Hospice Nurse Penny as she’s known to millions on Tik Tok and Instagram joins host Lisa Keefauver for this episode of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch podcast. They explore Penny’s journey into hospice care, the myths surrounding hospice, and the importance of reframing our understanding of grief and death. Penny emphasizes that hospice care is about enhancing the quality of life for patients and dispelling misconceptions about the dying process. In this conversation, Penny and Lisa explore the complexit...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Jennifer Hassel, author of 'Badass Grief joins host Lisa Keefauver' to discuss her journey through profound loss and the adventures that followed. Jennifer shares her early experiences with grief, the legacy of her husband Mark, and how she navigated parenting while grieving. The discussion emphasizes the importance of living fully in memory of loved ones and the challenges of finding happiness amidst sorrow. In this conversation, they explore the complexities of grief, resilience, and the journ...
May 27, 2025•1 hr
In this episode of the Grief is a Sneaky Bitch podcast, host Lisa Keefauver welcomes mother-daughter duo Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman to discuss their new book, 'What to Do When You Get Dumped.' Suzy’s world fell apart when just a few weeks shy of her retirement, her husband of more than 30 years announced he was leaving her. Relying on her skills as a journalist, she set out to understand what other people did to move forward in the wake of this particular type of loss. With creativity, grit...
May 20, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Welcome ESPN Sports Broadcaster Lauren Sisler to Grief is a Sneaky Bitch podcast with host Lisa Keefauver. As a sportscaster and former collegiate gymnast, Lauren is passionate about sports, but even more passionate about telling the stories of the coaches, athletes, and fans who make it more than a game. Lauren's life was not always marked by victories. In 2003, as a freshman at Rutgers University, tragedy struck when she unexpectedly lost both parents within hours of each other to their hidden...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Mary-Frances O’Connor is one of the foremost experts on the impact of grief on the brain and the body. That’s why host Lisa Keefauver was thrilled to welcome her back to the podcast for a second time to discuss her latest book The Grieving Body: How the Stress of Loss Can Be an Opportunity for Healing . Just as Mary-Frances did in her book, she combines fascinating science, intimate storytelling, and her generous heart to help us better understand the physiological impact of the stressors of gri...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Welcome Serene Meshel-Dillman to the show. In this episode, host Lisa Keefauver engages in a profound conversation with Serene - a producer and filmmaker, about her documentary series 'Take Me Out Feet First.' now playing on Amazon Prime. – is a poignant documentary series delving into the deeply personal journeys of 25 terminally ill individuals as they navigate their end-of-life decisions and explore their options. They explore personal experiences of loss, the cultural context of grief, and t...
Apr 21, 2025•49 min
Consolée Nishimwe and Barbara Becker joined host Lisa Keefauver for this powerful episode. In this episode, these friends explore the profound themes of grief, trauma, and resilience. They discuss Consolée's experiences as a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, and the importance of empathy and storytelling in the healing process. The conversation highlights the significance of creating safe spaces for vulnerability and the role of community support in navigating pain and hope. Consolee opens up ab...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 40 min
Sundari Malcolm, a Birth, Grief, and Death Doula, joined host Lisa Keefauver for this episode. In 2007, at 27 years old, and after 7 years of being her Caregiver, Sundari Malcolm lost her mother to Breast Cancer. 4 years later, her father died from the complications of Brain Cancer. Those experiences redirected her life, and she's made it her mission to equip people with the tools they need to manage life’s greatest transitions. This conversation travels topics deep and wide from friendship loss...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Cole Imperi, a clinically trained chaplain and thanatologist joins host Lisa Keefauver to explore the multifaceted nature of grief. They explore the importance of grief literacy, the role of community support, and the cultural perspectives that shape our understanding of loss. Cole shares her experiences working with incarcerated individuals and discusses the concept of shadow losses, emphasizing the need for compassion and understanding in grief. The conversation highlights the significance of ...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Olivia Abousaid joins host Lisa Keefauver for a profound conversation about the complexities of grief, particularly in the context of community, chronic illness, and cultural influences. They explore personal experiences of grief, the importance of rituals, the role of anger, and the necessity of finding agency amidst ongoing loss. The discussion emphasizes the significance of community support, the power of letter writing as a tool for processing grief, and the balance between experiencing joy ...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Anne Gudger is the author of the beautiful memoir, The Fifth Chamber, which Kirkus Review called “An emotionally riveting memoir, raw and inspiring.” In this conversation, Annie Gudger shares her journey of navigating love and grief after the accidental death of her husband when she was just 6 months pregnant with their son. As she shared in her extraordinary memoir, Anne explores the complexities of entering a new relationship as a young widow and mother while dealing with profound. Together we...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 7 min
