When Grief Gets Silenced: Supporting Black Youth & Families With Dr. Allen Lipscomb
Release Date: 05/12/2026
What Happens When You Stop Outrunning Grief? Camila Crews & Sorry For Your Loss (Cards)
Grief Out Loud
Have you ever found yourself trying to outrun grief? That’s what did when she was 19 and her mother died. Twenty years later, following the heartbreaking disappearance and death of her father, Camila stopped running and started feeling. Unable to just keep pushing through, she had to face her grief and learn how to care for herself in the process. Facing her grief inspired Camila to start , an initiative to help people better understand grief and show up for those who are mourning. Centering the experiences of Black and Brown communities, Sorry for Your Loss (Cards)...
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When "It's Not Your Fault" Falls Flat - Grief & Guilt
Grief Out Loud
In December of 2021, Sawyer was halfway through their final year of college in a world that was still reeling from the pandemic. Home for the holidays, Sawyer got the heartbreaking news that their older brother, Jason, had died by suicide - a before-and-after moment that continues to reverberate today. Sawyer shares their nuanced perspective on grief, delving into how mental health, incarceration, and other systemic barriers impacted Jason's life and death. We also explore how the phrase, "It's not your fault," while well-intentioned, can leave little space for those who are grieving to truly...
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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...
info_outlineAcknowledgment, 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 child and being wrongly accused of a crime in his adolescence. He also discusses the roots of his work as a clinician, researcher, and Professor of Social Work, including the culturally specific ways he engages with clients that prioritize choice and naming racism and racialized trauma that play a role in how people grieve.
We discuss:
- How childhood experiences of death, racism, and wrongful accusation shaped Dr. Allen Lipscomb’s understanding of grief, trauma, and identity
- The impact of racialized trauma on how Black youth and men experience, express, and silence grief
- Why naming experiences like racism, PTSD, and loss can be profoundly important and validating
- What culturally responsive grief support looks like, including storytelling, oral histories, grief mapping, somatic awareness, and community-centered care
- How grief supporters can avoid rescuer dynamics and instead create invitational, choice-centered spaces to explore grief
- The importance of preparing mental health providers, schools, and communities to offer anti-racist, culturally relevant grief support for Black youth and families
Allen E. Lipscomb, PsyD, LCSW, Professor of Social Work, Associate Chair, Director of MSW Online Program; and Director of Minority Male Mentoring (M3) and Student Success Allies (SSA) program at California State University Northridge in the Department of Social Work. Dr. Lipscomb is a clinical psychologist and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of California. Dr. Lipscomb specializes in providing anti-oppressive and inclusive mental health services to individuals, children, youth, couples, and families of color. His areas of research are centered on the psychiatric epidemiology among racialized and marginalized individuals who have experienced trauma (i.e., complex trauma, traumatic-grief, and race-based trauma). Dr. Lipscomb has conducted numerous qualitative research studies on racialized Black identified men across the Black/African Diaspora exploring their grief, loss, and complex-trauma experiences. His pedagogy is centered on cultural anti-oppressive and clinically responsive inclusive practices with communities of color. Dr. Lipscomb maintains a private practice; conducts local, national, and international trainings; is a consultant/coach, and keynote speaker. Dr. Lipscomb has numerous peer reviewed journal articles that centers Black male grief experiences and has a published five books all centered around Black men and boys grief, trauma, and healing journeys.
Resources mentioned in our conversation: