Grief Is My Side Hustle

Ep. 43. Susan Kendal: Surviving Compound Grief and Loss

On May 20, 2014, Susan’s world came crashing down. Her 54-year old husband passed of a sudden heart attack. The years since have been a whirlwind of emotion, trauma & joy (yes, joy, thanks mostly to the birth of her grandchildren).

Over the next five years, Susan experienced additional heartache following the death of her dad & both of her brothers. She knew the only way to make sense of all her grief and honour her ‘men’ was to find purpose and help others experiencing loss.

So, she increased her vast experiential knowledge with a coaching certificate and David Kessler’s grief educator certification.

Each step along her path highlighted the necessity to shatter the taboo surrounding death and grief within society.

Death is still in the shadows. We squirm and avoid it at all costs. And the costs, both emotional and financial are tremendous.

Thankfully, many societal taboos such as mental health, cancer and sexual orientation have had a light shined on them providing an opportunity for healthy dialogue, normalization and respect.

Isn’t it odd that we avoid death - the only taboo that affects all of us?

Susan hopes to encourage an annual day where we dialogue and educate about all things death.

Let’s normalize death – before it kills you.

For more information, conversation and opportunities to get involved, please reach out to Susan at evolve beyond grief.

 https://www.evolvebeyondgrief.com/

 https://www.instagram.com/evolvebeyondgrief/

https://www.facebook.com/evolvebeyondgrief

evolvebeyondgrief@gmail.com

Ep. 42. Deborah Copaken: Author/photojournalist: Lady Parts, Shutterbabe

Deborah Copaken is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Shutterbabe, The Red Book, and Between Here and April, among others. A contributing writer at The Atlantic, she was also a TV writer on Emily in Paris, a performer (The Moth, etc.), and an Emmy Award–winning news producer and photojournalist. Her photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Observer, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, O, the Oprah Magazine, and Paris Match, among others. Her column “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist” was adapted for the Modern Love streaming series. Her seventh book, Ladyparts, a memoir of bodily destruction and resurrection during marital rupture, was just published by Random House.

Her article about the anniversary of her father's death and her sub stack is here:

https://deborahcopaken.substack.com/p/love-loss-and-dads-deaths-bar-mitzvah

 

 

Ep. 41. Shea Wingate

Two years ago, when she was in her early twenties, therapist Shea Wingate's father, sister and mother died in the same year.  Join us as we discuss loss from prolonged illness versus sudden unexpected loss, navigating grief when your peers and planning weddings and surviving multiple deaths.

 

https://www.wingatecounseling.com

 

Shea Wingate is a licensed clinical social worker. Her work centers on supporting clients through times of grief, transition, and emotional difficulty. She believes therapy is a process and an investment in yourself. She strives to create a nonjudgemental space centered on your well-being and free from the demands and noise of life. No one will ever fully know your pain, but her goal is to equip you to navigate, adapt and heal.

 

Ep. 40 Author Bethany Harvey: Dipped In It

Bethany Harvey is a debut memoirist whose book, Dipped In It, reached the best seller list on both Barnes & Noble and Amazon when released in July of this year. Dipped In It came to life when Bethany’s "gratitude journaling" went awry. In Dipped In It, Bethany’s daily reflections during a period of deep grief explore the question, “Can gratitude and grief coexist?”  The answer is a resounding yes, as Bethany learns that we can rage, weep, belly laugh, and ache over the beauty and fragility of life—all in one day, hour, or moment. It all gets to belong. 

 

Bethany is a deep thinker and feeler, the mother of two inspiring children, and the owner of a much sought after childcare center in her home State of Rhode Island. 

Ep. 39. Laura Parrott Perry

Author and truth-teller Laura Parrott Perry joins Meghan on the podcast to discuss grief, sobriety, the legacy of sexual abuse, and the power of telling and owning your story.

 

Join us

 

https://lauraparrottperry.com

Ep. 38. Rebekah Jacobs: My Father Ran a Ponzi scheme.

