Grief Is My Side Hustle

Ep. 131. Amy Morin, LCSW :Author 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

Amy's work went viral.  Learn the story of how and why in this episode where Amy discusses her how her viral list, was really a reaction to compound grief and loss.

In her own words:

I’m a psychotherapist turned “accidental” author

I started my career as a psychotherapist intending to help others build mental strength. I never imagined how much I was going to need mental muscle in my own life.

My mom passed away when I was 23. Then, my husband died when I was 26. Losing the two most important people in my life sent me on a quest to learn as much as I could about how to be mentally strong.

As I studied mental strength, I realized that mentally strong people don’t just have good habits. They also avoid any unhealthy habits that could hold them back.

In 2013, during one of my lowest points in my life, I wrote a letter to myself about all the things mentally strong people don’t do. When I was done, I had a list of 13 things that could rob me of mental strength if I let them.

That letter helped me so I thought maybe it could help someone else.

I published it online expecting a few people would read it. But that list went viral and more than 50 million people read!
Within a matter of days, a literary agent reached out to suggest I write a book. Nine years later, I’ve written six books that have sold more than 1 million copies around the globe. And my life has never been the same.

Ep. 130. The Art of Losing: Juliet Haas on Sibling Loss

What happens when someone whose job is supporting other people’s mental health is rocked by their own traumatic loss?

In this episode, Juliet Haas LPC, LMHC, shares her story, including the personal and professional impacts of her loss.

Juliet is an embodied trauma-informed counselor, registered dance-movement therapist, and owner of Mindful Counseling and Wellness LLC. Licensed in both Wisconsin and Massachusetts, Juliet supports adults through grief, both death and non-death loss, trauma, and anxiety. Her therapeutic approach is person-centered, mindfulness based, and integrative. Her approach includes a blend of traditional talk therapy, mindfulness tools, expressive movement and art, and humor. She has specialty training in Accelerated Resolution Therapy for Trauma and Mind-Body approaches to assist in nervous system regulation. Juliet is also certified in Laughter Yoga: bringing more laughter and joy to the Milwaukee area!

To learn more, visit: https://www.mindfulcounselingandwellnessllc.com/

Instagram: @mindfulcounselingandwellness

And to connect with Julianne, please visit www.juliannemanskerollefson.com

Ep. 129. The Art of Losing: Kathleen Wallace, creator of Grief: A Comedy

Is there room for humor in the world of grief and loss? According to Kathleen Wallace, creator of Grief: A Comedy, laughter can serve as a tool for connection as we navigate the losses in our lives.

 

Kathleen is an actress, writer, producer, and facilitator whose work spans both the entertainment and corporate worlds. Her short film GRIEF: A COMEDY was recently selected for the Stowe Story Labs - Sidewalk Narrative Lab and the Stowe Story Labs TV Writers Room with Derek Simonds (showrunner, THE SINNER) and David Pope (co-founder, Stowe Story Labs). Notable work includes her series SETTLING UP, which is available on Amazon, and her feminist comedy series THE EVAGELISTS, about evangelists for feminism, which was a finalist in the Raindance Pilot Competition and won a Made In NY Women’s Fund grant. She has facilitated classes and conversations for organizations including the Yale Alumni Association, World50, and Google.

 

To learn more about Kathleen and Grief: A Comedy, visit KathleenWallace.com and linktr.ee/griefacomedy 

 

And you can follow the project on Instagram @griefacomedy

 

To connect with Julianne, please visit www.juliannemanskerollefson.com

Ep. 128. The Art of Losing: Molly Millwood on the Unexpected Losses of Motherhood

What is the cost of framing motherhood only in terms of its potential gains, without acknowledging its inevitable losses?

 

That’s one of the questions that Molly Milllwood addresses in her brilliant book, To Have and To Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma. A mix of research, client stories, and Molly’s personal experience, the book tells the truth about the realities of motherhood in an effort to normalize and validate the experience for women everywhere.

 

In this conversation, Molly discusses the current state of parenthood, its impact on mothers and their marriages, the role that social media and shame play in its difficulties, and its capacity to expand our emotional experience.

 

Molly Millwood is a licensed psychologist, author, speaker, singer-songwriter, mother, wife, and devoted advocate for women’s mental health and wellbeing.  She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Montana and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center.  After juggling an academic career with a part-time psychotherapy practice for over 15 years, Molly now practices therapy full time.  She works with adult individuals and couples, helping women rediscover themselves within the metamorphosis of motherhood and helping couples of all sorts improve their relational health.  Her 2019 book, To Have and To Hold:  Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma explores the emotional landscape of early motherhood and the inextricable link during this phase of life between women’s wellbeing and the wellbeing of their marriage or intimate partnership.  Her work has been highlighted by The Washington Post, Mother Untitled, WNYC Radio, and numerous other media outlets, along with dozens of podcasts.  She lives with her husband and two sons in the mountains of Vermont, where in her free time she can be found with a guitar in her hands, her nose in a book, or her feet on a steep dirt road. 

