The odds were stacked from the get-go for Quandell. He grew up on the poor side of Detroit, Michigan, falling into gang activity, and, although he never used drugs, his life trajectory was greatly impacted by his decisions. He became a father at age 16 and again at age 19. Having never dealt with his past experiences, after a 3rd suicide attempt, he found himself admitted into a psychiatric hospital. And that's when his life turned around. He learned where he was responsible for everything in hi...
Jan 05, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Episode 25 with Katie Chonacas was difficult for me to hear. I saw myself in her story and, although my experiences have been different, I felt for her, what I had been feeling also for myself. And, that was incredible sadness for what she went through. In this episode, I reflect more deeply on those experiences and, you'll also get to learn and understand how it is I found my way to do the work that I do today as both a Certified Grief Specialist and as a Reiki Master. I share, from Victoria Sh...
Dec 29, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Victoria Shaw is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified School Counselor in the State of Connecticut. She is also the author of four books, for tweens, teens, and adults, and the mother of two spirited, adult children. Victoria shares the loss of her sacred, beloved self, as she refers to her then self; the part of herself who she always was, however, lost touch and connection with over the passage of time and the beginning of motherhood. She shares how her life experience led her to th...
Dec 22, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Katie speaks up, for the first time publicly, about a moment that wrote on the slate of how she would show up in the world moving forward. Follow along, as Katie shares how the very decision to speak up alone, has helped her to begin to heal years and years of emotional dis-ease. It takes an incredible amount of courage to speak about our trauma, and also, for the first time in this very public way. As you listen, please send Katie some energetic love, and perhaps, by the end, you'll come to the...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This episode digs more deeply into the grief of those left behind when a loved one dies by suicide. I also share three unhelpful words for grievers related to grief due to sudden and traumatic loss, particularly suicide. In this episode are some personal takeaways or a-ha's that have stuck with me. This episode is all about that and more from my interviews with David Woods Bartley and Bob Krulish. David shared his personal story of attempted suicide and his life with clinical depression. And, Bo...
Dec 08, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 24
How would you feel if, as a parent, you were only allowed to see your kids for supervised visitation for 72 hours total out of an entire year? That's exactly what happened to my guest, Bob Krulish, and as a result of his bipolar diagnosis. However, he had always been a father with undiagnosed bipolar. And, the court system failed him. Today's story is about so much loss. In fact, Bob says that "Bipolar is the illness of loss." And, after hearing his story, you will be able to see that it most de...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 23
** This episode is Part II - Listen to Part I HERE * David is a mental health speaker, educator and holds certifications in Mental Health First Aid for adults and youth, SafeTALK (Suicide Awareness for Everyone), and the suicide prevention technique known as QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), which he mentions in this episode. In Part I, David shared his story around a day like no other - the day he was going to end his life jumping off of the Foresthill Bridge in California, the 4th highest bridg...
Nov 24, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 22
** This episode is Part I of II: Listen to Part II HERE ** David is a mental health speaker, educator, and holds certifications in Mental Health First Aid for adults and youth, SafeTALK (Suicide Awareness for Everyone), and the suicide prevention technique known as QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), which he mentions in this episode. David shares his story around a day like no other - the day he was going to end his life jumping off of the Foresthill Bridge in California; the 4th highest bridge at...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 21
The child-griever club is not a very big club, and yet, big enough. 5% of children in the United States have lost one or both parents by age 15. This episode is a reflection of a shared experience with griever, Lindsay, from episode 18. She lost a parent, her mother, at 13 months old. If you haven't listened to her episode, and episode 19 with Reena, check those out then come back to this one. Aside from talking about child grief, and what you can do to support a grieving child you know (and mor...
Nov 10, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 20
**Reena shares graphic details of her two miscarriages. Please consider this if you have personally experienced a miscarriage.** We go deep in this conversation, talking about the environment a bereaved mother experiencing miscarriage goes through, through the eyes of Reena's experience. We touch on the loss of her grandfather as well, and the relationship he and her grandmother had. Reena reflects on that relationship with her grandparents and shares wisdom from her 92-year-old grandmother, as ...
