Where's The Grief?

In this episode I got to talk with author and death doula Jule Wright Halbert. Formerly a lawyer and national education attorney,  after the death of her husband Jim she found that she needed to shift her focus and began a new chapter with a different meaning and purpose. We talk about her book, "Divine Ashes Descending," a memoir about her own experiences as a newly bereaved widow and her journey...

In this episode I talk with fellow grief expert Kyle Kittleson. After the death of his mother, Kyle found that talking about his loss to be among the few things that was truly helpful, and began a new career path that put him directly in touch with other people dealing with trauma. His work with MedCircle has proven that hope and help are always available, and that finding ways to work on our own...

In this episode I talk with actor and author Jody Gelb about her book, "She may be lying down but she may be very happy," a memoir about the loss of her daughter Lueza. Born with cerebral palsey, Lueza had many struggles in her too short life, but despite all that they faced, Jody managed to find ways to give her as normal and as happy a life as a child can have. Her story speaks to what is possib...

In this episode, I sat down to talk with Bobbi Schlager Milne! I met Bobbi 20 years ago at my first Compassionatte Friends grief conference, and she has continued to be a constant source of love and support in the grief community, and among the few bereaved parents who made a real point in finding support for her surviving daughter Tracy (who later became the sibling representative on the nation b...

In this episode I got to talk with Author and certified coach Ingrid Hu Dahl. Her new book, "Sun Shining on Morning Snow" is a testatment to the importance of preserving family history and finding ways to talk about the things that we tend to avoid talking about. After the death of her mother, Ingrid reflected on their relationship and how thier respective journeys of identity and self discovery w...

In this episode, I talk with Author Louise Ells about her book, "Lies I Told My Sister." Her novel began as a response to a a question a friend asked: "What scares you the most? And are you going to write about it?" Having already dealt with the loss of one of her sisters at a young age, Louise managed to find ways to express her feelings of grief and loss in a novel that explores the relationship...

In this episode I talk with comedian Keith Chase about the tumultuous year that saw him nearly lose his own life alongside dealing with the death of his grandmother as well as his father, all in a short span of time. Now 6 months later (This episode was recorded in Nov. 2024) Keith has started reflecting on all the issues that come out of loss, and how we think about our own mortality while still...

In this episode I talk with my good friend and fellow bereaved sibling, Earla Dawn Legault about her book, "Living With Sibliing Grief - Imagining a Way Forward." After the death of her sister Leigh-Ann, Earla struggled to find support for her grief, finding very little in for those who had lost a sibling. Even her local grief support groups in Canada seemed too general to understand what she was...

In this episode I talk with author Jonathan Foster about his book  After the death of his daughter Quincy at the age of 20, Jonathan spent close to a decade processing how to grieve and continue to keep hope in his life.  Poetry allows for a dynamic and interesting way to weave a narrative, and the ways we experience grief can often be so difficult to express in a linear way. "Indigo" manages to c...

In this episode I talk with comedian Benny Blue about his recent one-man show, "Live From My Mother's Funeral."  After his mother Virginia passed away in 2021, Benny found talking about his experience of grief on stage to be one of the few things that allowed him to be honest while still looking for humor in an otherwise traumatising moment.  Comedy allows us to talk about such a wide variety of t...

In this episode, I talk with Author Chris Cochran about his book, "What's Good About Today? A Purpose Driven Life." After getting a terminal cancer diagnosis at the age of 21, Chris' son Christian managed to keep his own optimism and uplifting spirit about him, inspiring those around him to be mindful and grateful for the life they have, and to earnestly exclaim all that which is good about today....

In this episode, I talk to author Annie Sklaver Orenstein about her new book, "Always A Sibling: The Forgotten Mourners Guide To Grief." After years of struggling with her own grief after the death of her brother Ben to a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, Annie began writing what ultimately became the book that she wished had existed when her loss was fresh.  As a skilled reasearcher, Annie surveyed...

In this episode I talk with comedian Brian Rabadeau life before and after the death of his father, Joe. After several bouts with serious health issues, Brian's father started the pandemic fighting against the isolation and struggling with all the mandates, which ultimately led to him dying of Covid in 2022. Since then Brian has worked on finding ways to move forward and let go of his anger towards...

