My Long-Term Relationship With Grief - Barri Leiner Grant & The Memory Circle
Release Date: 08/08/2024
Going To College With Grief - Loss In Young Adulthood
Grief Out Loud
When Hilary was 18, her oldest sister, Kelly, died from a rare cancer called DSRCT (desmoplastic small round cell tumor). In the same year, Hilary left for college and her parents divorced - three life-altering events that reshaped her relationships, sense of stability, and the early years of adulthood. In this episode, we talk about: Growing up as the youngest of three sisters and the creative, nurturing bond she shared with Kelly Navigating Kelly’s diagnosis, treatment, and death while still in high school Trying to appear “fine” in college while carrying...
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The Friends We Make In Grief
Grief Out Loud
When Cassie arrived at Dougy Center for her first peer grief support group for young adults after her dad died, she sat in the parking lot wondering if she could even walk inside. When she did, she found people her age who understood what it meant to have a parent die - people who would end up shaping her life in ways she never imagined. In this episode, Cassie talks about how grief changed her, what it was like to find community in a peer support group, and how those friendships continue to support her years later. Now, as a volunteer facilitator in a peer grief support group for children,...
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Caring For The Caregivers
Grief Out Loud
When you’re grieving, “Take care of yourself,” might be the last thing you want to hear. So what does self-care actually look like for a parent or caregiver who is grieving? Rebecca Hobbs-Lawrence, MA, who coordinates the Pathways Program at Dougy Center for families facing an advanced serious illness, joins us to share practical tools for caregivers who are trying to balance taking care of others with tending to themselves, along with crucial advice for friends and family who want to provide truly...
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Mourning Air - Leena Magdi On Grieving Her Brother And Her Homeland
Grief Out Loud
When Leena Magdi’s younger brother, Hamoodi, was killed, her world shifted entirely. In her debut book , Leena explores how grief reshapes identity, faith, and love. In this conversation, Leena shares what it meant and means to be Hamoodi’s sister, how sibling grief is often dismissed, and how writing helps her navigate the grief. Leena also shares about her family’s forced displacement after war broke out in Sudan less than a year after Hamoodi’s death - and how she’s learning to grieve both her brother and her home. We discuss: What it means to be a sister after a sibling...
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Grieving A Sudden Or Unexpected Death With Dr. Jennifer Levin
Grief Out Loud
When someone you know dies suddenly, everything changes in an instant. The world you once knew can feel unfamiliar and unsafe, and finding your way back to even the smallest sense of stability can feel impossible. In this episode, we talk with , therapist, educator, podcast host, and author of . Jennifer specializes in supporting people grieving sudden or unexpected deaths that can completely upend how we see the world and shift our sense of safety. We discuss: The differences and overlap between the terms: sudden, unexpected, and traumatic How grief affects the...
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Grief Is Forever, But So Is Love: Tiriq Rashad On Loss & Creativity
Grief Out Loud
When , artist, poet, and performer, sits down to write, he’s not just telling his own story - he’s carrying his daughter, his brother, and his mother with him. In this conversation, Tiriq shares the layered ways grief has shaped who he is: from the death of his first child before she was born, to growing up caring for his brother who lived with cerebral palsy and autism, to the sudden death of his mother. Through it all, Tiriq’s foundation in caregiving, service, and community continues to guide him - both in his personal life and in his art. His new album, Kiss My Art, is...
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Now I’m An Adult Orphan: Tyler Feder On Dancing At The Pity Party, Again
Grief Out Loud
When was 19, her mom died of cancer, an experience she captured years later in her bestselling graphic memoir . In the years since, Tyler has described herself as a “dead mom person” - reflecting just how much of her life was shaped by the death of her mother. But this past winter, Tyler’s dad also died, adding a new aspect to her identity, this time as an adult orphan. In this episode, we discuss: The contrast between her parents’ personalities – mom (quiet, creative, cat-like), dad (gregarious, emotional, dog-like) - and which of those aspects Tyler carries...
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Rabbit Heart - A Mother's Murder, A Daughter's Story
Grief Out Loud
In 1986, when was eight years old, her mother was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in Oklahoma. Decades later, Kristine tells her story in , a memoir weaves together her fragmented childhood memories, growing up with grief, and then as an adult, reckoning with the painful details of her mother's death. The course of the book shifts when there is a break in the cold case of her mother's murder, leading to a trial and eventual conviction of Kyle Eckhart, one of the men responsible. In this conversation Kristine reflects on what it means to grieve for her mother and for the violent way...
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Relief With Some Grief - When An Abusive Parent Dies
Grief Out Loud
When someone dies, the story is often one of sadness, longing, and loss. But what happens when the person who died was also someone who caused great harm? For Kathy, who was sexually and emotionally abused by her father, his death when she was 11 brought more relief than grief. In this conversation, Kathy shares how her early experiences with grief and trauma shaped her path as a social worker and volunteer, including her current work with teens and tweens who are grieving. We explore: What it was like to have her dad die while carrying the painful secret about his abuse...
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Befriending Grief: Why She's Your Guide, Not Your Enemy – Dr. Jamie Eaddy
Grief Out Loud
How do we move from seeing grief as something to fix or overcome, to understanding it as a lifelong companion and guide? In this conversation with Rev. educator, death doula, founder of , and creative force behind she invites us to reimagine grief as a friend who helps us navigate loss, change, and transition. Drawing from her personal lineage of grief through the deaths of her grandmother, cousin, and uncle, Dr. J. shares how these experiences shaped her work supporting individuals and communities, especially those living at the intersections of marginalization and oppression. ...
info_outlineWhen Barri Leiner Grant was 28, her mother Ellen died suddenly. Barri was hit with intense grief, but back then the expectation was to hurry up and get back to work and life. She didn't have the time, space, or tools to acknowledge and attend to grief. Over the past 31 years, Barri and her grief have gotten to know each other on a deep level. In this long-term relationship, she's learned that her grief gets louder each time she reaches a new milestone or faces a transition. Even with that knowing, the grief can still find ways to catch her off-guard. Recently, one of those times was watching her daughter turn the same age Barri was when her mother died.
We discuss:
- How Barri's mom, Ellen, was a woman before her time
- The day her mother died and the last sounds she heard
- What the early days of grief felt like
- The untenable expectation to get back to "normal"
- Finding Hope Edelman's book, Motherless Daughters
- The grief tending tools Barri turned to over the past 31 years
- Her daughter turning the age Barri was when her mother died
- The newer grief of being a caregiver for her father who has dementia
- How The Memory Circle came to be and Barri's work as a grief coach
- One of Barri's favorite ways to engage with grief - writing
Barri Leiner Grant is the founder and Chief Grief Officer™, of The Memory Circle for grief support--a place and space she created in 2019, for those learning to live with loss. She left a longtime career as a journalist and motherloss peer guide, to pursue full-time work and training as a Certified Grief Coach and Educator. Connect with Barri on Instagram and Substack.