Polyvagal Theory and Grief: Nervous System Regulation in Bereavement Support

The Physiological Dimension of Grief

Grief is not only an emotional experience. It is a physiological one. Loss activates the nervous system in measurable, predictable ways — producing states of hyperarousal, hypoarousal, and dysregulation that affect cognition, behavior, physical health, and the capacity to process the loss itself. For helping professionals, understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of grief is not peripheral knowledge. It is foundational to grief-informed care.

Polyvagal theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, offers a clinically useful framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system responds to perceived threat — and loss, neurologically, registers as threat. The theory describes a hierarchy of nervous system states — social engagement, mobilization, and shutdown — that map directly onto grief presentations professionals encounter in bereaved clients. A client who appears avoidant may be in a shutdown state. A client who presents as irritable or hypervigilant may be in a mobilized, threat-activated state. A client who seems present and able to engage is likely in a regulated social engagement state — one that can be supported and expanded through targeted intervention.

In this episode of the GRIEF Ladies podcast, licensed clinical social worker Gabrielle Juliano-Villani joins hosts Kelly Daugherty and Rox to discuss polyvagal theory as applied to grief, the overlap between burnout and bereavement, and grounding tools that support nervous system regulation in grieving individuals. The conversation is clinically grounded and practically oriented — useful for professionals across disciplines who want to expand their grief-informed toolkit.

What This Episode Covers

The conversation addresses several areas with direct relevance to professionals supporting bereaved clients:

• How the autonomic nervous system responds to loss, and why grief produces such varied and sometimes contradictory physical and emotional states

• The overlap between grief and burnout — and why the two frequently co-occur in ways that complicate both

• The clinical role of self-compassion in supporting nervous system regulation during bereavement

• What "glimmers" are — micro-moments of safety and positive sensation — and why they matter as a regulated entry point into grief work

• Grounding practices that support ventral vagal activation and can be introduced across clinical and non-clinical settings

Clinical and Systemic Implications

Polyvagal theory has gained significant traction in trauma-informed care contexts, but its application to grief specifically is less developed in most professional training programs. Several clinical and systemic implications are worth naming directly.

Nervous system state determines grief processing capacity. A bereaved person cannot integrate loss from a dysregulated state. When clients appear stuck, resistant, or unable to engage with grief work, dysregulation — not avoidance or lack of motivation — is often the more accurate clinical explanation. Interventions that prioritize regulation before processing are more likely to be effective and less likely to inadvertently retraumatize.

Grief and burnout share a neurobiological profile. Both involve prolonged activation of stress response systems, depletion of regulatory resources, and a reduced capacity for social engagement. Bereaved individuals who are also caregivers, helping professionals, or managing significant life demands alongside their loss are at particular risk for a combined grief-burnout presentation. This overlap is clinically significant and practically underaddressed. Professionals who assess for grief without assessing for burnout — and vice versa — are working with an incomplete picture.

The concept of neuroception is directly applicable to bereaved clients. Neuroception — the nervous system's unconscious scanning for safety and threat — is frequently dysregulated in grief. Environments, sensory cues, social interactions, and anniversary dates can all trigger threat responses in bereaved individuals that appear disproportionate without this framework. Helping clients understand why their nervous system is responding the way it is reduces shame and increases self-agency.

Glimmers are a clinically underutilized concept in bereavement support. The term, coined by therapist Deb Dana, describes small moments of nervous system regulation and positive sensation — the opposite of triggers. In grief work, glimmers are significant because they demonstrate that regulated states are still accessible, even amid acute loss. Identifying and intentionally cultivating glimmers is a concrete, low-barrier intervention that can be introduced across therapeutic, educational, and community support settings.

Regulation tools are adaptable across non-clinical settings. School counselors, healthcare providers, and organizational support staff do not need specialized training to offer foundational nervous system regulation tools. Breath-based practices, grounding techniques, and psychoeducation about the physiological dimensions of grief are accessible, evidence-supported, and can meaningfully shift a grieving person's capacity to function and engage with support.

Helping professionals are not immune to grief dysregulation. Clinicians, educators, and healthcare providers who work with bereaved populations absorb secondary loss exposure over time. Understanding polyvagal theory in relation to grief is relevant not only for supporting clients but for understanding and managing the professional's own regulatory experience. Grief-informed organizations attend to this dimension of workforce wellbeing.

Practical Applications for Helping Professionals

1. Assess nervous system state before beginning grief processing work. Before moving into narrative or cognitive grief work, take a moment to assess where a client is physiologically. Are they present and engaged? Shut down and flat? Activated and agitated? Matching intervention to state — offering regulation tools when dysregulated, processing when regulated — improves outcomes and reduces the risk of retraumatization.

2. Provide psychoeducation about the physiological dimensions of grief. Many bereaved clients are frightened or confused by their physical symptoms — the racing heart, the exhaustion, the inability to concentrate, the physical heaviness. Explaining these experiences through a polyvagal lens normalizes them, reduces shame, and gives clients a framework for understanding their own responses. Psychoeducation is a clinical intervention, not a preamble to one.

3. Introduce glimmer practices as a regulated entry point. Rather than beginning grief work by moving toward the most painful material, consider beginning by helping clients identify moments of nervous system ease — however brief. A warm cup of coffee, a specific piece of music, a reliable sensory experience that produces a small sense of safety. Building awareness of these moments expands the client's regulated window and creates a foundation for deeper work.

4. Use grounding techniques as a clinical tool, not a crisis intervention. Grounding is often introduced only in moments of acute distress. In grief work, incorporating grounding as a routine practice — at the beginning of sessions, during difficult material, at transitions — builds regulatory capacity over time. Five-four-three-two-one sensory grounding, breath awareness, and bilateral stimulation are all accessible tools with low barriers to implementation.

5. Assess for the grief-burnout overlap explicitly. When working with bereaved clients who are also caregivers, helping professionals, or managing significant demands, assess directly for burnout alongside grief. Ask about energy levels, capacity for pleasure, motivation, and the experience of daily demands. Where both grief and burnout are present, treatment planning should address both — and pacing becomes a particularly important clinical consideration.

6. Build polyvagal literacy into organizational grief-informed training. For administrators and organizational leaders, incorporating basic polyvagal concepts into staff training produces more responsive, regulated professionals. When educators, healthcare workers, and community support staff understand why a grieving person might appear shut down, aggressive, or unable to engage, they are less likely to respond punitively and more likely to respond with appropriate support.