I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation with the warm and one of the truly wisest people I know on the subject of grief and loss, Litsa Williams. She is the co-founder of the online grief organization, What’s Your Grief - - - which is also the title of the incredible book she co-authored. She is a grief therapist with over 15 years of experience working with sudden, traumatic, and disenfranchised losses as well as ambiguous grief. Litsa holds a Masters in Social work and one in Philosophy too. ...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Susan Lieu is a multi-hyphenate storyteller, activist, and author helping people live the stories they’ve always wanted. Her award-winning solo show 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother evolved into her debut and truly extraordinary memoir, The Manicurist’s Daughter. In this episode we explore the complexities of grief beliefs shaped by family dynamics, the silence surrounding loss, and the impact of cultural context on mourning. Susan reflects on her mother's legacy, the circumstances of her de...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 11 min
In this episode we discuss internationally celebrated celebrity intuitive medium Susan Grau’s new remarkable book, Infinite Life, Infinite Lessons . It is a deep dive into the soul's journey, offering insights into healing from grief and the afterlife. Susan shares her early memories of trauma and loss and the profound impact of her near-death experience. Our conversation delves into the definitions of spirit and soul, and how these concepts relate to our understanding of life and death. Susan e...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Emmy Award-Winning journalist and author, Allison Gilbert, joined host Lisa Keefauver for an important conversation on the intersections of grief, joy, and loneliness. They dive deep into the lessons from Allison's latest book, 'The Joy of Connections: 100 Ways to Beat Loneliness and Live a Happier and More Meaningful Life.' co-authored with the late Dr. Ruth Westheimer. They explore early experiences of grief, the importance of peer support, and the tough love lessons from her co-author, Dr. Ru...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Kathleen Blackburn was the oldest of five children, a 12-year-old from Lubbock, Texas, whose evangelical family eschewed public education for homeschooling and wove improbable scientific theories into literal interpretations of the bible. Then her father, a former air force pilot, was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of thirty-eight, and, as Kathleen writes in her searing memoir, Loose of Earth, “it was like pouring gasoline on the Holy Spirit.” In this conversation, we explore the int...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Please welcome my wonderful friend, Jamie Thrower to the show. They are a Creative, Death Doula and founder of the Queer Grief Club. This episode is all about the intersections of grief, art, and community. Jamie and Lisa explore how personal experiences with loss shape grief beliefs, the importance of creative expression in processing grief, and the need for safe spaces for grieving individuals, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community. Jamie shares their journey of using photography and art as...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Doménica Feraud joined host Lisa Keefauver for a conversation about her play 'Someone Spectacular' and the experience of creating a play about grief. They discuss the early lessons about grief that Doménica learned from her parents, the losses she experienced as a child, and the impact of those losses on her understanding of grief. Doménica shares how her close relationship with her mother, Nathalie, shaped her identity and how her mother's sudden death led her to write the play. They also touch...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Jessica Waite, author of The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is my guest in this thought-provoking episode. We explore the complexities of grief, betrayal, and healing through Jessica's personal journey as a widow. We discuss early memories of loss, the impact of mental health on relationships, and the importance of processing anger and forgiveness. Jessica shares her experiences with writing as a healing tool and the societal expectations surrounding grief. Our conversation emphasizes the signif...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Answering your grief questions LIVE in this SPECIAL EPISODE of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch, with co-host Kousha Navidar. Co-host Kousha introduces 4 callers (Sachi, Robin, Bethany, and Sabrina) to Host Lisa Keefauver as she answers their questions in real time. They explore themes of compounding grief, the importance of communication in expressing needs, and the role of movement and rituals in processing loss. The conversation emphasizes the duality of experiencing joy amidst grief and the necessity...