In this episode, I talk with Author and Sound Healer Jeralyn Glass about her book, "Sacred Vibrations - The Transformative Power of Crystalline Sound and Music," as well as her practice of creating unique sets of crystal singing bowls. Already a musician and leader in the sound healing movement when her son Dylan died, Jeralyn focused her efforts on helping others tap into the various frequencies...

Hooray! In this very special episode, I got to talk with Chef Dan Budd, owner of Taste Budd's Cafe, and former teacher at the Culinary Institute of America. As many listeners of the podcast know, my brother Russell was about to graduate from the CIA when he passed away in 2002. Dan Budd was more than one of Russell's professors, he was a mentor to him, and an early employer to take Russell under h...

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Sara Glass about her new memoir, "Kissing Girls on Shabbat." Growing up in an extremely sheltered Orthodox Hassidic Jewish community, Sara decided to become a therapist and mental health professional partially because seeing how her sister Shani's mental health issues impacted her family. When Shani ultimately took her own life, Sara came out of the closet after ye...

In this episode, I talk with Tawnya Musser about her role and experiences in the world of Home Funerals. Already in school to become a funeral director when her brother Robert died, Tawnya found conventional funeral and death rituals to be lacking when it came to the way that her family wanted to celebrate Robert's life and give family and friends an opportunity to grieve together in a safe and fa...

In this episode, I talk with comedian Liz Glazer about her album, "A Very Particular Experience," recorded on the one year anniversary of Liz and her wife's first daughter's Leo Pearl stillbirth.  We talk about the difficulty of even making jokes about such a heavy topic, let alone putting together an entire album. However, we also highlight how important it is to laugh, and how much hope it can b...

In this episode, I talk with Author Joseph Alvaro about his book, " I'm One Of The Lucky Ones: Remembering A Soulmate."  After Joseph's wife Francés died in 2009, followed by a brother in law, an uncle, his daughter and his father, as well as a handful of friends. "It seemed like all I did was go to funerals for 14 months."  In the wake of such traumatic events, Joseph began finding ways to talk a...

In this episode I got to talk to Author Courtney Deane about her new book, "When Happily Ever After Fails." Courtney's father died when she was just 14, and her mother when she was just 28. In order to process her grief and make sense of her feelings about her own identity as a now parentless person, Courtney wrote a romantic comedy novel about a young woman going through similar difficult challen...

In this episode I talk with Author and fellow grief podcaster, Brooke Carlock! After a two year span in which she lost both her parents, her stepmother AND her 10 year old daugher Libby, Brooke has found a miriad of ways to process her grief, as well as help others through thier own. Her podcast, " Mourning Coffee " is an open and honest discussion about the ups and downs of grief and loss that is...

In this episode I talk to my good friend comedian John Moses! John's father Ken managed to live for 18 months after being given a terminal diagnosis that was much shorter. Now a year after his passing, John is starting to process his relationship with his dad, and finding ways to let his new perspective make him a better man and father. We also talk about how letting go of resentments and being pr...

In this episode, I talk with Author Deborah Kasdan about her book, "Roll Back The World - a sister's memoir." After being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young adult, Deborah's sister Rachel lived most of her life in and out of hospitals and institutions. Now 20 years since her death, Deborah felt the need to tell Rachel's story, to honer her memory and her life, and to help erase the stigma and...

In this episode I talk with comedian and fellow grief podcaster Micah Walsh! After his father Kevin died, Micah found an outlet for his feelings in starting his own podcast with comedians talking about grief and loss, "I'll Greive You With This." We talk about how helpful it can be to talk about the hard topics with other people who understand, and who are not afraid to make jokes about an otherwi...

Happy New Year! In this episode, I had an incredible conversation with my good friend and comedian Ray Gootz! Ray was one of my very early guests on the show ( Episode 11),   just one month after both his mother and Aunt died. He was among the first people I knew who was doing comedy material about his losses right away, and I was in awe of how open and raw the jokes were. It's been 8 years since...