About the Guest: Gabrielle Juliano-Villani, LCSW

Gabrielle Juliano-Villani is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, business mindset coach, and consultant with expertise spanning clinical practice, burnout prevention, and sustainable professional development. After building and selling her own seven-figure group therapy practice in 2021, she now supports therapy practice owners in scaling and sustaining their work without burning out. Gabrielle has been featured on NBC News and speaks internationally on burnout prevention and practice development. Her clinical background in social work informs her applied understanding of nervous system regulation, self-compassion, and the intersection of occupational and personal stress — including grief.

Resources from the Center for Informed Grief

The Center for Informed Grief provides training and professional development for therapists, educators, healthcare providers, and organizational leaders working with bereaved individuals. Our programs address grief-informed practice across its full scope — including the neurobiological dimensions of loss, somatic and regulation-based approaches to bereavement support, and building grief-responsive systems across disciplines.

To learn more about upcoming trainings, workshops, or consultation opportunities, visit the Center for Informed Grief.

Polyvagal Theory & Grief: Grounding Tools to Calm Your Nervous System

Polyvagal Theory & Grief: Grounding Tools to Calm Your Nervous System

Grief isn’t just emotional — it’s physiological.

In this episode, we explore how grief impacts the nervous system and why you may feel anxious, shut down, exhausted, or on edge. Joined by Gabrielle Juliano-Villani, we discuss polyvagal theory, grounding techniques, and practical tools to help regulate your body during grief.

You’ll hear:

How the nervous system responds to loss

Why burnout and grief often overlap

The role of self-compassion

What “glimmers” are and why they matter

Simple grounding practices you can try today

Grief can feel overwhelming — but small shifts in awareness can create meaningful change.

As always, we close with practical steps you can use this week.

Why We Wrote The First Year After Loss

When life knocks us down, most of us have ways of coping. We lean on the people we trust. We throw ourselves into work for a while. We exercise. We spend time with friends. We distract ourselves with hobbies. We remind ourselves of other difficult things we've survived and draw confidence from knowing we've gotten through hard times before. We rely on routines and familiar structures to create a sense of stability while life feels uncertain.

Then a significant loss occurs, and suddenly, the life we knew how to navigate no longer exists.

The person we would normally call may be the very person who died. Friends and family are often grieving too, leaving them with less capacity to support us in the ways they once did. The hobbies and interests that used to bring comfort can suddenly feel meaningless. Our routines change because the life those routines were built around no longer exists. Even our confidence in ourselves can take a hit as we struggle with forgetfulness, indecision, exhaustion, and a complete lack of motivation.

In other words, loss doesn't simply create pain. It destabilizes many of the systems we would normally rely upon to recover from pain.

We think this is one of the reasons the first year after loss feels so bewildering. People often come into grief believing they are mourning one person, only to discover they are also grieving a future they expected to have, a role they once occupied, a sense of security, familiar routines, important relationships, and even parts of themselves. They find themselves struggling with things that used to come naturally and wondering why they can't seem to "get it together." What they don't realize is that they are trying to adapt to an entirely new reality while many of the supports that would normally help them adapt have changed or disappeared.

This is also why so many grieving people ask the same questions. Why am I so tired? Why can't I concentrate? Why do I feel worse now than I did three months ago? Why don't I enjoy anything anymore? Why do I feel so disconnected from everyone around me? Beneath all of those questions is often a deeper one: Is this normal?

After hearing those questions for years, we began talking about how difficult it can be for grieving people to find straightforward, practical information during the time they need it most. The irony, of course, is that grief itself affects concentration, memory, motivation, and the ability to absorb information. People are desperate to understand what is happening to them at exactly the same time they are least able to read a dense book or sort through complicated explanations.

That realization became the foundation for our GRIEF Brain Reader Series, a collection of books on grief and life after loss designed specifically for people whose worlds have been forever changed. We wanted these books to be practical, accessible, and easy to return to—offering information, reassurance, and guidance without requiring the focus, energy, or emotional bandwidth that grief often takes away.

That conversation eventually became The First Year After Loss: A GRIEF Ladies Guide to Everything You Need to Know. We wanted to create the book we wished every grieving person had during those early months—the book that explains not only what grief is, but why it feels so hard. A book that helps people understand the exhaustion, the fog, the loneliness, the identity changes, the relationship challenges, and the countless secondary losses that often accompany the death of someone important.

No book can remove the pain of grief. No book can tell someone exactly what their experience will look like. But we do believe that understanding matters. There is comfort in learning that what feels frightening is often normal. There is relief in discovering that other people have struggled with the same thoughts, questions, and fears. There is tremendous value in realizing that the exhaustion, confusion, forgetfulness, loneliness, and sense of being completely unlike yourself are experiences shared by many grieving people.

The first year after loss asks an enormous amount of us. It asks us to carry heartbreak while adapting to change. It asks us to learn new routines, navigate unfamiliar emotions, and make sense of a world that no longer looks the way we expected it to. We hope this book helps people feel less confused, less alone, and better equipped to understand what is happening to them as they find their way through one of the most difficult years of their lives.

The First Year of Loss will be available on Amazon on Tuesday, June 16th. Want to hear more about why we are starting with this book, check out: https://youtu.be/Nfz8_vQbWck?si=qkVHy8ivBGEirpnS

How Do You Celebrate the Life of Someone Who Died?

Honoring the person you loved doesn't have to follow a script. Five guests from the GRIEF Ladies Podcast — one for every letter of the GRIEF framework — share how they encourage grieving people to celebrate a life, keep a memory alive, and carry love forward in ways that feel true to them.

G · Grounding: How can honoring someone help you feel connected when grief feels physical?

Grief lives in the body as much as the mind. Dr. Larissa Tate, clinical psychologist and sleep specialist, understands that the early days of grief are often about survival — eating, sleeping, getting through. But even within that survival mode, small acts of honoring can provide comfort and grounding.

Her approach to celebrating a life focuses on the sensory and the simple — the things that bring someone's presence back in a way the body can feel. A favorite meal. A song. A walk somewhere they loved. These aren't small gestures. They are anchors.

📊 Stat: Research on continuing bonds — the idea that maintaining a connection to someone who has died supports healthy grief — shows that meaningful rituals and sensory reminders can reduce grief-related distress and increase feelings of closeness to the person who died. This isn't about staying stuck. It's about staying connected.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Dr. Larissa Tate

‍ ‍R · Rebuilding: How do you help a child celebrate the life of someone they loved?