Nov 26, 2024•56 min
I’m thrilled to share that today’s guest is Alica Forneret. You might recognize her name as her writing and work about grief, work, and race have been featured in The The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Psychology Today, Huffington Post, GQ, and more. She is also an educator, speaker, and consultant dedicated to creating new spaces for people to explore grief and grieving. She is the Founder and Executive Director of PAUSE, a nonprofit focused on supporting Communities of Color through gr...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min
In this conversation, Dr. Red Hoffman shares her experiences with grief and loss, including the deaths of her grandparents, the murder of her father in a terrorist attack, and the death by suicide of her boyfriend. She discusses the challenges of navigating grief as a teenager and the lack of support and language to express her emotions. Red also talks about her journey into the medical field, combining her passion for surgery with her interest in palliative care and end-of-life conversations. S...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Dr. Joanne Cacciatore is an expert in traumatic grief and she is also a bereaved mother. The conversation today is wide and deep exploring themes including: traumatic grief, the loss of a child, the healing practices and rituals required to metabolize loss, the ways in which our culture makes navigating the messy non-linear path of grief unnecessarily difficult, and so much more. Her best selling book, Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief , is one of my all-tim...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Kicking off Season 6 of the show, actress and author Tembi Locke shares her experience of grief and the lessons she learned after the death of her husband. She discusses the importance of bringing awareness to grief and the opportunity it provides for connection and aliveness. She emphasizes the need to hold both the pain of loss and the joy of the person's life. Tembi also talks about the impact her husband had on her and the importance of sharing stories and memories of loved ones. In this con...
Oct 22, 2024•57 min
Jessica Fein has faced a lot of loss. Siblings, parents, and in 2022 her daughter Dalia. At the age of five Jessica’s daughter Dalia was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that would claim her life at 17. Before that moment came, and inspired by Dalia’s own insuppressible zest for life, Jessica and her family would discover how to live in the present when the future can’t be fixed. In our conversation today, and in her beautiful book, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken...
May 24, 2024•1 hr 14 min
I’m inviting you to revisit a very special conversation I had from Season 4 of this podcast with my guest pediatric ICU nurse, Hui-Wen Sato. Why? Well something absolutely crazy and horrible happened to the both of us shortly after we recorded that episode in November 2022. Just over 2 months later, on January 20th 2023, we BOTH received a Breast Cancer Diagnosis. On the EXACT SAME DAY. You'll hear a compelling new intro about the friendship that formed and of course have a chance to listen or r...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 22 min
My guest today J.S. (Joon) Park is a hospital chaplain. Some of the other descriptions he uses for himself include: former atheist/agnostic, sixth degree black belt, suicide survivor, Korean-American, and follower of Christ. He is the author of a profoundly insightful, and at times poetic new book, As Long As You Need: Permission to Grieve . It’s part hospital chaplain experience and part memoir. In this episode, Joon shares a bit about his personal journey from growing up in a home with violenc...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Known as Hospice Nurse Julie on TikTok and Instagram, today’s guest, Julie McFadden, with 16 years of experience as an ICU and Hospice/Palliative nurse, is passionate about normalizing discussions around death through education. She has garnered a significant TikTok following, covering end-of-life topics that have earned her recognition in Newsweek, USA Today, The Atlantic, and several other global articles. Julie actively engages with her audience across various social platforms, including TikT...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Today, Ronit plank is a successful writer of fiction and non-fiction, an editor, a podcast host of not 1 but 2 shows, and a teacher. But long before she became all those things, she was a young girl born on a Kibbutz in Israel, shuffled across the globe to Seattle by 2 unhappily married parents. Soon after, her father left to start a new family on the east coast. And then the following year, her mother dropped her and her younger sister on his doorstep - announcing she was headed to India. Her m...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 20 min
We’re all just briefly perfectly human. That’s the profound reminder from our guest today, Alua Arthur. If we are brave enough to allow this truth be at the center of awareness in our day-to-day lives, Alua argues we could live a fuller, more compassionate, and even magic-filled existence. In our conversation today, and in her adventure-filled and beautifully honest memoir, Briefly Perfectly Human, she helps us see how we can make an authentic life by getting real about the end. Alua Arthur is a...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 6 min