Nov 03, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Lindsay's mother was murdered when she was a toddler. Being the youngest of three children, she speaks to her experience of what it was like growing up without her mom, and how she found a way to honor her mother's memory. Lindsay found the joy in her middle name again, with the birth of her business, The Joyful Jewelry Box, and as a Grief Advocate. Be a fly on the wall of a conversation that covers family grief, the impact child loss had on Lindsay, and how she's learned to move forward through...
Oct 27, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 18
There were some wonderful insights shared by guests Susay Ways on Episode 15 and Danielle Duffey on Episode 16. In this episode, I share some highlights and dig a little more deeply into some of the topics we only scratched the surface of during the interviews. Learn more about how I got through my grief, shifting energy and perspective, and how we want others to perceive us can actually hurt us more than help. Moving on to Danielle's episode, I dig a bit more into the importance of allowing our...
Oct 20, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 17
One loss no mother ever wants to experience, and one most of us cannot even fathom, is the death of a child. Danielle shares how she and her family navigated the most devastating loss of their lives. Danielle says that we are not meant to live this life alone, and through her grieving voice, you will hear just how important support was to her and her family. You will also learn of resources that helped her get through the darkest of days. And, if you know a griever, there are wonderful nuggets s...
Oct 13, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 16
We're taught how to attain relationships, careers, things, etc.. However, we're not taught what to do when we lose them. When Susan lost her husband to a rare form of lung cancer, she was surrounded by grief. From her own pain, she created the Tendrils of Grief podcast , which showcases grief professionals who can help provide guidance and advice to those who might feel so alone in their journey. Through her podcast, Susan also shines a light on the stories of those who have recently lost someon...
Oct 06, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Through the conversation on Episode 12 with Patsy, the conversation led to how we live is how we die - "a good death." Through personal example, I illustrate how grief and loss during life do, indeed, impact our bodies until our very last breath. I then go into my thoughts on how men and women grieve differently, as it was briefly mentioned in Episode 13 in my conversation with Patti. When we are resistant to life, we are resistant to death - I wholeheartedly believe this. Take a listen to this ...
Sep 29, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Patti shares her grieving voice on being a widow and how, despite moving on with life, her heart still grieves the loss of her first husband. However, grief didn't start for her there, and she touches on grief with the living, and later, a miscarriage, and her and her current husband's shared experience with IVF. Patti also shares what's helped her get through the hard days and how the Grief Recovery Method has helped her navigate her losses and be a supportive heart with ears for others. Loss a...
Sep 22, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Patsy is my first guest interview on the podcast. She is also the first online, 1-on-1 participant to go through the newly developed online version of The Grief Recovery Method® program. The online, GRM program is a 7-week action-based proven method for helping grievers navigate and process a loss of any kind. In this episode, Patsy shares her grieving voice around her divorce, being a caregiver to her dying father, and closing a business. And, how resiliency found her during those two years of ...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Grievers are often on the receiving end of some hurtful, even harmful, unsolicited advice. They're often told how they should be grieving, how long, and how they should be feeling. Analytical, judgemental, and criticizing comments like these go back to all of the Myths of Grief that I talk about in Episode 4. In this episode, I use widows and widowers as my example of what to say and what not to say to the griever after the death of their spouse/significant other. In this episode, you will learn...
Sep 08, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Do you have a difficult time apologizing? Is there someone you wish you could forgive? Apologies and forgiveness are two of the pillars and cornerstones of grief recovery. And, the beautiful thing about both, is they don't require us to confront anyone, in person. And, even if the person is deceased, we are still able to process the feelings around apologies and forgiveness. In this episode, you will learn: What an apology is. How "forgiveness" and "condoning" differ. What to do if you're a vict...
