Are you navigating the complex, often isolating journey of mother loss? In this episode, I sit down with Erin Kent, founder of Ryan’s Crossing, to talk about what it really means to grieve and find belonging after losing a parent.Erin opens up about her personal story—from growing up beside her brother’s illness to losing her mother suddenly—and how those experiences ignited a "fire in the belly" to build a supportive community for others. We discuss why grief often feels like an isolating loop, the reality of "good girl" conditioning, and why you don't have to navigate your healing journey alone.In this episode, we explore:

• The Reality of Mother Loss: Navigating the complex relationship with a mother after she is gone.
• Healing the Ego: Moving past the "good girl" act and learning to be your true self.
• Finding Your People: Why community is the antidote to the isolation of late-night grief.
• Grace and Resilience: How to stop putting pressure on yourself to "grieve correctly."

Whether you’re a caregiver, navigating end-of-life, or feeling stuck in the aftermath of loss, this conversation is an invitation to be present, be seen, and find your place in a community that understands.

Connect with Erin Kent & Ryan’s Crossing:

https://ryanscrossing.ca/⁠

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

⁠https://calendly.com/nicoleweston/20-minute-connection-call⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

In this deeply moving episode, we sit down with Karli to discuss the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, the journey of healing after loss, and the power of breaking generational cycles.

Karli shares her raw experience growing up with a mother struggling with chronic health issues and substance addiction, and how that shaped her own journey into adulthood.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The "Both/And" Reality: Exploring how to hold both the pain of a traumatic upbringing and deep love/compassion for a parent who struggled.
• The Power of Awareness: Why shifting from a survival mindset to a place of self-awareness is critical for nervous system regulation and healing.
• Inner Child Work: Reconnecting with our younger selves to rewrite narratives of self-worth and decision-making.
• Soul Contracts: Reframing our life experiences—even the hardest ones—as intentional choices we make for our own evolution and expansion.
• The Creative Process: Karli discusses her upcoming memoir, Mother Luck, and how writing has been an essential tool for alchemizing her grief into art.

• Karli’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlikarandos/
• Karli’s Substack: Karli Corandos
• Upcoming Memoir: Mother Luck

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  ⁠https://calendly.com/nicoleweston/20-minute-connection-call⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

In this heartfelt and deeply honest episode, we explore the intersection of entrepreneurship, motherhood, and the raw reality of grief. We sit down with Colleen to discuss the journey of losing a father who struggled with lung cancer and COPD, the complexities of "preventable" loss, and the challenge of maintaining your spark while navigating the darkest seasons of life.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Reality of "The Dash": Reflecting on life, love, and what it truly means to live between the dates on our tombstones.

• Grief and Entrepreneurship: How to keep your business moving, launch courses, and serve clients while processing profound personal loss and life-altering tragedy.

• The "Strong One" Syndrome: Managing the expectations we put on ourselves to be the resilient ones for our families, our children, and our teams while internally falling apart.

• Signs and Surrender: Finding small, beautiful moments of connection and signs from loved ones after they pass.

• The Process of Integration: Why "healing" isn't about returning to who you were before, but integrating your grief into the new version of yourself.

Connect with our Guest:

Instagram/LinkedIn/YouTube: @transcendingminds

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 ⁠⁠https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall⁠⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

In this emotional and deeply honest episode, we sit down with Ashley to discuss the complexities of grieving a parent who struggled with mental illness and addiction. This conversation explores the challenges of holding space for love while navigating difficult family boundaries, the unique pain of losing a loved one during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the path to finding true peace after a complicated relationship ends.
Key Takeaways

• Navigating Complex Family Dynamics: Understanding the difficult balance between loving a parent, setting firm boundaries, and protecting your own family from cycles of addiction and toxicity.
• Grief During Isolation: Insights into the emotional hurdles of saying goodbye to a parent under the restrictive and often lonely conditions of COVID-19 hospital protocols.
• The "Relief" of Loss: Addressing the often-taboo feeling of relief that can accompany the death of a challenging parent and how to process the guilt that comes with it.
• Finding Peace: How Ashley transitioned from trying to "fix" her father to accepting his journey, leading to personal growth, deeper self-reflection, and identity discovery.
• The Power of Support: Reflecting on the impact of compassionate healthcare workers and the importance of having a support system, even when family dynamics are fractured.

Connect with Ashley:

• Instagram: @tranquilwaterstransition
• Email: [email protected]

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

https://calendly.com/nicoleweston/20-minute-connection-call

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

Losing a mother is a profound experience, but navigating that loss when the relationship was complicated? That adds a whole new layer of grief. In this episode, I sit down with Veronica to talk about the messy, painful, and beautiful reality of mothering without a mom.

