Litsa is the Program Director and Co-founder of What’s Your Grief?. WYG is an online support and resource for all things grief. WYG has an emphasis on the unique experience and relationship we all have with loss. By sharing, exploring, and expressing we find that what is most personal applies to all. Further, they accentuate the benefit of community and the need for psychoeducation to compliment the compassion we all need for healing. Whether you are a griever, professional or someone supporting...
Jun 11, 2025•21 min
The grief market may have a number of resources, guides and/or supports for the death of a spouse or parent. What about when your sibling dies? There are scant if any resources available. Annie discovered this after her brother was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. In fact, much of what is available is how siblings can care for their grieving parent. Feedback, that can be minimizing, is what siblings need to do, not how they feel. The lack of understanding and attention to sibling loss ...
May 29, 2025•19 min
Charles’ new book is titled I Will Do Better; a Father’s memoir of heartbreak, parenting and love. This unflinching memoir comes from the heart and goes right to the heart as six months into parenting his daughter (Lily) his wife and life partner Diana was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer took Diana’s life three days before Lily turned 3. Finding himself a widower his process begins of learning to parent while grieving. With a delicate, yet forceful blend of acknowledging pain and inserting humor C...
May 29, 2025•29 min
This is the title of Rachel’s book in which she writes of the life with her husband and family before and after his death by suicide. She called upon her skills as a journalist to see where there is a story, dig deep and write it. Rachel has done just that in this poignant memoir. How does she take the first steps after the sudden and traumatic death of her husband while raising two young children? In this episode Rachel talks of the benefits of community, asking for help and using her available...
May 14, 2025•22 min
These terms and concepts are part of our vernacular but what do they mean and what do they look like? Further, we know that things like identity, language, and stories can get lost from generation to generation. However, they may also hold some of the roots to healing. We can learn and heal from our past and how our ancestors lived. How do we navigate and shift from post traumatic stress to post traumatic growth? In this lively discussion, Ken and Serena discuss these critical concepts....
Apr 30, 2025•20 min
In this episode Ken sits with one of his first grief educators to discuss her remarkable career working in the field of grief and bereavement. Deborah’s work spans decades and venues – hospitals, cancer units, the Good Grief program, 911 consultations, independent bereavement programs. What has stayed consistent through the years and locations is this: How do we talk about it? How do we help children and adults feel empowered and confident that they can manage? How do we educate communities, org...
Apr 16, 2025•22 min
Zach was 16 when he died of Osteosarcoma. Zach loved life, lived it to its fullest and the diagnosis left the Walls facing “pre-bereavement”. Pre-bereavement encompasses three things; 1. Anticipatory grief, these are feelings of grief and loss we may come to experience. 2. We change in relation to the loss. How we look at all things will be different now. 3. Using our limited time between diagnosis and death in ways that matter. As a way to honor their son and carry his loss forward with them, t...
Apr 02, 2025•19 min
When Hannah’s best friend died unexpectedly, she looked for help. Friends, family, mental health professionals could only go so far. She started an exhaustive search for friend loss support and found……nothing. Friend grief, like all grief, is a lifelong process yet there are scant resources for those who truly understand the impact of losing a trusted friend. Friend loss is neither family or romantic loss and thus isn’t always given the same level of attention and understanding that blood or par...
Mar 19, 2025•16 min
When Matt’s father died his world turned upside down. He was thrust into taking over the family business while grieving the loss. He was also concerned about preserving the memory of his father and learning from others through their experience of his father. All the while trying to keep him present through the story telling. What was launched from this desire was Life Books. Everyone’s story is worth telling and worth sharing. The fear of not sharing is that over time the memories will fade. Mat...
Mar 05, 2025•22 min
Our respect, appreciation and understanding that pets are part of our family, life and social network has always been known. However, our actions did not always show this. Many of us have heard some version of, “Sorry, your dog died…. are you going to get another one?” as if pets are merely commodities. Niki brings grace, dignity and respect to end of life care for animals - just as we would humans. The vital role of an end of life doula is something to become aware of. Niki highlights the valua...
