Grief Is My Side Hustle

Pamel Blair & Bradie Hansen: Authors of The Long Grief Journey

Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D., (pamblairbooks.com) was a psychotherapist for thirty years. She is the co-author of I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye now considered a classic in bereavement literature. She is also the author of The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Midlife and Beyond and Getting Older, Better. She has appeared on national television, been a guest on dozens of radio shows, and has spoken at the Virginia Festival of the Book, the Vermont Women’s Expo, Women’s Images Conferences, and was filmed for a television special entitled “Widowsville." She lives in Shelburne, Vermont with her husband and two mischievous cats.

Bradie McCabe Hansen, M.A. is a clinical psychologist-master in private practice who has been working in the field for over twenty years. Bradie is also a fiber artist and crafter and teaches children and adults about the wonderful world of handcrafting, both for its creative and healing possibilities. Fiber art has become an integral way that she works with people who are interested in visually expressing their lived experience. She lives in Shelburne, Vermont with her husband, two children, one dog and two cats.

ABOUT THE BOOK

An essential grief guide and recovery workbook for those who have said, “I thought I’d feel better by now.”

 

Grief does not follow a timeline or a set path. It is nonlinear and messy, doubling back on itself just when you thought you were out of the woods. Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one know this unequivocally, but Western society still seems to think that grief should only last six months to a year—tops—when in fact, grief can last throughout a person’s entire life and manifest as serious mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, anger, and despair.

 

The Long Grief Journey, co-written by a psychotherapist and a clinical psychologist who have both worked with grieving individuals for decades, is for the people who are past the acute pain and effects of a sudden loss and are now learning to live beyond that. It is for those who by all appearances seem to have “moved on.” They’re working, carrying out their responsibilities, showing up for important life events, yet they quietly bear the weight of their sadness and longing for their loved one. There’s a name for this type of long-term, unresolved grief. In fact, there are several: complicated grief, traumatic grief, complex bereavement, prolonged grief, extended grief, abnormal grief, exaggerated grief, and pervasive grief disorder. If you feel "stuck" after experiencing the death of a loved one, even if much time has passed, this book is for you.

 

With exercises, journal prompts, and rituals that will further help readers along their grief path, The Long Grief Journey, co-written by one of the authors of the classic grief book, I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye, is designed to educate, support, and coach you to rekindle a desire to live life fully, all while still cherishing and embracing the memories of your loved one.

 

Kelly Cervantes: Grieving Mother and Grateful Caregiver

Kelly Cervantes is an award-winning writer, speaker, and advocate best known for her blog Inchstones, where she shared the stress, love, and joy that came with parenting her medically complex daughter, Adelaide. Since Adelaide’s passing, Kelly has continued to write candidly about her arduous and, at times, contradictory grief journey.

 

She has been published in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Cosmopolitan, as well as quoted in the New York Times, CNN, and People. She is the current board chair for the nonprofit CURE Epilepsy and also hosts their biweekly podcast, Seizing Life, where she interviews scientists, doctors, and individuals affected by epilepsy. Kelly currently resides in Maplewood, NJ, with her husband, four children (two physically, two spiritually), and their two dogs, Tabasco and Sriracha.

Alexandra Wyman:Partner loss by suicide

Alexandra Wyman is an advocate and public speaker for resources in the aftermath of suicide. After she lost her husband to suicide in August of 2020, Alexandra found a need to change the language around suicide, and decided to write about it. Her memoir, The Suicide Club: What To Do When Someone You Love Chooses Death is an Amazon best seller. She has spoken at a variety of conferences including Bridging the Divide Suicide Prevention and Awareness Summit 2022, 2023 Northwest Conference on Childhood Grief, and has been accepted to present at the 2023 Military Social Work & Behavioral Health Conference and the International Association of Suicide Prevention Conference 2023 in Piran, Slovenia. Alexandra has also been a guest on a variety of podcasts including The Unlock Moment, Author Hour, Resilience Unravelled, She Persisted, and My Wake Up Call with Dr. Mark Goulston. Alexandra has her own podcast called The Widow’s Club, as well. She practices pediatric occupational therapy and lives in Colorado with her son.

 

To learn more about Alexandra and her work, visit her website at www.forwardtojoy.com.

Author Dina Gachman: Sorry for Your Loss--How I Learned to Live With Grief and Other Grave Concerns

Dina Gachman is an award-winning journalist, a Pulitzer Center grantee, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Texas Monthly, Vox, Teen Vogue and more. Her second book, So Sorry For Your Loss: How I Learned To Live With Grief, and Other Grave Concerns was published in the US and the UK this year. She's a bestselling ghostwriter, and she writes a monthly movie column for the New York Times. She lives near Austin, Texas, with her husband and son.

 

Don't miss  this Texas Monthly piece Dina wrote about grief and talks about in the episode.

 

website

Twitter

 

instagram

Ashley Jones: Grieving Mother & Exec Director of Love Not Lost

Ashley Jones is the founder and executive director of Love Not Lost, a nonprofit on a mission to revolutionize the way we heal in grief. From losing her daughter to a terminal illness to growing Love Not Lost to a national level (soon to be Momento Foundation), Ashley has a lot of experience in death and grief; something she never thought would be in her bio. Yet, she's learned how to process, heal, and grow through the pain and wants to help others do the same. She’s a TEDx and keynote speaker on 'how to heal in grief', and has been featured by various media outlets, including the BBC.