Children need permission to remember. When someone dies, the adults around them are often so focused on protecting them from pain that they forget to invite them into the celebration of a life. Jennifer's work with children in grief centers on exactly this — creating space for children to remember, honor, and stay connected.

Her approach to celebrating a life with children involves making it tangible and age-appropriate: a memory box, a drawing, a special place in the home where a photo lives. When children have a way to participate in honoring someone, they learn that grief and love belong together.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Jennifer on children and grief

‍ ‍I · Interacting: How does a meaningful funeral celebration change the way families grieve together?

The way a life is honored at the end shapes how a family grieves together going forward. Brittany DeMarco-Furman, a fourth-generation licensed funeral director, has witnessed this firsthand across hundreds of families. When a service is personal, intentional, and reflective of who someone truly was, it gives the people left behind something to hold onto.

Her approach to celebrating a life is rooted in storytelling and personalization — music that mattered, objects that tell a story, space for people to share memories out loud. A funeral, in Brittany's view, is not an obligation. It is an opportunity.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Brittany DeMarco-Furman

E · Evolving: How do you celebrate a life when your grief is complicated?

Not every relationship was simple. Not every death comes with clean emotions. Holly McNeill, mindfulness educator and creator of the P.E.R.L.O.V.E. Formula, works with people whose grief is layered with things that are hard to name — guilt, anger, relief, regret. Her approach to celebrating a life makes room for all of it.

Holly encourages grieving people to honor the full truth of who someone was — not a perfect version, not a painful version, but the real one. Celebration doesn't require that everything was good. It requires that something was real.

📊 Stat: Studies on complicated grief and ambivalent relationships suggest that finding ways to honor what was meaningful — even within difficult relationships — can support grief integration and reduce prolonged grief symptoms. Acknowledgment of complexity is not a barrier to honoring a life. It is part of it.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Holly McNeill

F · Finding: How do you celebrate the life of a pet?

Pets are companions, witnesses, and family. When they die, the grief is real and the need to honor them is just as real. Adam Greenbaum created Love Baxter after the death of his Boston Terrier Baxter, and his work is built on one simple belief: every animal deserves to be celebrated.

His approach to celebrating a pet's life includes memorializing in ways that feel personal — a paw print, a dedicated space in the home, a donation in their name, or simply telling their story out loud to someone who will listen. The love was real. The celebration should be too.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Adam Greenbaum on pet loss

The love doesn't end. The celebration is how you carry it.

Celebrating a life isn't something that happens once at a funeral and then stops. It's ongoing — woven into the routines you rebuild, the conversations you have with your children, the rituals you return to, the memories you let yourself feel. Every guest in this post reminds us that honoring someone is not about holding on. It's about carrying them forward.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/FKsc27itlOY

What Actually Happens in the First Year of Grief and Why Nobody Warns You

The first year after a loss is unlike anything else you will experience. And yet most people go into it completely unprepared because nobody talks honestly about what it actually feels like. That's not because people don't care. It's because grief is still one of the most underdiscussed experiences in our culture. We show up for the funeral. We bring the casseroles. And then, as Kelly Daugherty often says: "By the time the casseroles have been eaten, the phone has stopped ringing, and the funeral is over, then it really hits them." And when it hits, many people ask the same question: Am I grieving, or am I going crazy? The answer, almost always, is: you are grieving. And this is what grief actually looks like.

What Is "Grief Brain" and Is It Real?

Yes. Grief brain is real, and it affects more people than most realize. When you are in early grief, your nervous system is under enormous strain. Stress hormones are elevated. Sleep is disrupted. Your body and mind are working overtime to process something that has no quick resolution. As a result, many grieving people experience significant cognitive changes — including difficulty concentrating, forgetting things they would never normally forget, struggling to read or retain information, and feeling mentally foggy or scattered. This is why Kelly Daugherty and Karyn Arnold — co-hosts of the GRIEF Ladies Podcast and co-authors of The First Year After Loss — designed their new Grief Brain Reader series with the grief brain specifically in mind. The books are intentionally short and digestible. Because handing a grieving person a 300-page book isn't helpful. It's another complication. "Your grief brain can handle this" is the message behind the series. It was written for exactly where you are right now.

The Firsts Nobody Prepares You For

The first year of grief is filled with firsts you didn't ask for. The first birthday without them. The first holiday. The first time someone asks how you're doing and you genuinely don't know what to say. The first time you reach for your phone to call them — and remember. Each of these firsts carries its own weight. And many people are surprised to find that certain ones hit harder than they expected — sometimes months later, sometimes on a completely ordinary Tuesday with no obvious trigger. This is not unusual. This is grief doing exactly what grief does.

Grief Bursts: When It Comes Out of Nowhere

One of the most disorienting experiences in grief is what clinicians sometimes call a grief burst — a sudden, intense wave of grief that arrives without warning. You might be in the grocery store, driving to work, or sitting quietly at home when something — a smell, a song, a phrase — brings the loss rushing back with full force. Kelly Daugherty, an LCSW-R and grief specialist with over two decades of experience, is open about her own experience with this. Her mother has been gone for 32 years. And grief bursts still come. "I had a grief burst the other day about my mom. It's been 32 years. And it still hit me. Because grief doesn't have an expiration date." This is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that you loved someone deeply. And it is completely normal.

What the First Year Actually Needs

The first year of grief deserves focused, intentional support. Not a timeline. Not a checklist. Not someone telling you that you should be further along by now. What helps, according to decades of combined clinical experience from Kelly and Karyn, is this: Finding your people. Co-regulation — the nervous-system science of being around safe, calm people — is one of the most powerful tools in early grief. You need people who can sit with you in it. Who don't need you to perform being okay. Normalizing what you're experiencing. Knowing that grief brain is real, that grief bursts are normal, that the first year is hard for a reason — this alone can reduce the shame and confusion that makes grief even heavier. Short, digestible resources. When you can't concentrate, when reading feels impossible, when your brain can't hold a lot — you need resources that meet you there. Not resources that add to the overwhelm.

The First Year After Loss — Coming Soon

The First Year After Loss, the first book in the Grief Brain Reader series by Kelly Daugherty and Karyn Arnold, will be available now on Amazon on June 16th. It is short. It is honest. It is written for the grief brain — on purpose. And it is for anyone in their first year of loss, anyone who loves someone in their first year, and anyone who has been carrying grief longer than a year and never had a resource that truly met them where they were.