What we dive into:

• Validation for your grief: Permission to feel the anger, jealousy, and loneliness that often accompanies a complicated loss.
• Breaking the cycle: Real talk on how to parent through past trauma and make conscious choices for your own children.
• Permission to be human: Understanding that your relationship doesn't have to be perfect to be significant, and your grief is valid regardless of the past.
• Connection: Comfort in knowing you aren't the only one navigating the complex, often lonely experience of being a "motherless mother.

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 ⁠⁠https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall⁠⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

Veronica Love is the Chief Revenue Officer at TMG The Mortgage Group and a celebrated leader in Canada’s mortgage industry. A passionate mentor and advocate for women, Veronica champions equity, innovation, and business success. She’s a dynamic speaker, past Chair of Mortgage Professionals Canada, and multiple-time Woman of Influence — known for bringing bold energy, real-world insight, and heart to every conversation she enters in to. She is passionate about raising funds and awareness for great causes - especially women's shelters. Veronica is a proud mother to a 21 year old son and an 18 year old daughter and a teacup Yorkie named Mason.

In this special episode, host Nicole Weston flips the mic and is interviewed by success coach Laura May Culver, sharing her raw and unfiltered journey as a mothering motherless daughter. Nicole unpacks the complexities of her relationship with her mom, Lisa—a vibrant and nurturing woman who struggled with unresolved trauma and alcohol—who died suddenly five years ago when Nicole was 34.

he episode delves into:

• The Emotional Impact of Loss: Nicole describes the physical shock of her mother’s death and the subsequent two-year period defined by intense anger, rage, and shame, particularly over the belief that she failed a "soul contract" to save her mom's life.
• The Path to Integration: She details the profound shift and healing that occurred about four years in, achieved through mind-body healing and integrating her identity from before her mom died and the woman she is now.
• The Power of Community and Purpose: Nicole discusses how the podcast and social media community have been crucial medicine for feeling grounded and validated. Her work is now focused on helping others move stuck grief through the body, using her lived experience to cultivate hope and confidence in women navigating this journey.
• Breaking Cycles: The ultimate goal of her personal work is to ensure her own children do not have to experience the level of emotional parentification or unavailability she did, embodying the "identity transformation" required to hold both sadness and love simultaneously.

Nicole concludes with a message of thankfulness, forgiveness, and unconditional love for her mother, emphasizing that asking for help is one of the strongest things a person can do.

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

💻 Virtual Community Call — June 11th at 12 PM ET (free, registration required)

⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/communitycall⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

⁠https://calendly.com/nicoleweston/20-minute-connection-call⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

In this powerful episode of Can’t Call Your Mom, Nicole sits down with Kristen to explore the complex layers of Mother’s Day grief and the transformative journey of the motherless mother. Kristen shares her deeply personal experience of repressing mother loss for seven years, wearing "armor" to stay strong, until an existential crisis on her 40th birthday cracked her wide open.

Kristen’s breakthrough came through the power of writing. By leaning into curiosity, she realized that by numbing her grief, she had also blocked her capacity for joy. Through her debut memoir, Magenta Me, she moved through layers of subconscious programming and inner child work to find radical forgiveness and a new spiritual, co-creative relationship with her mother.

As Kristen beautifully dedicates in her book:

"For my mom. When I asked the light, it told me to write our beautiful love story. In the end, I found the light was you."

• Feeling to Heal: Understanding that you must feel the pain of loss to truly experience the heights of joy.

• The Spiritual Connection: Shifting from a physical absence to a spiritual presence where conversations with Mom continue through intuition and creativity.

• Breaking Generational Cycles: How healing our own wounds allows us to mother our children with more presence and emotional intelligence.

Kristen Brandao hit forty and flipped the script on her life. She went from a highly anxious, emotionally burned-out, over-extended healthcare practitioner, wife and mother of two to owning her story, stepping into her creative power and re-writing the narrative in her midlife memoir Magenta Me. She credits her seven-year suppression of grief after the loss of her mother to the breakdown through which she discovered the portal back to curiosity, creativity and connection to self. She endeavours to share her story vulnerably with the world to inspire others to integrate their grief. 

Kristen’s Book: Magenta Me launches on June 25th. If you are in the Burlington area, join the book launch celebration at Spencer’s on the Waterfront!

@kristen.brandao on Instagram 

Magenta Me book launch

kristenbrandao.com

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠⁠

💻 Virtual Community Call — June 11st at 12 PM ET (free, registration required)

⁠⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/communitycall⁠⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 ⁠⁠https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall⁠⁠

Instagram:⁠⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠⁠

In this profoundly honest and deeply relatable episode, Nicole sits down with Karen to unpack the complexities of grieving a mother with whom they shared a loving—yet challenging—relationship. This is a conversation for every daughter who is navigating the duality of intense love and deep-seated trauma.

Karen shares the story of her feisty Irish mother, Pat (Eithne), a woman who found 39 years of sobriety but never let go of the guilt she carried over her past struggles with alcoholism and depression. The two explore the painful journey of healing a fractured mother-daughter relationship, from the anger and lost trust of teenage years to the eventual reconciliation and fierce bond they forged before Pat's death.