Feb 19, 2025•21 min
What is a parent to do when they are parenting a child with a serious or life limiting illness? The range of supports cross over medical, mental health, palliative care and embracing anticipatory grief. Then there is advocacy for your child and managing the needs of the other members of your family. This is overwhelming. Blyth was faced with this when her daughter, and also her nephew, was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a rare and incurable genetic illness that ends in early death. Resulting from thi...
Feb 05, 2025•18 min
Maureen is a holistic psychiatrist and soul mentor for people trying to manage their stress, anxiety, depression or whatever else is in the way of their finding the best versions of themselves. Trained in the medical model of care it wasn’t until the sudden death of her sister did Maureen start to think about the management of grief and loss in ways other than with medication. What she found amongst many things was meditation, spirituality and ways of recalibrating your nervous system. She discu...
Jan 22, 2025•20 min
In 2013, Donna was a mother of three children and hadn’t worked professionally in a few years when her husband died suddenly. Donna was faced with an unimaginable loss and the finances started to dwindle. Not having a road map for either, she sought a financial planner and found one who really “got her” and understood the complexity that was her life. Getting the support she needed Donna was motivated to go back to school and study to be a financial planner. Soon thereafter she started Sephton F...
Jan 08, 2025•20 min
How do we find hope and joy again after a devastating loss? Will I ever be happy again? Yes you will just not quickly and not necessarily from resources outside of yourself. Conventional wisdom and feedback to grievers can center around people telling us what we should be doing/feeling, not how to attain this. The answers often lie within us. We know that trauma and grief force us to change but we have the power to control how we change. Ken and Rachel discuss the process in this episode. https:...
Dec 18, 2024•18 min
The grief market may have a number of resources, guides and/or supports for the death of a spouse or parent. What about when your sibling dies? There are scant if any resources available. Annie discovered this after her brother was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. In fact, much of what is available is how siblings can care for their grieving parent. Feedback, that can be minimizing, is what siblings need to do, not how they feel. The lack of understanding and attention to sibling loss ...
Dec 04, 2024•19 min
In this episode Ken shares some ideas of things to consider as we are in holiday season. Included is evaluating our “do lists”. Do the holidays feel special because of this? Do I try doing this differently” Do I do this out of habit, ritual, or obligation? Do I need help with this? Do I even like doing this? Enjoy this episode? Please give us a 5-star rating and share with someone who could benefit. Thanks for helping us get the show to more people who need it! Follow Ken on Instagram HERE Downl...
Nov 20, 2024•7 min
Judy has been an empathic healer for longer than she probably knew she was. Practicing for over 35 years, her understanding of healing went to another level when her son Ben died by suicide. Resulting from Ben’s death has been Ben Speaks a program brought to schools based on foundational principles of empowerment, wellness, community and collaboration and accountability. Further, Judy works with mothers who have had a child die. She brings training and certification in the Grief Recovery Method ...
Nov 13, 2024•25 min
When faced with a medical condition our first instinct may be to find a solution to the problem. How do we fix this? What is the treatment plan? When a disease is rare there may not be a solution. When this happens, we need to shift gears. Jessica’s daughter Dalia was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease at age 5 and lived another 12 years before dying. With her book Breath Taking; A Memoir of Family, Dreams and Broken Genes Jessica writes on concepts we might think as contradictory. We ca...
Oct 30, 2024•17 min
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Katie is a nurse practioner who has been leading a perinatal loss group since before the pandemic. Sara is a member of the group whose daughter Jane died after 1 day of life. In this episode they discuss with Ken the process of telling your story, the sadness and hope that comes from it, and how the group continues to provide meaning and support. Nuggets of wisdom along with the post traumatic growth belief that your loss will never get small...
Oct 16, 2024•22 min
Charles’ new book is titled I Will Do Better; a Father’s memoir of heartbreak, parenting and love. This unflinching memoir comes from the heart and goes right to the heart as six months into parenting his daughter (Lily) his wife and life partner Diana was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer took Diana’s life three days before Lily turned 3. Finding himself a widower his process begins of learning to parent while grieving. With a delicate, yet forceful blend of acknowledging pain and inserting humor C...