Want to hear more about this book, check out the GRIEF Ladies Bonus Podcast Episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VR2fwgmnguI6P3Yl9qGx2?si=L_jbfIT_Rw6pJymenTAn_g

What Should You Do When You're Grieving? 5 Experts Share One Action Step Each

Grief can make it hard to know where to start. Each expert in this post is a guest from the GRIEF Ladies Podcast, and each one was asked a single question: what is one actionable step a grieving person can take right now? Their answers span every letter of the GRIEF Ladies framework — and together, they give you a place to begin.

G · Grounding: What can you do when grief is keeping you up at night?

Sleep is one of the first things grief disrupts — and one of the hardest to reclaim. Dr. Larissa Tate, a clinical psychologist specializing in sleep, anxiety, and trauma, shares that grief sleep disturbances are not a personal failing. They are a physiological response to loss, and there are evidence-based tools to address them.

Dr. Tate's action step: start with your sleep environment and your wind-down routine before reaching for medication. Small, consistent changes — what time you go to bed, how much light you're exposed to in the evening, what you do in the hour before sleep — can create meaningful shifts over time.

📊 Stat: Research shows that bereaved individuals are significantly more likely to experience insomnia than the general population, with some studies indicating rates as high as 40–50% among the newly bereaved. Sleep disruption can worsen emotional regulation, concentration, and physical health — making it one of the most important areas to address early in grief.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Dr. Larissa Tate on sleep and grief

R · Rebuilding: How do you support a child who is grieving?

Children grieve differently than adults, and they often need adults to help them rebuild a sense of safety and routine after a loss. Jennifer joined us to talk about what children actually need when someone they love has died — and what the adults around them can do to help.

Her action step: don't wait for a child to bring it up. Create space for the conversation by naming what happened directly and age-appropriately. Children take cues from the adults around them. When adults are willing to talk about death, children learn that their feelings are safe to share.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Jennifer on children and grief

I · Interacting: How does a funeral director help families communicate during grief?

Grief changes every relationship — and the days immediately following a death can bring out both the best and the most complicated parts of family dynamics. Brittany DeMarco-Furman, a fourth-generation licensed funeral director at Glenville Funeral Home, has guided hundreds of families through those first hours and days.

Her action step: have the conversation before you need to. Pre-planning a funeral — or even just talking openly about end-of-life wishes — is one of the most loving things a family can do for each other. It removes the burden of guessing during the hardest moments, and it opens a door for honest communication about what matters.

💬 Quote: "It's the last gift you can give your family." — Brittany DeMarco-Furman

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Brittany DeMarco-Furman on family communication and grief

E · Evolving: What do you do when grief emotions feel impossible to sit with?

The emotions that show up in grief — anger, guilt, fear, regret — can feel like walls rather than doorways. Holly McNeill, known as The Mindfulness Architect, developed the P.E.R.L.O.V.E. Formula after her own experience of profound personal loss. Her work focuses on helping people understand how their minds function under stress so they can engage with pain more consciously.

Her action step: pause before you react to a difficult emotion. You don't have to fix the feeling or push it away — just notice it. Mindfulness isn't about becoming calm; it's about becoming curious. That small shift from reaction to observation can change your entire relationship to the emotion.

📊 Stat: Studies on mindfulness-based interventions for grief have found reductions in grief-related rumination and increases in psychological flexibility among bereaved participants. The ability to observe emotions without being consumed by them is a trainable skill — not a personality trait.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Holly McNeill on mindfulness and grief

F · Finding: How do you grieve a pet when no one around you understands?

Pet loss is one of the most common forms of disenfranchised grief — grief that isn't fully recognized or validated by others. Adam Greenbaum created Love Baxter, the world's largest pet end-of-life resource, after the death of his Boston Terrier, Baxter, in October 2024. His episode is a reminder that the grief you feel for an animal is not small, and you don't have to explain it to anyone.

His action step: find your people. Seek out communities — online or in person — where pet loss is taken seriously and your grief is welcome. Isolation makes grief harder. Connection, even with strangers who understand, makes it more bearable.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode with Adam Greenbaum on pet loss and finding connection

One framework. Five action steps. A place to begin.

The GRIEF Ladies framework — Grounding, Rebuilding, Interacting, Evolving, and Finding — was built on the understanding that grief touches every part of life. There is no single right place to start. But there is always somewhere. The five guests in this post each offer one small, real step you can take in the area of grief that feels most pressing for you right now.

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Pet Loss and Disenfranchised Grief: Supporting Clients Through Bereavement After Animal Companions

Pet Loss as a Legitimate Bereavement Experience

Pet loss is one of the most common grief experiences in the United States — and one of the most consistently minimized. Helping professionals who work with bereaved individuals will encounter pet loss regularly, often embedded within other presenting concerns, and often carrying a layer of shame because the grieving person has already received the message that their loss does not warrant serious attention.

It does. The bond between a person and an animal companion can be one of the most consistent, uncomplicated, and emotionally significant relationships in their life. For individuals who live alone, who have experienced relational trauma, or whose human relationships are complicated or limited, a pet may represent a primary attachment figure. When that animal dies, the grief is real, the loss is significant, and the disenfranchisement that frequently follows compounds the bereavement in ways that have direct clinical implications.

In this episode of the GRIEF Ladies podcast, Adam Greenbaum shares the experience of losing his Boston Terrier, Baxter, and how that loss led him to found Love, Baxter — now one of the largest pet end-of-life support resources in the world. The conversation addresses the emotional complexity of pet bereavement, the particular weight of euthanasia decisions, and what meaningful support looks like for grieving pet owners. For helping professionals, it is a clinically relevant and practically grounded discussion of a grief population that is frequently underserved.

What This Episode Covers

The conversation addresses several areas with direct relevance to professionals supporting bereaved individuals:

• Why pet loss is structurally disenfranchised, and how that disenfranchisement affects the grief experience

• How to prepare emotionally and practically for a pet's end of life — and why that preparation matters for bereavement outcomes

• The specific emotional burden carried by pet owners who make euthanasia decisions on behalf of their animals

• How memorialization and ritual support grief integration after pet loss

• Where pet bereavement support resources exist and how professionals can connect clients with them

Clinical and Systemic Implications

Pet bereavement is a grief population with specific clinical features that helping professionals benefit from understanding directly.

