When Grief Gets Silenced: Supporting Black Youth & Families With Dr. Allen Lipscomb
Grief Out Loud
Acknowledgment, validation, and curiosity – meeting grief with these three elements is crucial in creating supportive, culturally relevant grief support environments for children and adults. Dr. Allen Lipscomb has spent his career researching, designing, and implementing anti-racist interventions that directly support not just grief from death loss, but also the grief from racialized trauma experienced by those in the Black community. Dr. Lipscomb shares his personal experiences with grief, including the death of his grandmother when he was a...
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A Mother's Legacy, A Daughter's Grief - N'keya Peters-Camille
Grief Out Loud
In this episode of Grief Out Loud, Jana is joined by , LCSW, RYT® 200, a social worker, certified Grief Yoga teacher, facilitator for grief meet ups, and creator of . N’keya shares the story of her mother, Hope - a woman she describes as her soulmate - who died of pancreatic cancer in 2021 at the age of 46. N’keya reflects on growing up alongside her mother, witnessing her overcome immense challenges, and experiencing firsthand what it meant to be deeply seen, supported, and loved. After her mother’s...
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Tips For Grieving Through Mother's Day
Grief Out Loud
Mother's Day is approaching - Sunday, May 10th, 2026 - and it's a "holiday" that comes with lots of mixed emotions for those who are grieving. Whether you're a child grieving a parent, a parent grieving a child, or anyone who is carrying grief into the day, this episode might be for you. We explore why holidays connected to particular relationships can be so tough in grief and outline ideas for navigating both the lead-up and the day itself. This episode originally aired in April 2015. Other Grief Out Loud episodes related to mothers, mothering, and Mother's Day: Want to learn...
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What If Grief Care Is Preventative Care? Dr. Kailey Bradley
Grief Out Loud
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kailey Bradley about support for grieving a death loss, but also the more overlooked non-death losses, including chronic illness, infertility, shifting identities, and the futures we imagined but don’t get to live. Dr. Bradley is a clinician and educator who specializes in working with children and families navigating grief and illness. Kailey shares her experiences growing up with chronic illness and being diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at age 12, and how those layered losses affected her at different life...
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Throughlines: Keeping A Connection With My Mom
Grief Out Loud
Jeremy’s mom was a protector, an optimist, and someone who held onto a sense of lightness - even after a cancer diagnosis that led to her death just a few months later. In this episode, Jeremy shares what it was like to navigate such a short window between his mom's diagnosis and death, and how her outlook continues to shape him and his grief. From visiting her just before her death to to time spent in the woods bow hunting, he describes the ways he still feels connected to her. After her death, Jeremy's connection to nature and hunting became a foundation for staying close with his mom....
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Waiting for Dawn: Marisa Renee Lee on Living with Grief, Illness, and Uncertainty
Grief Out Loud
What does it mean to live with uncertainty - especially when your body, your capacity, and your sense of self are all changing at once? In this episode, Jana is joined again by author and advocate . You may know Marisa from her first book, , or from her work helping people tell the truth about grief. In this conversation, she returns to share about her new book, Waiting for Dawn, and the realities of living with long COVID - an experience that has reshaped her daily life, her work, and her understanding of grief. Marisa reflects on the many losses she’s navigated over the years: the death of...
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Words Matter: What To Say When Someone Is Grieving - Shelby Forsythia
Grief Out Loud
is well acquainted with grief. After a series of losses that started in her late teens and culminated in the death of her mother from cancer, Shelby became an expert in avoiding and outrunning her grief. Then, an incident with a stolen wallet broke through that avoidance; in the aftermath of letting those feelings out, she realized she needed to give herself permission to grieve. Since then, Shelby’s done so much in the realm of grief support—as a coach, author, and host of the podcast. Shelby’s newest book, , written for friends, family, and community members, provides answers to the...
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The Million Stages Of Grief - Michael Reed On Finding His Way After Catastrophic Loss
Grief Out Loud
What does grief look like when you lose your wife, two daughters, your home, and nearly everything you own - all in a single night? In this episode we talk with , a husband, father, and author whose life was forever changed when a wildfire swept through his community, taking the lives of his wife Constance, his older daughter Chloe, his youngest, Lily, their pets, and reducing their home to ashes. Nearly a decade later, Michael shares about the darkness he fell into, who was there to hold him and his son up, the ways he stays...
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Tending To The Roots Of Ritual With Joél Simone, The Grave Woman
Grief Out Loud
In this episode of Grief Out Loud, we talk with death & grief care professional, educator, and cultural advocate Joél Simone, also known as . Joél shares the story behind a childhood drawing that declared her future as “the grave woman,” and how that early curiosity about death grew into a lifelong vocation in funeral service, grief education, and cultural competency. Drawing from decades of experience, Joél reflects on the spiritual, cultural, and embodied dimensions of grief,...
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Restrung: Music, Grief, And Fatherhood With Matt Fogelson
Grief Out Loud
When father died of lung cancer during his senior year of college, he turned to music to express what words couldn't - rage, self-loathing, and grief so profound he didn't know where to put it. In this conversation, Matt - author of the new memoir - talks about the silence that surrounded his father's terminal illness, the vacuum left by an absent but beloved parent, and how grunge music (especially Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) created space for him to feel what was hard to put into words. Matt shares how his Aunt Wendy became his unlikely...
info_outlineIt's our fifth annual holidays & grief episode! This time of year can be grueling for anyone, but particularly for those who are grieving. So, each year we put out an episode to help you feel less alone and hopefully more equipped to traverse the next few weeks. Today's guest, Melissa Peede Thompson, M.S., is a Grief Services Coordinator at Dougy Center. While she has lots of professional knowledge in this realm, we asked her to talk about her personal experience of grieving during the holidays. Melissa was six when her sister died of gun violence. She was 13 when her father died in a motorcycle accident. And she was a young adult when her grandparents died. Each loss shaped - and continues to shape - how Melissa and her family approach this time of year.
We discuss:
- How her sister's death impacted her parents at the holidays
- What she remembers about the first Christmas after her dad died
- Grieving for her her grandparents before they died
- How the holidays can feel empty, even when the house is full
- Melissa's realization that grief has left her a little bit "Grinchy"
- What she's doing to shift how she thinks and feels about the holidays
- Learning to appreciate being able to spend time with the people who are still alive
- Why St. Patrick's Day became her favorite holiday
- Taking the pressure off trying to make the holidays feel the same after someone dies
If you missed our past Holidays & Grief episodes, be sure to listen to Ep. 27, 98, 174, 240.
Tips For Getting Through the Holidays & Holiday Plan Worksheet.
Register for our "Navigating Grief During the Holidays" webinar happening on Thursday, 12.7.23, 10 am - 11:30 am PST.