 

To learn more about Molly, visit www.mollymillwood.com

 

To purchase her book, visit https://bit.ly/mollymillwood

Follow Julianne on Instagram at @juliannerollefson

 

And to learn more about Julianne or to get in touch, visit www.juliannemanskerollefson.com

Ep. 127. Introducing The Art of Losing: Laurel Braitman

Laurel Braitman PhD, is a writer, teacher and secular, clinical chaplain-in-training. She is the author of the memoir What Looks Like Bravery: An epic journey through loss to love (March 13th, Simon & Schuster) and the NYT bestselling book Animal Madness: Inside Their Minds.

 

She received her doctorate in History and Anthropology of Science from MIT and is the director of Writing and Storytelling at the Stanford School of Medicine’s Medical Humanities and the Arts Program. Laurel is also the founder of Writing Medicine, the global community of writing healthcare professionals. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, California Sunday, National Geographic, Radiolab, National Public Radio and many other places. She splits her time between rural Alaska and her family’s ranch in Southern California.

In addition to Writing Medicine, she leads a variety of public writing workshops. To learn more and sign up, visit  www.laurelbraitman.com 

IG: @laurel_braitman

Substack: https://laurelbraitman.substack.com/

Ep. 126. Julianne Manske Rollefson: The Art of Losing

Julianne Manske Rollefson is a therapist, grief educator, and host of the new podcast, The Art of Losing. 

 

After the deaths of her parents, she left her career in corporate coaching and leadership development to pursue a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, with the goal of becoming a therapist specializing in grief and loss. She quickly realized that counseling graduate programs don't include grief-specific training and set out to learn as much as she could on her own, which is how she discovered my work and the Grief is My Side Hustle podcast.

 

For the past year and a half, Julianne and I have partnered to form MRJ Consulting, designed to help individuals, companies, and mental health professionals establish a grief-informed approach to addressing all manner of loss.

 

She provides individual and group therapy virtually and in-person in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To work with Julianne or learn more about her services, please visit www.juliannemanskerollefson.com

 

IG: @juliannerollefson

Ep. 125. Benjamin May: Founder of the New Normal

In 2018, along with his friend Jack, Ben founded The New Normal Charity, after the death of their dads. A simple, free to access, group space where adults could speak openly about their grief, and about the people they’d lost. 

 

Having spent over two decades working in the hair industry, Ben finds connection where he is most comfortable, and as TNN developed, so has their work. Ben is spending more and more time focused on creating community through empathetic understanding, working with some of the hardest to reach communities in London, coproducing spaces for their community. 

 

Since launching in 2018, TNN has gone on to host over 1000 meetings to attendees from around the world, including in person and virtual meetings across Europe, Hong Kong and North America. 

 

To join The New Normal Charity peer support meetings, head to our website www.thenewnormalcharity.com and register to any meeting that is relevant to you. The meetings are free to access and available to anyone who needs space to speak. 

 

Instagram - 

 

@tnncharity 

@tnnamericas 

@tnn_ben 

 

LinkedIn - 

 

TNN - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-new-normal-charity/

 

Ben - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-may-578381131?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Ep. 124. Jeannine Bryant: CEO Changing Spacesm SRS

Rightsizing expert Jeannine Bryant is the owner and CEO of Changing Spaces SRS, a senior move management company in Lincoln, NE.  She has helped provide rightsizing and relocation services to seniors since 2010.  During that time, she has been actively involved in the downsizing and moving processes of thousands of older adults.  Learn more about their services (and shop their online auctions!) at www.ChangingSpacesSRS.com.  

In 2019, Jeannine created a sister brand to Changing Spaces SRS called Easy Rightsizing.  This platform allows Jeannine to educate anyone and everyone about the rightsizing process, no matter their location.  At her website www.EasyRightsizing.comshe provides blog articles, video tutorials, links to podcasts she has been featured on, downloadable resources, and links to purchase the books she has written on the downsizing process. 

Ready to Rightsize? A step-by-step guide to your rightsizing journey:  For older adults and their loved ones was Jeannine’s first book, published in 2019.  It is the essential guidebook to anyone undergoing a transition and moving to a smaller space.  Jeannine prides herself on offering the kinds of practical tips and inspiration to get people motivated to start sorting through their belongings and undergoing their own rightsizing journey. 

In 2021, she published her second took titled Keep the Memories, Not the Stuff to serve as a helpful guide for anyone who has trouble letting go of keepsakes (that’s most of us!).  This practical how-to book will help readers gain a new perspective on life, love, memories, and our stuff.  The book offers thoughtful insights into the grieving process, as well as practical tips and hands-on advice for letting go without the guilt. 

In 2022, Jeannine released her first online downsizing course, which people can take on-demand from the comfort of their own home.  The course features a downloadable workbook and over three hours of video content featuring Jeannine as she coaches participants through the process of downsizing and moving. 

In 2023, Jeannine published A Year of Letting Go, a rightsizing planner to help readers declutter throughout 2024. 

Learn more about these books and her online course at www.EasyRightsizing.com

 

Ep. 123. Pamela 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.

 

Ep. 122. 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.