Disenfranchisement is the primary clinical risk factor in pet loss. Disenfranchised grief — grief that is not openly acknowledged or publicly supported — is associated with more complicated bereavement outcomes, increased isolation, and higher rates of depression. Pet loss is disenfranchised at nearly every systemic level. There is no bereavement leave. Memorial services are uncommon. Social scripts for responding to pet loss are underdeveloped, and well-meaning people routinely say things — "it was just a dog," "you can get another one" — that communicate that the grief is disproportionate. When a grieving person arrives in a clinical or support context having already been told their loss does not matter, the first and most important intervention is straightforward acknowledgment.

The euthanasia decision carries distinct grief features. Unlike most human deaths, pet owners are frequently asked to make an active end-of-life decision for their animal — to choose the timing and circumstances of the death. This is an act of care, but it is also an enormous weight. Grief following euthanasia often includes guilt, second-guessing, and a particular form of moral distress that is not present in the same way after deaths that occur without a decision point. Professionals who are not familiar with this dynamic may miss it entirely, or inadvertently reinforce the client's self-doubt by failing to name the decision as an act of love rather than a source of culpability.

Pet loss can activate or reactivate prior grief. For many individuals, a pet has been a companion through significant life events — illness, divorce, the death of other loved ones, major transitions. When that animal dies, the loss can carry the accumulated weight of everything the pet witnessed and accompanied. What presents as pet grief may also be a portal into earlier, unprocessed losses. Clinicians should be alert to this layering and assess accordingly.

Veterinary professionals are an underrecognized grief-adjacent workforce. Veterinarians and veterinary technicians make end-of-life decisions alongside pet owners regularly, and many carry significant secondary grief and moral distress as a result. This population has high rates of occupational burnout and mental health concerns, in part because the grief dimensions of their work are rarely named or supported. Grief-informed care extends to the professionals administering that care — a dimension of workforce wellbeing that organizational leaders in veterinary settings are beginning to address.

Pet loss affects children in ways that are often not adequately supported. For many children, a pet is their first encounter with death. How that loss is handled by the adults around them — whether it is acknowledged honestly, whether the child is included in rituals, whether their grief is taken seriously — has implications for how they understand and relate to loss throughout their lives. School counselors and educators who understand pet loss as a legitimate bereavement experience are better equipped to respond when students are affected.

Practical Applications for Helping Professionals

1. Explicitly acknowledge pet loss as a legitimate grief experience. For many clients presenting with pet bereavement, the most powerful early intervention is simple and direct: naming that the loss is real and that the grief makes sense. Do not qualify it. Do not compare it to human loss in either direction. Treat it as what it is — a significant bereavement that warrants the same quality of attention as any other.

2. Assess for disenfranchisement and its effects. Ask clients directly about the responses they have received from others. Have they been told to move on? Have they felt embarrassed about the intensity of their grief? Have they minimized or hidden their distress? Understanding the disenfranchisement landscape helps clinicians target their support and helps clients feel less alone in the experience.

3. Address the euthanasia decision specifically when relevant. If a client was involved in a euthanasia decision, do not wait for them to raise it. Ask about it directly. Explore what the decision involved, how they made it, and what they are carrying as a result. Explicitly framing euthanasia as an act of care — one of the most difficult and loving things a pet owner can do — can be a significant point of relief for clients who are self-condemning.

4. Assess for prior grief activation. When a client's distress around pet loss seems disproportionate to what they themselves expected, explore the history of the relationship with the animal and the losses the pet accompanied. This is frequently where layered grief becomes visible. The pet loss is real — and it may also be carrying grief that has been waiting for a container.

5. Connect clients with pet bereavement resources. Pet loss support groups, bereavement hotlines, and resources like Love, Baxter exist specifically for this population. Knowing what is available and making direct referrals is a practical and meaningful form of bereavement support. Many grieving pet owners do not seek out these resources because they have already internalized the message that their grief does not warrant support.

6. Incorporate pet loss into grief education for school personnel. Equipping educators and school counselors to respond to pet loss in students — with honesty, acknowledgment, and age-appropriate support — builds grief literacy at a foundational level. How a child's first encounter with death is handled shapes their long-term relationship with loss. School-based grief education that includes animal loss is more complete and more responsive to students' actual experiences.

About the Guest: Adam Greenbaum

Adam Greenbaum is the founder of Love, Baxter, currently one of the largest pet end-of-life support resources in the world. He previously built WhiskerCloud — now part of PetDesk — into a platform serving more than 10,000 veterinary clinics worldwide. When his Boston Terrier, Baxter, died in October 2024, Adam channeled his grief into building a resource dedicated to supporting pet owners through end-of-life decisions and bereavement. His mission is to ensure that every pet receives a calm, dignified farewell — and that the people who love them have access to compassionate, informed support.

Resources from the Center for Informed Grief

The Center for Informed Grief provides training and professional development for therapists, educators, healthcare providers, and organizational leaders working with bereaved individuals across loss types and populations. Our programs address grief-informed practice in its full scope — including disenfranchised bereavement, pet loss, and building the professional capacity to recognize and respond to grief that falls outside conventional frameworks.

To learn more about upcoming trainings, workshops, or consultation opportunities, visit the Center for Informed Grief.

Coping with Pet Loss: Grieving a Beloved Dog & Preparing for End of Life

Coping with Pet Loss: Grieving a Beloved Dog & Preparing for End of Life

Losing a pet can feel devastating — and yet pet grief is often minimized or misunderstood.

In this episode, Adam Greenbaum shares the story of losing his Boston Terrier, Baxter, and how that experience led him to create Love Baxter, a resource supporting pet owners through end-of-life decisions and bereavement.

We discuss:

Why pet loss is often disenfranchised grief

Preparing for a pet’s end of life

The emotional toll of euthanasia decisions

Ways to celebrate and memorialize your pet

Finding support during pet bereavement

Our pets are companions, family, and witnesses to our lives. Their loss matters.

As always, we close with practical steps you can take during your own grief journey.

Mindfulness for Grief: Finding Peace and Healing After Loss

Mindfulness for Grief: Finding Peace and Healing After Loss

Grief can pull you into the past or push you into fear about the future. Mindfulness invites you back to the present moment.

In this episode, we talk with Holly McNeill about how meditation and mindful awareness can support healing after loss. We explore the PUR-LOVE framework, the role of gratitude in grief, and how acceptance helps create peace — even when life feels shattered.

You’ll hear:

How mindfulness changes your relationship with grief

Why meditation builds emotional resilience

The connection between gratitude and healing

How to practice presence during pain

Healing through grief is not about forgetting — it’s about learning to be here now.