Oct 02, 2024•29 min
Ken has been working with grievers for close to 30 years and what he has consistently heard from them, be they children or elderly, are things people say that are just not helpful. Granted as a society we are “grief averse” which often makes conversations around supporting grievers an awkward one. It doesn’t have to be this way. In this episode Ken lays out words and phrases that are conversations enders, offensive, or simply not supportive. In its place he substitutes conversation starters, wor...
Sep 18, 2024•13 min
This is the title of Colin Campbell’s highly impactful book chronicling his grief process in the aftermath of the death of his two teenage children. Ruby and Hart were killed by a drunk and high driver in 2019. A week after their death Colin began writing an acclaimed play titled Grief: A One Man Shitshow. With rawness, rage, and humor we walk the painful steps with him. When the pandemic began the show was put on hold and gave birth to the book. Filled with helpful “action steps”, it’s a must r...
Sep 04, 2024•22 min
The concept of mindfulness is discussed liberally in our culture. We may have a notion that mindfulness can help us feel calm, relaxed and at peace. While this all can be true, mindfulness is really centered on sitting with whatever arises in the present moment. Here is where mindfulness is such a helpful practice for grievers. What arises is not always pleasant, we may have upsetting thoughts. However, these thoughts could be the pathway towards feeling more peaceful. With mindfulness practice ...
Aug 21, 2024•22 min
We often ascribe a higher status to performers and athletes. We can see them as somehow impervious to grief, loss, and pain. We may recognize their physical pain and resilience to get back to where they were. However, with grief we are never the same after a loss, thus the concept of resilience and returning to “normal” falls to the side. Performers and athletes grieve the loss of a season or show ending along with that of the community which was established. They grieve physical injuries, retir...
Aug 07, 2024•20 min
It’s the summer and if you’re a child it can and should be a time of play! This episode is part 2 of 2, and is dedicated to the fine art of play. When Ken got together with Steve and Jon their cumulative years of experience using play as a therapeutic tool was close to 100 years. Steve is the Chief Playmaker for the Life is Good Playmakers and Jon is the Executive Director at the Children’s Room. Both programs have their own unique approach toward supporting children as does Ken’s experience as ...
Jul 24, 2024•20 min
It’s the summer and if you’re a child it can and should be a time of play! This episode is part 1 of 2, and is dedicated to the fine art of play. When Ken got together with Steve and Jon their cumulative years of experience using play as a therapeutic tool was close to 100 years. Steve is the Chief Playmaker for the Life is Good Playmakers and Jon is the Executive Director at the Children’s Room. Both programs have their own unique approach toward supporting children as does Ken’s experience as ...
Jul 10, 2024•16 min
The title of this episode is also the title of Christina’s new book. As a mental health provider, teacher, trainer, artist and griever Christina has supported thousands in their grief process in multiple ways. She has developed grief support concepts such as The Waiting Room and The Life Reentry Model. When speaking with Christina wisdom flows from her words and she is one of the rare people whose knowledge translates beautifully to the written word. Ken and Christina also discuss her two previo...
Jun 26, 2024•24 min
What do you do when an unfathomable tragedy such as losing both your parents at the age of 3 happens to you? You grow up to be a grief therapist who supports those who are members of the parentless, parents club. While Randi’s grief support expands to many walking their first steps after a loss it is with honor and dignity, she contributes to the healing of those who are parentless parents. She discusses utilizing, individual, group, and family counseling along with the use of rituals in an impa...
Jun 12, 2024•18 min
Chronic mental health and mental illness impact not only those who suffer from them but also their extended families and support systems. There are associated losses around expectations and hopes for those connected to the person. A diagnosis and a hospitalization can be traumatic and have a feeling of grief for the “patient” as well as their networks. The corresponding feelings are often thought of as behavioral responses but might have their roots in grief reactions. Similarly, the stigma of m...
May 29, 2024•17 min
Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) is our friend. It tries to protect us when we are faced with threat, danger, or any time we perceive the situation to not be safe. The ANS controls unconscious bodily processes and has two main branches. The sympathetic branch controls our fight or flight responses while the parasympathetic branch helps us to "rest and digest" and feel emotionally safe and socially engaged. However, a very primitive aspect of the parasympathetic branch controls our freeze respo...
May 15, 2024•21 min
