Overcoming Your Discomfort to Better Support a Grieving Spouse
Release Date: 12/10/2025
Overcoming Your Discomfort to Better Support a Grieving Spouse
After Life with Samina Bari
In the season finale of the After Life Podcast, host Samina Bari returns to reflect on the powerful conversations and lessons learned over the past five episodes. With honesty and gratitude, she shares how these raw, intimate discussions - rooted in her own journey of spousal loss - have opened doors for compassion, healing, and new understanding. Joined by lifelong friends, thought leaders, and grief advocates, Samina weaves their wisdom and stories into a tapestry of practical support and hope for anyone touched by loss. Through candid conversations about identity, navigating uncomfortable...
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The Grieving Parent’s Dilemma: Children are Not Resilient
After Life with Samina Bari
In this episode of the After Life Podcast, Samina Bari sits down with Cara Belvin, founder and CEO of Empower, a nonprofit devoted to building community for children who’ve lost a parent. Cara opens up about her own experience of losing her mother at the age of nine, the “rules” she picked up about remaining silent, and how that isolation motivated her to help other children who have lost a parent. Together, Samina and Cara talk candidly about the myth about children’s resilience, the weight placed on grieving families to “move on,” and why empathy, support networks, and open...
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The Administrative Burden on the Grieving Spouse
After Life with Samina Bari
In this episode of the After Life Podcast, Samina Bari sits down with Jason Fang, founder of TerraFirma Wealth Partners, to explore the often unseen challenges that come after losing a loved one. Jason shares his personal story of losing his father at a young age and how that shaped his empathetic and hands-on approach to helping families navigate the overwhelming financial and administrative responsibilities that follow a death. Together, Samina and Jason discuss the realities of grief, the limitations of “planning ahead,” and the practical—yet emotionally taxing—steps surviving...
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Channeling Your Strengths to Provide Support
After Life with Samina Bari
In this episode of the After Life Podcast, Samina Bari is joined by Abby Reyes, a powerhouse communications executive and a longtime friend of both Samina and her late husband, Doug. Abby shares the extraordinary and tender role she played in supporting Samina during the immediate aftermath of Doug’s sudden passing - including managing the countless details that weigh heavily on those left behind. Together, they explore themes of shock, grief, and the immense challenge of stepping up for someone while navigating their own emotions. Abby’s cultural perspective - rooted in Filipino...
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Living a Life We Didn’t Choose
After Life with Samina Bari
In the premiere episode of the After Life Podcast, host Samina Bari opens her heart and shares the deeply personal story that inspired her to create this show. With honesty and vulnerability, she talks about the sudden death of her husband, Doug, how that loss transformed her world as a wife, mom, now solo parent, and as a person, and why she is committed to changing how we support grieving spouses. Drawing from decades of leadership experience, personal struggles through religious and cultural pressures, otherness, infertility, and the devastating loss of her life partner, Samina offers a...
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The Support We Need Most When We’ve Lost Ourselves
After Life with Samina Bari
In this episode of the After Life Podcast, Samina Bari is joined by her lifelong friend, Stephanie Koze, who shares a deeply personal account of the moments surrounding the loss of Samina’s husband, Doug. From the first 3 a.m. phone call from the hospital to rushing cross-country to be by Samina’s side, Stephanie reveals the realities and raw emotions of showing up for someone in the darkest times. Together, they explore what true support looks like beyond words - offering presence, compassion, and practical help without overwhelming the grieving person. Stephanie’s thoughtful...
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After Life Trailer
After Life with Samina Bari
info_outlineIn the season finale of the After Life Podcast, host Samina Bari returns to reflect on the powerful conversations and lessons learned over the past five episodes. With honesty and gratitude, she shares how these raw, intimate discussions - rooted in her own journey of spousal loss - have opened doors for compassion, healing, and new understanding. Joined by lifelong friends, thought leaders, and grief advocates, Samina weaves their wisdom and stories into a tapestry of practical support and hope for anyone touched by loss.
Through candid conversations about identity, navigating uncomfortable silences, supporting grieving children, and managing life’s practical challenges after loss, Samina shines a light on what truly helps (and what doesn’t) when someone’s world has been upended. This episode is both a heartfelt recap and a call to action to keep the dialogue alive, offering resources and support for anyone grieving or supporting someone who is.
Key Takeaways:
The loss of a spouse is a uniquely devastating experience, shattering identity and rewriting the present and future overnight.
Support goes beyond words. Small, genuine gestures can comfort grieving people in ways that platitudes or silence never can.
Grieving children need special care, honest communication, and lasting community support—resilience is not automatic.
Friends and chosen family form a vital network, and self-care for those supporting the bereaved is essential to sustaining compassion.
Cultural traditions, personalized remembrance, and practical planning all play a meaningful role in fostering healing and connection.
If the stories and insights from these episodes have touched you, I warmly invite you to continue the conversation with me at saminabari.com. There, you’ll discover meaningful ways to share this work - whether by ordering copies for your friends, office or community, gifting the book to someone in need, or inviting me to speak to ignite more of these essential conversations together.
On the site, you’ll also find the latest updates about my book Don’t Call Me Widow: How to Support Someone Who Has Lost Their Spouse. Additionally, you can download a free resource I created, What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do