 

And here are some helpful links -- feel free to include any or all of them:

 

 

Join our community: http://lovenotlost.org/lovewell 

Support our cause: http://lovenotlost.org/donate 

Find helpful grief resources: http://lovenotlost.org/library 

Use our support tool to help others: http://HowCanILoveYouBetter.com 

 

Apply for a portrait session: http://lovenotlost.org/apply

Apply to be a photographer with us: http://lovenotlost.org/photographers

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Asa Merritt: Creator of Six Sermons--An Audible Original Series

*episode discusses suicide 

 

ASA MERRITT : A former international reporter for NPR, VICE Sports, The Guardian, and ESPN’s “30 for 30” podcast, Asa brings a compassionate documentary eye to ambitious fictional projects. His one-woman play about mass movements, True Believer, had a sold-out run in New York City. To research that piece, Asa traveled to Cairo to meet with underground performers who helped ignite the Arab Spring. With longtime collaborator Matt Kagen, Asa started First Rodeo (@firstrodeoaudio), an audio fiction studio dedicated to pushing the boundaries of genre, combining techniques of journalism and theater. His new Audible original podcast Six Sermons stars Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and is dedicated to the actor and musician Caz Liske, who died by suicide in Moscow in 2017. Asa lives with his family in Mexico City.

 

In the Audible Original Six Sermons, Pastor Alexis (Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once) has huge shoes to fill: those of beloved Pastor William Hoyt (Tony winner Bill Irwin), whose suicide rocked their small-town Ohio congregation. With impassioned sermons and awkward community work (hello, donuts and bowling), Alexis tries to shore up the congregation's faith... even as her own is crumbling. The question haunts her: why'd you do it, Will? I have a feeling you'll be thinking about it, too, long after the audio fades. Stephanie's performance is flat-out mesmerizing, and the story deals with so many pressing issues: mental health challenges, women rising to leadership roles in church, and generational divides. To learn the rhythms of church-running, Asa embedded himself in a Lutheran community for a month, and he enlisted psychologists and pastors to help him write with care about self-harm, the Good Samaritan, and more. (One of many things he learned is that people of different faiths have lots in common with literature students: through rigorous close readings of texts, they find meaning.) Between this knowledge-gathering and Asa's own mental health challenges, Six Sermons is steeped in both painstaking research and lived experience. The resulting story resonates whether you're a believer or not. 

 

https://www.audible.com/pd/Six-Sermons-Audiobook/B0CCK3MGTC

Amber Jeffrey:Creator and Podcast Host of the Grief Gang

Amber Jeffrey was just 19 when her mother died suddenly of a heart attack.  Confused and heartsick Amber found herself consumed with anger which further separated her from her old friendships.

In this episode Amber talks about becoming the trusted voice she needed at her most painful time, why talk therapy didn't work for her, and how she created her own community amongst the world of grievers.

Amber also lovingly let's us in to her worry about her treasured friend Poppy, creator of the Grief Case, who is fighting a serious illness. As a griever first, Amber reflects on what its like to support a loved one through a serious illness.

@thegriefgang 

 

Laura Cathcart Robbins: Author of Stash

Laura Cathcart Robbins is the best-selling author of the Atria/Simon & Schuster memoir, Stash, My Life In Hiding, and host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room. She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating The Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Her recent articles on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is a 2022 TEDx Speaker, and LA Moth StorySlam winner. Currently, she sits on the advisory boards of the San Diego Writer’s Festival and the Outliers HQ podcast Festival. Find out more about her on her website, or you can look for her on Facebook, on Instagram, on Tiktok, and follow her on Twitter.

 

 

Sarah Conover: Author of Set Adrift–My Family’s Disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle

In January, 1958, a renowned sailing family was lost in a storm in the Bermuda Triangle. The youngest of two daughters, Sarah, suddenly an orphan, grew up never knowing her parents and grandparents. As an adult, she began to pursue the mystery of her family and their disappearance, and discovered that their stories were far different from the versions she was told. Sarah Conover’s memoir follows the national media’s investigation of the Revonoc’s vanishing, and exposes the truths that led her to “unstory” the family history, creating a new understanding of their lives, and hers.

About Sarah Conover: Sarah Conover holds a BA in comparative religions from the University of Colorado, and an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University. She has worked as a television producer for PBS and Internews (an international media NGO), a social worker for Catholic Charities, a public school teacher, and taught creative writing through the community colleges of Spokane, Washington. She is the author of six books on world wisdom traditions and spirituality published by Skinner House Books, the educational publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Her poetry, essays and interviews have been published in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies.

 sarahconover.com

https://55fathoms.com/set-adrift/

 

Katie Joy Duke: Author of Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss& Reinvention

Katie Joy Duke is an author, attorney turned life coach, mom, and stage IV breast cancer survivor. Her memoir Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss, and Reinvention was a #1 Amazon best seller in Family Health and Pregnancy and Childbirth. Read her blogs, sign up for her not-so-regular newsletter, and order a personalized signed paperback of her book at www.katiejoyduke.com. Her audiobook, which she narrated, will be released on Audible later this month—stay tuned!  

 https://www.amazon.com/Still-Breathing-Journey-Love-Reinvention/dp/B0B2T4XWHH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=still+breathing+katie+joy+duke&qid=1689777744&sprefix=katie+joy+duke%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-1