Marney Thompson is the Director of Bereavement Services at Victoria Hospice and an executive member of the Canadian Grief Alliance. She is the recent recipient of the King Charles Coronation Medal in recognition of her contribution to the field of bereavement care. She is an experienced conference presenter, clinical co-lead of the BC Psychosocial ECHO project, and a counsellor in private practice. In addition to these roles, she is also co-author of the award-winning book, “Transitions in Dying...
Dec 21, 2025•50 min•Ep. 240
Michael Mackenzie has worked in Developmental Services, supporting people with intellectual disabilities, for more than 35 years. His areas of focus have included person-directed employment navigation, fundraising, staff training, advocacy and rights, decision making in health care, palliative and Hospice family support, and legacy work through storytelling. Michael is also a volunteer at Bereaved Families of Ontario (Toronto), where he facilitates peer grief groups for people with intellectual ...
Dec 07, 2025•39 min•Ep. 239
As the Operations Manager at ARCH Hospice, Julie Premo is responsible for Operations, Human Resources, Fundraising, Training, and Continuing Education. She is a passionate Healing Arts Practitioner, Reiki Teacher and Yoga Instructor owning a local business ( Infinite Healing Arts ). She also practices Dental Hygiene part-time and owns an independent Dental Hygiene Practice. In this episode, we discuss working at a hospice, a precognitive dream of her mom’s death date, her mom‘s end-of-life journ...
Sep 21, 2025•37 min•Ep. 238
Felicia Cardinal manages an Indigenous clothing store in Chilliwack, British Columbia called Section 35 . She is originally from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Saddle Lake Cree Nation is a Plains Cree, First Nations community, located in the "Beaver Hills" region of central Alberta, Canada. Felicia was born in Edmonton, Alberta and raised in and around there. She moved to Chilliwack in 2009 with her grandmother, who has since moved back to Alberta. Felicia likes to spend her free time at home with her...
Jun 29, 2025•38 min•Ep. 237
Earla Legault advocates for adult sibling grief peer support and using creativity to process grief. She co-wrote and illustrated the book Living With Sibling Grief: Imagining a Way Forward with her sibling grief buddy Monica Murphy. Earla is the 2024 recipient of The Compassionate Friends Karen Snepp Outstanding Sibling Award, given to those making significant contributions to fostering and furthering the philosophy of sibling programs. She currently co-hosts the monthly online Canada Sibling Sh...
May 30, 2025•30 min•Ep. 236
Lindsey Whissel Fenton is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, international speaker, and grief educator. In her current role as a senior producer and director at PBS/NPR affiliate WPSU, Lindsey focuses on projects related to grief, trauma, and mental health. She is the creator of Speaking Grief and its sister-initiative, Learning Grief , and serves on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG). Lindsey is the founder of Empathic Media , a company that works with cl...
Apr 27, 2025•43 min•Ep. 235
In this episode, I recap some of the dream conversations I had with guests in 2024. You can find more about Grief Dreams here: Website – www.griefdreams.ca Instagram and Twitter - @Griefdreams Facebook – Grief Dreams Podcast Page and Grief Dreams Group Looking for ways to support the podcast? You can help support the Grief Dreams Podcast in a few ways: 1) Subscribe to the podcast (on the platform you listen to) and give a review. This improves our online visibility. 2) Support the topic by shari...
Jan 01, 2025•39 min•Ep. 234
Alison Garwood-Jones is an award-winning magazine writer and a former editor at Elle Canada. She now heads up Pen Jar Productions, an art shop and publishing imprint. She also teaches writing and digital strategy at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, where she won the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award. Alison’s new picture book, titled “I MISS MY MOMMY: 150 Portraits of Orphaned Adults”. You can find more about Alison at https://alisongarwoodjones.com/ . In this episode, I t...
Dec 07, 2024•34 min•Ep. 233
David Kessler is one of the world’s foremost experts on grief, loss, and navigating life’s changes. His advice has been featured by The New York Times, Unlocking Us with Brene Brown, TODAY Show, and GQ. He's written six bestselling books, including Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief . That book was a continuation of a book he co-authored with Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross called On Grief and Grieving which discussed her 5 stages for grief. His newest release which is out now is called Finding...
Oct 01, 2024•50 min•Ep. 232
Nina Rodriguez is the founder and host of the Grief and Light Podcast, created after the unexpected loss of her only sibling, Yosef, as an authentic exploration of grief and life after loss. Beyond the podcast, Nina extends her heart-centered support through monthly circles, personalized mentorship, speaking engagements, active presence on social media, and forthcoming in-person retreats. She has also completed the Grief Care Professional Certificate Program. You can find more about Nina at http...