As always, we close with practical steps you can try this week.

Mindfulness and Grief: Finding Your Way Back to the Present Moment

Grief has a complicated relationship with time.

It pulls you backward into memories — replaying moments, conversations, things you wish had gone differently. It pushes you forward into fear — worrying about a future that now looks nothing like you imagined. The present moment, the only place where healing can actually happen, can feel like the hardest place to land.

Mindfulness practices work directly with this. By gently training your attention toward what's happening right now — your breath, your body, the sensations around you — mindfulness can give you a foothold in the present when grief is pulling you in every direction.

In this episode of the GRIEF Ladies podcast, Holly McNeill joins Kelly and Karyn to talk about how mindfulness and meditative practice can support you through bereavement, the P.E.R.L.O.V.E. framework she developed for moving through suffering with intention, and the real relationship between gratitude, acceptance, and grief.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• How mindfulness shifts your relationship to painful emotions — from being consumed by them to being able to observe them

• Why consistent practice builds your capacity to feel grief without being swept away by it

• How gratitude and grief can exist at the same time — and why gratitude isn't about bypassing your pain

• What it actually means to be present with acute grief, without requiring the pain to stop first

• The P.E.R.L.O.V.E. framework as a structured, step-by-step way to move through suffering with clarity and self-agency

A Note on Acceptance

Acceptance is one of the most misunderstood concepts in grief. It doesn't mean your loss was okay. It doesn't mean you're done grieving. It means finding a way to acknowledge what is true without being consumed by fighting against it. Holly speaks to this distinction in a way that is both honest and deeply compassionate.

About Holly McNeill

Holly McNeill — known as The Mindfulness Architect — is a mindfulness educator and coach with more than two decades of study across neuroscience, psychology, spirituality, and Buddhism. After experiencing profound personal loss and a significant period of identity disruption, Holly developed the P.E.R.L.O.V.E. Formula: a structured framework for moving through suffering toward self-awareness, agency, and peace. Her work helps people understand how their minds work under stress so they can engage with pain more consciously — and find their way through it.

What Can You Do Right Now to Support a Grieving Child?

You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to say the perfect thing.

What grieving children need most is the presence of adults who aren't afraid to stay in the conversation with them.

A few places to start:

Use clear, honest language about what happened. Children deserve the truth, offered gently and attuned to their age and understanding.

Talk about the person who died. Say their name. Share stories. Pull out photos. When children hear adults speak freely about who that person was, they learn that it's safe for them to do the same.

Follow the child's lead. Some days they'll want to talk. Some days they'll want to play. Both are grief. Neither is wrong.

Validate what they're feeling without rushing them past it. Tears are okay. Anger is okay. Laughter is okay too — children move in and out of grief in ways that can surprise adults, and that's completely normal.

And if you're a grieving adult who is also trying to support a grieving child, please don't forget: you need support too. You cannot pour from an empty place, and asking for help — from a friend, a counselor, a support group, or anyone who has spoken to your heart — is not weakness. It's where rebuilding begins.

About the Guest: Jennifer Kimlingen, LCSW

Jennifer Kimlingen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in grief, bereavement, traumatic loss, and children's grief. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Adelphi University in 2014 and has a clinical background spanning medical social work, grief counseling, and private practice. Jennifer currently serves as a bereavement counselor with Choices Health and provides grief education for mental health clinicians through the Agents of Change Continuing Education platform. She presents regularly on children's grief and bereavement and is committed to building a more informed, less avoidant professional culture around death and loss. Jennifer lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

Listen to this episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MBleeO1Yy6Xni69EIs4jT?si=7uzYVocvRlGApRDPastrog

How Children Grieve: Supporting Kids (and Yourself) After a Loss

How Children Grieve: Supporting Kids (and Yourself) After a Loss

Grief doesn’t look the same at every age.

In this episode, we’re joined by clinical social worker Jennifer Kimlingen to talk about how children process loss, why grief can resurface at different developmental stages, and how adults can create safe, supportive environments for grieving kids.

You’ll hear:

• How children express grief at different ages

• Why routine and structure help during acute loss

• The role of self-compassion for caregivers

• Storytelling as a powerful way to honor loved ones

• Why it’s okay not to have all the answers

No child should ever grieve alone — and caregivers deserve support, too.

As always, we close with practical steps you can try this week.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MBleeO1Yy6Xni69EIs4jT?si=34fff05ab85f4bac

Grief and Sleep Disruption: CBT-I in Bereavement Support

You may have heard general sleep advice before — keep a consistent schedule, avoid screens, limit caffeine. These things aren't wrong, but for many grieving people, they aren't enough. That's because what develops over weeks of poor sleep isn't just bad habits. It's a conditioned response.

When your bed becomes the place where you lie awake, ruminate, and feel the full weight of your loss night after night, your brain starts to associate that space with wakefulness and distress rather than rest. It's not intentional — it just happens. And once it does, general sleep hygiene advice doesn't touch it.

This is where Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia — CBTI — comes in. CBTI is an evidence-based approach that directly addresses the thoughts and behaviors that keep insomnia going. It doesn't just tell you to go to bed at the same time every night. It works with the specific patterns that have developed and helps retrain the relationship between you, your bed, and sleep.

In a recent episode of the GRIEF Ladies Podcast, we sat down with Dr. Larissa Tate, a licensed psychologist with specialized training in CBTI, to talk about exactly how this applies to grief. Her approach is practical, grounded, and genuinely useful for anyone who has been struggling with sleep since their loss. Listen to this episode at: https://youtu.be/VugKGA4SFYw?si=pNZG4QM9pMO2sh0N

Guest Bio: Dr. Larissa Tate is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Momentum Behavioral Health, a private practice serving clients in New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders, anxiety, and trauma, with particular expertise in working with professionals in high-stakes, high-pressure roles including caregivers, medical professionals, attorneys, first responders, military personnel, and others who are used to carrying a lot and rarely slowing down. Her work is grounded in science and evidence-based treatments and a practical, skills-focused approach. Dr. Tate helps driven individuals get out of survival mode, sleep better, manage stress more effectively, and build resilience in ways that are sustainable – without sacrificing their ambition or values.