Nicole and Karen dive deep into:

• The Power of Acceptance: Moving past the desire for your mother to be who you wanted her to be, and instead finding peace by meeting her where she was.

• Understanding Trauma Bonds: An explanation of why the grief over a complicated relationship can feel so uniquely excruciating, amplifying childhood trauma and leaving you feeling "alone on an island".

• The Anger of Loss: Processing the intense anger that can arise when a parent is lost to an illness tied to choices they made, and the journey to forgiving yourself for being angry.

• Redefining Forgiveness: Karen’s powerful perspective that freedom comes not necessarily through the social construct of "forgiveness," but through "reconciling" with what happened and refusing to let past actions impact your self-belief.

• Living in the Love Left Behind: How to find comfort and connection in a world that feels broken, channeling the life-long wisdom of a mother who taught that "We are in the grace and love of an unknown power".

This episode is a must-listen for mothers who are doing the difficult work of unpacking generational trauma (even the "ugly feelings") and choosing to evolve through grief, rather than being diminished by it.

If you’ve struggled to mourn a mother whose relationship was complicated, this episode offers a needed space of understanding, grace, and permission to feel it all.

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM ⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog⁠

💻 Virtual Community Call — May 21st at 12 PM ET (free, registration required)

⁠https://www.nicoleweston.ca/communitycall⁠

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 ⁠https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall⁠

Instagram:⁠ ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠

Show Notes:

Mother's Day has passed — but the grief doesn't get a calendar. Three days after Mother's Day, host Nicole is sitting with you in the tender space that comes after the celebration fades, holding space for the complex, layered emotions of being a mom who is also missing her own.

In this short but powerful episode, Nicole speaks directly to the motherless mothers who are still carrying it — the ache, the sorrow, the bittersweet joy of being celebrated while grieving the one who celebrated you.

In this episode, Nicole covers:

• Why Mother's Day can be exhausting and triggering for motherless mothers — and how to protect your energy in the weeks leading up to it
• The body's memory of grief and why trauma brings us right back, even years later
• How Nicole began co-creating a spiritual relationship with her late mom — and why this has been her most profound healing experience yet
• Simple rituals to keep your connection with mom alive (candles, letters, sharing memories)
• The beautiful moment her daughter asked, "Why didn't nanny just bring her phone when she died?" — and how that sparked the heart of the Can't Call Your Mom community
• Why expression is one of the highest forms of healing
• Reading names from the community — 2,500+ women who shared their mom's name this Mother's Day weekend

Connect with Nicole:

📧 Join The Four O'Clock Club : a weekly email community sent at 4:00 PM https://www.nicoleweston.ca/blog

💻 Virtual Community Call — May 21st at 12 PM ET (free, registration required)

https://www.nicoleweston.ca/communitycall

🌸 Can't Call Your Mom Gathering — In-person event in Barrie, ON on June 5th https://www.nicoleweston.ca/gathering

Work with Nicole: Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall

Instagram: ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠

If the week before Mother's Day has your grief feeling heavy, this episode is for you. Host Nicole Weston sits down with Miranda (Dead Mom Therapist) and Brittany (Psychic Medium & Spiritual Mentor) for a raw conversation on honoring your dead mom, setting boundaries, and using your loss as a sacred portal to connect with your truest self and her spirit. You will leave feeling less alone, seen, and invited to choose love over loneliness on your journey.

A raw and soulful conversation on honoring your dead mom, mothering yourself, and connecting with spirit on Mother's Day and beyond.

• The complexity of Mother's Day when you've lost your mom, and how to set personal boundaries (especially if the loss was before you became a mother).

• The practice of "microdosing your grief" and other methods for maintaining an active relationship with your mother in spirit.

• How to ask for specific signs and trust that you are always connected to the person you lost (e.g., Brittany's story about the purple Jeep).

• Why grief is a "portal of transformation and initiation," and the importance of integrating your shadow parts instead of trying to get rid of them.

• Reparenting your inner child and having conversations with your own children to break generational trauma around grief.

• Miranda and Brittany’s final messages if they could call their mothers today.
  

Connect with our Guests: 

Brittany: http://www.brittanyschmidt.ca

Miranda: http://www.mirandamalone.com

Connect with Nicole:

Register for Nicole’s free Community Call may 21 12pm ET 

https://www.nicoleweston.ca/communitycall

Book a free 20 minute introductory call with Nicole  

 https://nicoleweston.as.me/introductorycall

Website: ⁠www.nicoleweston.ca⁠

Instagram: ⁠ @thenicoleweston⁠

Produced by Nicole Weston & Co-Produced by Hunter Blackett

Photography by Heather Whitcombe⁠

If This Episode Resonated: Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a woman in your life who is carrying this. You know someone who lost her mom during Covid and has never had a space to talk about it. Send