Sep 01, 2024•45 min•Ep. 231
Litsa Williams, MA, LCSW-C is the co-founder of the online grief organization What’s Your Grief. She’s a grief therapist with over 15 years of experience working with sudden, traumatic, and disenfranchised losses as well as ambiguous grief. Drawing on both personal and professional experience with grief, WYG was built as a resource offering concrete, accessible, and relatable support, founded on the values of psychoeducation and creative coping. It has grown to serve more than 3 million grievers...
Jul 02, 2024•55 min•Ep. 230
Dr. Saul Ebema brings over 20 years of spiritual care experience to his role as President of Hospice Chaplaincy and Director of Bereavement Services for a leading home health and hospice provider in the United States. Ordained as a minister in South Africa, he served in various pastoral roles supporting congregations and outreach. Dr. Ebema completed his Doctor of Ministry focused on advancing hospice chaplaincy practices. He has over a decade of experience as a healthcare and hospice chaplain p...
Jun 02, 2024•35 min•Ep. 229
Dr. Enrique A. Mundaca is a Biologist graduated from the University of Concepción (Chile), holds a Master of Science in Conservation Biology, and a PhD in Ecology from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). He has a wide range of research interests including taxonomy and ecology of insects; natural history of marine organisms; sustainability in agricultural ecosystems; agro-biodiversity as cultural heritage; human-nature relationship, and environmental education. On a personal level, h...
Apr 06, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 228
In this episode we recap some of the dream conversations we had with guests in 2023. You can find more about Grief Dreams here: Our website – www.griefdreams.ca Instagram and Twitter - @Griefdreams Facebook – Grief Dreams Podcast Page and Grief Dreams Group Looking for ways to support the podcast? You can help support the Grief Dreams Podcast in a few ways: 1) Become a Patreon supporter (monthly financial support) https://www.patreon.com/griefdreamspodcast 2) Buy us a Coffee (one-time financial ...
Feb 19, 2024•53 min•Ep. 227
Roberta Kuriloff is a speaker, community activist, former attorney and the author of the new book “Framing a Life: Building the Space to be Me”. With humor and poignancy, her memoir takes readers along an inspiring journey of self-discovery. She is also a founding member of two domestic violence projects, as well as an elderly services organization, and was a hospice patient-volunteer and bereavement workshop facilitator. You can find more about Roberta at www.RobertaKuriloff.com . In this episo...
Dec 12, 2023•23 min•Ep. 226
Nikki Wilson is a model and the owner of Mira Denim. Mira Denim is a small batch, ethically made, sustainable fashion company. You can find more about Nikki on Instagram @nikkiwilso or at https://www.miradenim.com/ In this update episode we talk about her grief journey since joining us 4 years ago on the podcast (episode 128), building confidence, learning about her emotions, ambiguous loss of her birds, and dreams relating to her deceased uncle and of her birds. You can find more about Grief Dr...
Oct 01, 2023•30 min•Ep. 225
Kathy Wagner is a writer, writing coach, and mother of three grown children including her son, Tristan, who died from fentanyl poisoning in 2017. Her personal essays have appeared in The New York Times , The Globe & Mai l, and The Sun Magazine . She is the author of Here With You: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Addiction , to be published on September 9, 2023 in Canada with a US & global release date of Spring 2024. You can find more about Kathy at https://www.kwagnerwrites.com/ In this e...
Sep 04, 2023•41 min•Ep. 224
Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Seraglio , a short film he wrote and directed with wife Gail Lerner. He has taught Theater and/or Filmmaking at Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University, Cal Poly Pomona University, and to incarcerated youth through The Unusual Suspects. His one person show titled, Grief: A One Man ShitShow , premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival where it won a Best of Broadwater Award. He recently...
Aug 05, 2023•42 min•Ep. 223
Emily Bevan is a writer and actor, perhaps best known for her role as spirited zombie Amy Dyer in BAFTA winning series ‘In The Flesh’. She is soon to appear on Disney plus/Hulu in the hotly anticipated tv series of the much loved film, The Full Monty. Other credits include Funny woman, Doc Martin, Temple, GRANTCHESTER, Domina and many more. In the run up to her father’s untimely death in 2014, Emily kept a diary of thoughts, feelings, anecdotes and poems as a way of keeping sane. These diaries w...
Jul 09, 2023•47 min•Ep. 222
After teaching poetry as an academic for over 20 years, Cathy Sosnowsky started writing poetry herself in response to the sudden death of her teenaged son. Two lines of poetry came to her in a dream on the very night he died. She had to get out of bed and write them down. From then on, in her grief journey, writing poetry saved her. Eventually, many of these poems were published in the book, Holding On: Poems for Alex. Cathy has since published two more books: Snapshots: A Story of Love, Loss, a...