She has trained and worked in a range of medical and behavioral health settings, including sleep clinics, primary care, intensive outpatient programs, neurology clinics, and major military and VA medical centers. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Uniformed Services University and completed her residency at the University of Alabama-Birmingham VA Medical Center. In addition to individual and group therapy, Dr. Tate also provides diagnostic assessments and military psychological evaluations and is passionate about helping clients create meaningful, lasting change

Connect with Larisa: www.momentumbehavioralhealth.com

Grief & Insomnia: CBT-I Tools to Help You Sleep Again

Grief & Insomnia: CBTI Tools to Help You Sleep Again

If you’ve been lying awake at night since someone died, you’re not alone.

Grief often disrupts sleep, making bedtime feel anxious, frustrating, or emotionally overwhelming. For many people, insomnia becomes one of the most exhausting parts of loss.

In this episode of the GRIEF Ladies Podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Larissa Tate to explore how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) can help. CBTI is an evidence-based approach that helps rebuild healthy sleep habits — even during grief.

We talk about:

• Why grief interferes with sleep

• How nighttime anxiety develops

• What CBTI actually involves

• Sleep hygiene myths

• The role of medication

• Why napping can worsen insomnia

• Small, manageable steps to improve your sleep

Sleep struggles during grief are common — and they’re treatable.

As always, we close with practical tools you can try this week, because grief changes your life — and you deserve support that helps you live inside that change.

Listen at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0mJXiHNcn53FF6ipIz5eaN?si=MGSQEUD5S86F_xWP7CNiyw

Related topics: grief and insomnia, CBTI for sleep, sleep problems after loss, nighttime anxiety during grief.

Grief Support That Actually Helps: Meet the Grief Ladies

Most people who are grieving have heard the same things: there’s no right way to grieve, give it time, let yourself feel it. And while there is truth in all of that, it leaves out the most important question — what do you actually do?

That is the question behind The Grief Ladies podcast. Hosts Kelly Daugherty, LCSW, and Karyn Arnold bring over 50 combined years of experience supporting grieving individuals — and in Episode 1, they introduce themselves, share what drew them to this work, and lay out the GRIEF framework that will guide the entire series.

Kelly’s path into grief work began at 14, after the death of her mother, when she walked into a hospice grief group and finally felt less alone. Karyn found her way in through bereavement work with seniors in her mid-20s — and never looked back. Together, they share a belief that grief is not something to simply endure. There are real tools, practical steps, and small shifts that can make a meaningful difference.

In this episode, you’ll hear about the GRIEF framework — a step-by-step approach covering Grounding, Rebuilding, Interacting, Evolving, and Finding — and why moving forward does not mean leaving your loved one behind. It means taking them with you.

▶️  Listen to Episode 1:  https://youtu.be/_0ld4dnUT7I?si=89da5nbDXHa9KOmZ

Grief After Estrangement: Healing Complicated Relationships Through Ritual & Creativity

Grief After Estrangement: Healing Complicated Relationships Through Ritual & Creativity

What happens when someone you were estranged from dies?

Grief after estrangement can bring layers of emotion — sadness, anger, relief, regret, gratitude — sometimes all at once. When a relationship was complicated, the grieving process can feel confusing and isolating.

In this episode (GRIEF Ladies Episode #29), we talk with Sam Sundius about navigating loss after estrangement, honoring both the hard and meaningful parts of a relationship, and using ritual and creativity as tools for healing.

We explore:

• How grief shows up when the relationship wasn’t simple

• Why grief and gratitude can coexist

• The power of intentional rituals

• Creativity as an outlet for emotional processing

• Finding meaning without rewriting the past

As always, we close with a practical step you can try — because grief changes your life, and you deserve tools that help you live inside that change. Watch this episode at: https://youtu.be/Ab68YHJfgW0?si=eXk9yypx-6jfj0s1

Related topics: estranged parent grief, complicated relationships, ritual for grief, creative grief support.

What Actually Helps: 5 Practical Grief Coping Tools from Real People

Nobody hands you a manual when someone dies.

You're just supposed to figure it out. And most of the advice out there?

It's vague, it's generic, and honestly — it doesn't help.

That's why I love asking our GRIEF Ladies guests to share one practical

coping tool that has actually made a difference in their grief journey.

Not theory. Not platitudes. Just real, actionable steps from real people

who are living it.

5 Guests. 5 Real Coping Tools.

I pulled the actionable steps from five recent episodes and put them

together in one video — because sometimes you just need something

concrete to try.

💛 Featured guests:

- Kelly Myerson (Ep. 22)

- Kat Farace (Ep. 23)

- Charlotte Shuber (Ep. 24)

- Cori Myka (Ep. 25)

- April Hannah (Ep. 26)

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/qpig6OP0Uvk

Your Turn

After you watch, comment on the video. What is one coping tool that has helped you in your grief? Drop it in the comments — your answer

might be exactly what someone else in this community needs today.

And if you want to hear the full story behind each coping tool, the complete episodes are linked below.

🎙️ Full Episodes:

Watch the full episodes:

Link to Ep. 22: https://youtu.be/Oj5HF0xuHhU?si=MU5oBHHuILkhZt6

Link to Ep. 23: https://youtu.be/xRevq_ZcDYo?si=9Pl3DTUQXpJa20Ww

Link to Ep. 24: https://youtu.be/5OEe88S1Sk4?si=ZhPOnLbf6OJr0BXN

Link to Ep. 25: https://youtu.be/aiLqrtJuFI8?si=PuS0JThk4BY43s1m

Link to Ep. 26: https://youtu.be/bTayMPCvKYY?si=gMWPaAyvhobg_VJH

You're not alone in this. And you don't have to figure it out by yourself. Join the Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ak2yus1cW/

Can You Still Connect With Someone Who Has Died? April Hannah Says Yes | GRIEF Ladies Ep. 26

What if the connection doesn't have to end when someone dies?

That's exactly what we explored in Episode 26 of GRIEF Ladies: A Guide to What Comes Next with our guest April Hannah — licensed therapist,

intuitive healer, and someone who has spent over 26 years helping people heal in ways that go far beyond traditional therapy.

Where Science Meets Spirit

April's work bridges two worlds that don't always get to sit at the same table — clinical psychotherapy and what she calls the mystical. Think Reiki, sound healing, guided art, and a fascinating evidence-based therapy protocol called Induced After-Death Communication.

Yes, you read that right. Evidence-based.

What makes this episode extra special is that April and I (Kelly) are trained in this protocol together — and actually just wrapped up one of our Induced After-Death Communication retreats the weekend before we recorded this. Safe to say we are both still buzzing from it.

And before you scroll past — research suggests that between 50 and 75 percent of people experience some form of after-death communication after

losing someone they love. So chances are, something April talks about in this episode is going to feel very familiar.