Join me as I talk with Rebekah Jacobs about surviving the destructive force that was her father who ran a Ponzi scheme and swindled friends and family and left her and her mother and brother financially and emotional bereft before landing himself in jail for fifteen years. You won't want to miss the discussion.

 

Rebekah Jacobs is a writer, reading specialist, and book reviewer.  She lives outside of DC with her hubby, 3 kiddos (a teen, a tween, and a preschooler), plus a pandemic puppy. 

 

 

Rebekah's article:

https://www.kveller.com/like-bernie-madoff-my-dad-ran-a-ponzi-scheme-heres-why-we-shouldnt-mourn-their-deaths/

 

Notes to us from Rebekah!

 

Books we discussed during the episode: (that I can remember off the top of my head):

 

Knock At Midnight

Inheritance

Wild Game

Somebody's Daughter    

The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone in Between  

 

Other amazing memoirs about narcissists and/or embezzlers that I have read (and may help readers who have have experienced disenfranchised grief- )

 

Duped 

Nowhere Girl 

The Sociopath Next Door

The End of Normal (Mark Madoff's wife) 

The Survivors 

 

Books about parents in jail for kids (that I wish I had)

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

The Paris Project

Milo Imagines the World (a picture book)

Ep. 37. Diana Kupershmit: A mother‘s grief-special needs and child loss.

Author of the memoir Emma's Laugh: The Gift of Second Chances, Diana Kupershmit takes us into the life of a mother struggling to accept and care for her daughter with special needs.

A Diana Kupershmit holds a Master of Social Work degree and works for the Department of Health in the Early Intervention program, a federal entitlement program servicing children birth to three with developmental delays and disabilities. She has published online in the Manifest Station, Power of Moms, Motherwell Magazine, Still Standing Magazine, and Her View From Home. On the weekends, she indulges her creative passion working as a portrait photographer specializing in newborn, family, maternity, and event photography. She lives in New York City with her family.

 

http://www.dianakupershmit.com

Ep 36. Barri Grant: Grief Coach and Creator of the Memory Circle

Barri Leiner Grant certified Grief Coach and Creator of the Memory Circle shares her experience with her beloved mother, Ellen Jane's death in 1993 and her "calling" to grief work.

 

Links from today's episode:

https://thememorycircle.com/about

https://live-evermore.org

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomteicholz/2021/01/11/life-death-and-rabbi-leder-the-beauty-of-what-remains/?sh=4441ab50754b

 

Ep. 35. Cheryl Jones: Good Grief Podcast Host, counselor and grief educator

Cheryl lets us into her world of loss as a clinician, podcast host, author, and bereaved spouse.  Cheryl's first wife died over two decades ago when her daughters were 14 and two.  She shares with us her personal experience, clinical knowledge, humor, and deep commitment to joy.

Also, we talk about my favorite grief movie, "Truly, Madly, Deeply."

Join us.

 

Cheryl Jones is a grief counselor, educator, and host of Good Grief, a podcast about transformation after loss. She is also the author of a novel, An Ocean Between Them. Cheryl’s work is informed by the ten years of her first wife’s life-limiting illness. Expected to live six months to a year, she lived with cancer for almost a decade. In the losses Cheryl has experienced since then she has been grateful for what she learned about facing loss and finding greater meaning in her life as a result. Cheryl lives in Oakland with her second wife and is grateful for three children, 3 grandchildren, and the wonder of living!

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-grief-with-cheryl-jones/id761218884

Ep. 34. Double Parent Loss: with Counselor David Pope

David Pope has struggled with depression anxiety and suicidal ideation for most of his life and his battles with mental illness began at six years old.

He was relentlessly bullied throughout primary and secondary school and suffered a double bereavement when he was 25 years old, losing both his parents within a year of each other.

His constant battles with depression and anxiety fuelled his quest to find daily coping mechanisms and strategies to combat his mental illness. 

He subsequently became a private counselor specializing in bereavement, depression, and anxiety and he currently counsels clients over zoom and face-to-face.

David is passionate about sharing physical and cognitive techniques to deal with mental illness and launched an online video course called Depression A New Hope. He also has a guided meditation podcast. The website is healyourgrief.co.uk