Jun 10, 2023•34 min•Ep. 221
Krishma Arora immigrated to the United States from India when she was five years old, and grew up on Long Island and then attended New York University. She is a poet, writer, and public speaker. For a few years, she was the author of “Free Spirit,” a monthly column in her hometown magazine, Brookville Living. She has an MS in Education, as well as an MS in Marketing. She has also worked as a high school social studies teacher for 11 years. She lives in New York with her husband and four children...
May 21, 2023•40 min•Ep. 220
Dr. Donna Stoneham is the author of The Thriver’s Edge: Seven Keys to Transform the Way You Live, Love, and Lead (SWP, 2015), and a contributor to the anthology, Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis: Women Writer’s Respond to the Call (SWP, 2022), and the new book Catch Me When I Fall: Poems of Mother Loss and Healing (being released May 9, 2023). Additionally, over the span of her thirty-year career in leadership development, she has coached hundreds of leaders, teams, and executives, guiding t...
May 03, 2023•40 min•Ep. 219
Fiona Tinwei Lam has authored three poetry collections and a children's book. She has produced several award-winning poetry videos that have screened at festivals all over the world. Besides editing the anthology, The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems on Facing Cancer, she has co-edited two nonfiction anthologies. She has been shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award and thrice selected for BC’s Poetry in Transit. Her work appears in over 40 anthologies, including the Best Canadia...
Mar 31, 2023•40 min•Ep. 218
Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has been featured in SELF, O, More, Tiny Buddha and The New York Times . She’s the author of multiple self-help titles including The Extremely Busy Woman’s Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). She is the host of The Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast, and has been heard widely on podcasts and radio. You can find more about Suzanne at www.suzannefalter.com In this guest update episode, we talk with Suzanne about the death of her d...
Feb 27, 2023•34 min•Ep. 217
Dr. Kathy Belicki is a Professor Emerita of Psychology at Brock University. She trained originally as a clinical psychologist, but soon found out that teaching and conducting research brought her the most joy. For much of her career she studied dreams looking at such questions as differences in dream recall, the causes and treatment of nightmares, the relation of personality to dreaming, and, at the end of her research career, the nature of dreams of the deceased. At various times she also studi...
Jan 29, 2023•49 min•Ep. 216
In this episode we recap some of the dream conversations we had with guests in 2022. You can find more about Grief Dreams here: Our website – www.griefdreams.ca Instagram and Twitter - @Griefdreams Facebook – Grief Dreams Podcast Page and Grief Dreams Group Looking for ways to support the podcast? You can help support the Grief Dreams Podcast in a few ways: 1) Become a Patreon supporter (monthly financial support) https://www.patreon.com/griefdreamspodcast 2) Buy us a Coffee (one-time financial ...
Jan 02, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 215
Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of the Modern Loss Community, started becoming an expert in grief the moment she learned that her mother Shelby was killed in a car crash. Her expertise expanded when four years later, her father Ray died of a heart attack while traveling. As a single woman in her early thirties, Rebecca needed to talk about her grief, and she really needed to hear others talk about theirs. It was this longing for an ongoing conversation that led her, along with co-founder Gabi Birkner...
Dec 15, 2022•23 min•Ep. 214
Addison Brasil is a speaker and the Author of the book First Year of Grief Club: A Gift From A Friend Who Gets It. He shows up in the world as an active and committed mental health advocate after finding himself Just to the Left of Death three times during his twenties. Losing his brother to an inoperable brain tumor, finding his father after suicide, and surviving a fatal accident that killed a dear friend and left him relearning to walk. Attributing his ability to not only survive but thrive w...
Nov 26, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 213
Parvati Markus is the author of Whisper in the Heart: The Ongoing Presence of Neem Karoli Baba (Mandala, released this year 2022) and Love Everyone: The Transcendent Wisdom of Neem Karoli Baba Told Through the Stories of the Westerners Whose Lives He Transformed (HarperOne, 2015). With Radha Baum, she is the co-author of a children’s book, Isabella Castaspella: The Happy Little Witch and Her Friends (SitaRam Press, 2022). Parvati has been “midwifing” spiritually-oriented nonfiction books and mem...
Oct 29, 2022•55 min•Ep. 212
Raymond Moody, M.D., Ph.D. is a world-renowned author, lecturer, and psychiatrist whose seminal work, Life After Life , changed the way we view death and dying. He is widely acknowledged as the world’s leading expert on near-death experiences. Visit Dr. Moody online at www.lifeafterlife.com In this episode we talk about his research on near-death experiences (NDEs), similarities of NDEs to grief dreams and end-of-life dreams and visions, his grief after the death of his mom and friends, taking o...
Oct 16, 2022•45 min•Ep. 211