Sep 01, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Do you believe that you do not have any undelivered emotional communications? Do you believe that you've made peace in a relationship with someone who's died? Discover, in today's episode, the truth behind these questions, after you've heard some examples of what "undelivered communications" may look like in your day-to-day life. And, more importantly, why there's hope. We often neglect to share our hearts with others, for fear of sounding silly, making the other person upset, or for fear of rej...
Aug 25, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In grief, we often search for meaning to our losses. Through my personal story and examples, I illustrate the ways we do this. You may have found yourself creating memorial walks, pursuing activism or legislation, or fundraisers following the death of a loved one or traumatic experience. And, doing these things are great, as they are a contribution to society. However, sometimes we do these things as a means to distract ourselves and channel our pain, thereby, trying to avoid the actual feelings...
Aug 18, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Taking ownership, and responsibility, for our feelings and reactions in life, is often challenging. It requires us to do some self-evaluation. By the time we reach adulthood, however, we've likely had many grief experiences, which contributes to a victim mindset so many grievers have but don't acknowledge. And, acknowledgment is difficult, too, because you can't "un-know" something. Once you know you're fulfilling the role of being a victim in your life and other people are responsible for your ...
Aug 11, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Grief manifests in our lives and, in our bodies, in various ways. Most of us will resort to outward behaviors that are neither helpful and are (more often than not) even hurtful. These behaviors only lead to more secrecy, shame, and grief. And, where there is shame, there is usually a pattern to grieve alone and isolate. Grief also shows up in physical ways as well: heartburn hair loss ulcers migraines body aches anxiety In today's episode, learn and reflect on ways you may be grieving without r...
Aug 04, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 6
We all, as grievers (or otherwise, for that matter) tend to reply with the expression "I'm fine," when asked how we're doing. After experiencing loss, we do this because it is often just easier than leaving the conversation of how we typically feel - misunderstood and unsupported. In this episode, learn why "I'm fine" is damaging to ourselves, but also equally damaging as a message we're sending to children and to society. If we could tell the emotional truth about ourselves, we can then begin t...
Jul 28, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Through influenced/generational learning, we are taught unhelpful ways in which to address and help ourselves (and others) through grief. This episode highlights the six myths (and misinformation) of grief that have a direct impact on our ability to cope with what is emotionally incomplete. These myths contribute to why we have a difficult time moving beyond the emotional dis-ease that grief brings to our lives. Tune in next week; I'll be talking more in-depth about "Academy Award Recovery," as ...
Jul 21, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 4
We can't heal the heart with the head. In this episode, we dig into why this is and, you will learn: How grief cuts us off from our intuition Impact of belief systems The root of unhappiness 8 unhelpful, often hurtful, ways society responds to grievers In the next episode, the six myths of grief (and misinformation) will be revealed. ______ If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available HERE . If you'd like to share your grievi...
Jul 14, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 3
What is grief? In this first episode as part of an educational series, I define grief in a way you've likely never heard it described before. By providing relatable examples and some of my personal stories, you'll leave this episode feeling like you have a better understanding of grief. When we understand that grief is more than just about death, we are able to shed light on all areas of our life that feel emotionally incomplete and begin the healing process. Be sure to tune into next week's epi...
Jul 07, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Consider this our first meeting at a coffee shop; it's like speed-dating for friendship. And, I LOVE coffee (black or, lately - iced) and deep conversation with friends. In this first episode (I wasn't able to label it "Episode 0" as I mention), I answer the basic "get to know you" questions, how this podcast came about, and, in under 13 minutes! This will likely be a record I won't often break. Unless, however, brevity suddenly becomes a strong suit. So, after you've finished listening to this ...
Jun 30, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Preparing to Launch! This podcast has been 30+ years in the making. I went from being a child griever to an adult griever. During this time, I've learned a lot about how grief can negatively impact a person's life, create chaos and hardship, and ruin relationships. It is my hope, that through sharing the tools and language I've learned in addressing grief, that culturally, we can take the conversation up a few notches. Growing up, our parents relied on what they were taught, and it's through thi...
Jun 11, 2020•1 min
