How do you keep going when your world falls apart? It is a question even adults struggle to answer, so imagine what it is like for a child. For many, the pain of losing someone they love becomes unbearable. In the search for something, anything, to numb the hurt, they turn to alcohol or other substances. When grief is left unspoken and untreated, that path becomes even easier to fall into.

Ellen Ingraham knows that pain. She lost her father when she was just two years old. As if that heartbreak were not enough, her older sister, her best friend, was fighting a life-threatening condition. Like so many others carrying quiet grief, Ellen turned to alcohol to cope.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Ellen shares her story, how she faced her pain, found her way toward healing, and what she wants others to know if they are struggling too.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out these ones next: 

The silent crisis of alcohol and women’s liver disease

Telling Everyone’s Story While Hiding Her Own: A Journalist’s Battle with Addiction

Broken Heart Syndrome: 4 Ways We Grieve

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Behind every number is a story of a life cut short, a family shattered, and a community devastated.

They were...

• daughters
• sons
• mothers
• fathers
• friends
• wives
• husbands
• cousins
• boyfriends
• girlfriends.

They were More Than Just A Number. 

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Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz