Jill Johnson-Young is the Co-Founder and Clinical Therapist at Central Counseling Services, where she and her team provide the highest quality care for individuals and families seeking assistance with life's challenges. Jill’s areas of expertise include grief and loss, children's grief, dementia support for families, adoption related issues, LGBT issues, and so much more. Jill has lost two spouses to illness and shares her story on this week’s episode and the frustrating experience she had when friends, therapists, and acquaintances told her what she ‘should’ be doing. 

 

Key Takeaways:

• How did Jill get involved with grief? It started with the AIDS crisis. 
• Jill’s wife passed away from post-cancer-related complications. 
• When your partner is sick, you go from being a spouse to a care-giver.
• Jill talked to her wife about what she wanted her death to be like and what she wanted for their children.
• When Susan’s husband passed away, she wanted to travel internationally. Her friends said it was a bad idea! 
• Susan’s second wife passed away from Lewy Body Dementia. 
• After you’ve lost a spouse, you have the right to make your own rules.
• People gave Jill all these ‘rules’ on what to do after her wife passed. Excuse me? She gets to do what she wants to do. 
• Jill went to therapists that specialized in grief work. None of them had a clue! 
• This is why Jill now helps teach therapists about grief, because it can be so easy to get this process wrong. 
• Don’t let people outside of your life bully you into doing something that’s not right for your family. 
• It’s okay to be selfish when your spouse dies. It’s okay to make people upset. 
• Jill decided that this is her new reality and she’s going to live her life in a way that brings her joy. 

 

Resources

Tendrilsofgrief.com

Email Susan: [email protected]

Jilljohnsonyoung.com

Centralcounselingservices.net

Jill on LinkedIn

The Rebellious Widow by J. J. Young