Signs, Dreams & Staying Connected

April gets into the many ways those who have died may reach out — and more importantly, how you can open yourself up to receiving those

connections. She shares practical steps anyone can start today, whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere in between.

Because, as April says, she's no longer skeptical. And after hearing what happened at her retreat the weekend before this episode was recorded,

we're not surprised. You'll want to hear that part. 🎧

Plus — April Gets Personal

We asked April how she stays connected to her own mom, who has died. Her answer is tender, real, and gives you a glimpse into how someone who does this work professionally still navigates it in her own everyday life.

Listen to Episode 26 here:https://youtu.be/bTayMPCvKYY

Connect with April:

🌐 HannahsHealing.com

📲 Search: April Hannah + after death communication

Have you ever experienced a sign or moment of connection from someone who has died? We'd love to hear about it in the comments on YouTube. This community is a safe space to share — no skepticism here.

What Learning to Swim Taught Us About Grief — with Cori Myka | GRIEF Ladies Ep. 25

What could learning to swim possibly have to do with grief?

More than you'd think.

In Episode 25 of GRIEF Ladies: A Guide to What Comes Next, we welcomed Cori Myka, founder of Calm Within Adult Swim, and the conversation took

a turn we didn't expect — in the best possible way.

Fear. Overwhelm. Not Knowing What Comes Next.

Cori works with adults who are terrified of the water. And as she started describing what her clients experience — the fear, the overwhelm,

the pressure to get it right — we couldn't help but notice how much it sounded like grief.

Because grief puts you in a whole new world too. One where you don't know the rules, you don't know what's coming, and everyone around you

seems to expect you to just figure it out.

Cori shared a powerful framework for slowing all of that down — and it turns out it works whether you're standing at the edge of a pool or

standing at the edge of a whole new life without someone you love.

The Takeaway You Can Try Right Now

One of our favorite moments in this episode was when Cori shared a simple, practical tool you can use anywhere — in a meeting, in a grocery

store line, at a family gathering — when a grief wave hits and you need to come back to yourself.

It's small. It's tangible. And it just might help.

You'll have to listen to get the full details. 🎧

Plus — Cori Shares Something Personal

We also asked Cori how she celebrates those who have died in her own life. Her answer was beautiful, unexpected, and something that stuck

with us long after we stopped recording.

Listen to Episode 25 here: https://youtu.be/aiLqrtJuFI8

Connect with Cori:

🌐 adultswimlesson.com

📲 @CalmWithinAdultSwim

Have you ever found an unexpected connection between something in your life and your grief? Tell us in the comments of the video — we'd love to hear it.

Still Celebrating Them: How 5 Guests Honor Those Who Have Died

Grief doesn't end the love. And for so many of us, it doesn't end the celebrating either.

One of the questions I get asked most in the grief community is — is it okay to still celebrate someone who has died? Their birthday. Their

favorite holiday. The little everyday moments that used to belong to them.

The answer is yes. Absolutely, beautifully, yes.

And on GRIEF Ladies: A Guide to What Comes Next, five of our incredible guests showed us exactly how they do it.

This Topic Is Deeply Personal to Me

I recently contributed Chapter 17 to The Ultimate Guide to Self-Healing, Volume 6 — a collaborative project with Brave Healer Productions. My chapter is titled Celebrate Their Life: Focusing on Gratitude, Connection, and What Still Remains.

In it, I share my own grief story. My mom died when I was 14. In November 2024, my dad died too. And learning to stay connected to them changed everything about how I experience grief. The chapter explores how grief and gratitude can coexist — and how honoring the life of someone we love can soften grief without any pressure to move on or let go.

"Grief doesn't ask us to let go of our loved ones — it invites us to find new ways to carry them forward."

I also created a meditation to go alongside the chapter. If you're looking for a gentle place to start, this is it. 💛

▶️ Watch the meditation here: https://youtu.be/ionQT1zRMAE?si=_WNsz0kdodVf-W_8

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Self Healing - Volume 6 at: https://a.co/d/03Wuh0hm

What Does It Mean to Celebrate Those Who Have Died?

Celebrating those who have died looks different for everyone. For some it's a ritual — lighting a candle, cooking their favorite meal, visiting a special place. For others it's showing up to their birthday with balloons and tears and laughter all at once. There is no right way.

There is only your way.

What I've learned from hosting GRIEF Ladies is that the people who find ways to keep celebrating those who have died often find it to be one of the most healing parts of their grief journey. Not because it makes the pain go away — but because it keeps the connection alive.

5 Guests. 5 Ways of Still Celebrating Them.

In this special highlights video, I pulled clips from five recent episodes where each guest shared how they continue to honor and celebrate those who have died.

💛 Featured guests:

- Kelly Myerson (Ep. 22)

- Kat Farace (Ep. 23)

- Charlotte Shuber (Ep. 24)

- Cori Myka (Ep. 25)

- April Hannah (Ep. 26)

Each of these guests brought something so real and so personal to their episode. Watching their clips together in one video is a reminder that grief is not one size fits all — and neither is celebrating those we love who have died.

Watch the Video

▶️ https://youtu.be/qEnbe_t6t3M

I hope this video gives you permission — if you needed it — to keep celebrating. To keep marking the days. To keep saying their name.

If any of these guests' stories resonated with you, I'd love for you to watch their full episodes. You can find them all linked below.

🎙️ Full Episodes:

- Kelly Myerson — Episode 22: https://youtu.be/Oj5HF0xuHhU?si=MU5oBHHuILkhZt6

- Kat Farace — Episode 23: https://youtu.be/xRevq_ZcDYo?si=9Pl3DTUQXpJa20Ww

- Charlotte Shuber — Episode 24: https://youtu.be/5OEe88S1Sk4?si=ZhPOnLbf6OJr0BXN

- Cori Myka — Episode 25: https://youtu.be/aiLqrtJuFI8?si=PuS0JThk4BY43s1m

- April Hannah — Episode 26: https://youtu.be/bTayMPCvKYY?si=gMWPaAyvhobg_VJH

Tell Me — How Do You Celebrate?

How do you celebrate those who have died in your life? Drop it in the comments on the video. This community always shows up for each other, and I know your answer might be exactly what someone else needed to read today.

And if you're not already part of our GRIEF Ladies Facebook community, come join us. It's one of the most real, supportive spaces on the

internet for people navigating grief. 👉 https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ak735EmTo/