa has had four friends die in the last four years. As a grief therapist and someone who is not new to grief, it has left her reflecting on some of the unique and unexpected aspects of these losses. Though we're primarily focusing on when a friend dies in this episode, you can check out this article about grieving a friend following a falling ou...

Continuing Bonds Theory is both one of our favorite grief theories and also a griever favorite. And yet it's been ages since we've done an episode about it. So long, in fact, that a new book and a fair bit of new research has come out that has further shaped how with think about continuing bonds. If you're grieving and you haven't heard of continuing bonds, we think you'll probably like it. And if...

If you've ever wondered why our grief support isn't broken down by type of loss, today you'll find your answer. In this episode we talk about the question "what's your grief?". Specifically, we break down why, for us, this question has always had less to do with who died and more to do with the unique nature of your relationship with that person and the specific experiences and challenges of your...

In this episode, we address a question from a bereaved mom who didn't see her daughter after her daughter's death. She finds herself wondering if she should have fought harder to see her daughter. This brings up so many questions held by grievers no matter what decisions they made around a death -- often some variation of "should I have done something differently and would that have eased this pai...

This week we respond to a question from one of our Hub members.  Grief anxiety is very real and, unfortunately, the very connections that can ease anxiety in grief can also be the source of that anxiety. We're chatting about that complicated experience after loss when you find yourself fearful of creating new relationships for fear of losing people while also wanting connection and fearing being a...

In this episode, we dive into the world of grief in the digital era. Specifically we talk about what it really means to express sorrow online and the frustrating misconceptions that grief posts are just for attention. Some people turn to social media for support during tough times and genuine empathy means looking past the many assumptions about what's behind these posts.  Sign up for our free Feb...

In this episode, Litsa and Mary chat about what it means to 'befriend grief'. This includes plenty of thoughts about how modern western culture shapes our beliefs about death and grief, with a healthy dose of how we try to counteractive some of the pressures to pathologize grief.  In this episode, Mary mentions the follow books that have had a big impact on her grief lens: The Wild Edge of Sorrow...

In this episode respond to a question about feeling relief after a death. But first, we talk about the recent Vox article The Race to Optimize Grief and the wild wild west of how AI is changing the way people mourn.  Visit  whatsyourgrief.com for hundreds of free articles we've written about all things grief and loss. You can read more about relief in grief here .  Join the WYG Hub (it's our griev...

In this episode we talk about a new article on the website that Litsa wrote about a concept she's termed "paradoxical grief". It's the often-confusing experience of grieving a loss that is both anticipated but also sudden and shocking. We talk about this experience that is both incredibly common and yet also rarely talked about in grief, in part because it can feel difficult to explain.  You can c...

We kick off this episode with our review of the new Dan Levy Netflix film "Good Grief". If you haven't watched it and don't want any spoilers, jump into the episode closer to minute 27. In the rest of the episode we address a common question that comes up for grievers: with so much information out there about grief, why aren't people more grief-literate? Which of course begs the question, what is...

Come to the free Grieving in the New Year Webinar with Litsa this Sunday - sign up here -- https://whatsyourgrief.ck.page/432a2df1e7 This week we're talking about all the surprising challenges of facing the new year in grief. Everything from the passage of time to a Hub member question about what it means to 'live your best life' without fear of forgetting.  The book Litsa mentioned in the episode...

We're back with an episode about - you guessed it - grief at the holidays! Sure, we've talked about this basically every year here on the podcast. Yes, we have approximately a zillion articles about it on the website. AND we still have more to say on the topic! Because there is simply so much that the holidays bring up when it comes to loss. Other holiday grief support: For a lot more practical an...

In this episode we're going deep, talking about a very common but rarely discussed issue in grief: existential dread. Loss can make us face big questions about life and purpose. It makes us face our own mortality. This week we talk about what it's like to gaze long into the abyss. We reflect on our own discomfort with death (and our comfort with that discomfort).  We don't have ads or a patreon. W...

May is here and that means the looming grief triggers of Mother's Day and Father's Day are upon us. In this episode we cover all the basics - why it's hard, who is impacted (spoiler alert: it isn't just bereaved parents and bereaved children), and some suggestions for coping.  We have tons of Mother's Day and Father's Day articles and support over on What's Your Grief.  Start with some of our favo...

Anxiety is one of those grief experiences that is incredibly common and yet often catches people off guard. If you experienced difficult levels of anxiety before a loss, it can feel worse than ever as you navigate grief. And even if you never struggled with managing anxiety before, your loss can bring it up. In this episode we talk about the relationship between grief and anxiety, some common reas...

This week we're reflecting on what's were doing here. Not in the existential sense (though we're certainly always angsting about that on some level). But in the sense that we're curious what you want to hear more of. We hope you'll give a listen and then answer these 3 (very simple) questions to help guide our future episodes. https://form.jotform.com/230677758851066 We don't have ads or a patreon...

Though there have been significant losses in our lives in the decades since, each of us looks back to the deaths of a parent early in life as formative to our lives and specifically our work in grief. In this episode, we reflect on the ways those remote personal losses still surprise us - even now.  We don't have ads or a patreon. What helps us most is if you join the WYG member community for grie...

Litsa's flying solo this week, answering questions about grief submitted on Instagram. Talking about supporting partners, siblings, navigating grief conversations with friends, plushies, and more! We don't have ads or a patreon. What helps us most is if you join the WYG member community for grief education, connection, accountability, a grief book club & more.  It is only $8.33/month if you join a...

We're two days into 2023 and the theme for us has been . . . meh. That 'new year, new me' rhetoric gets old fast. In this episode we're talking about why moving into a new year can feel hard, especially for grievers. That means musing about what happiness is (and isn't), the appeal (and risks) of a 'fresh start', and living a 'because of' life instead of an 'in spite of' life.  Read Eleanor's arti...

Eleanor's been feeling pretty disconnected this holiday season. Though that might sound better than feeling terrible, it turns out that numbness and disconnection are their own version of unsettling. In this episode, we're tackling this common-but-difficult-to-describe experience in grief - feeling nothing and what to do about it.  2022 is winding down and we'd love your support to keep this podca...

Relief is one of the more common grief emotions and yet it is one that people often feel ashamed to mention. So today we're talking about relief in grief - what it is, what it isn't, how to understand it, and personal experiences with it.  About us: Eleanor Haley, MS and Litsa Williams, MA, LCSW-C are the co-founders of What's Your Grief, one of the largest online grief and bereavement support com...

This week we were feeling the post-Thanksgiving emotional grief hangover. That means musings on family, holidays past and present, and the ways we grieve the things we assumed would always be part of our lives, but aren't.  We don't have ads or a patreon. What helps us most is if you join the WYG member community for grief education, connection, accountability, a grief book club & more.  It is onl...

This week we talk about yet another unexpected aspect of grieving - realizing that we in many ways grieve the past, the present, and the future. This expands on a few things we talked about in the nonfinite grief episode, so make sure you catch that one too.  We don't have ads or a patreon. What helps us most is if you join the WYG member community for grief education, connection, accountability,...