Grief and Light™

How does life shift when you lose the only person who shared your beginnings — your earliest memories, your inside jokes, your sense of home?

In this tender and illuminating conversation, host Nina Rodriguez sits down with Dr. Angela Dean, a licensed psychologist, thanatologist, and founder of The Broken Pack™—an organization and podcast created to validate and support adults grieving the loss of a sibling.

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Video is available here.

***

After the unexpected death of her brother, Tony, Dr. Dean channeled her grief into advocacy, research, and community-building for those whose pain is often unseen. Together, Nina and Angela explore the unique nature of sibling loss, including how it impacts family dynamics, identity, and belonging, and why it remains one of the most overlooked forms of grief.

Angela shares the story behind The Broken Pack™, drawing parallels between the way wolves mourn a lost member and how humans experience the reorganization of their “pack” after a sibling’s death. The conversation moves through topics like grief expression, communication styles within families, the evolution of grief theory, and the power of enfranchising what has long been disenfranchised.

This episode invites listeners to reflect on the bonds that continue after loss, the healing potential of language and connection, and the importance of community in tending to sibling grief.

Key Takeaways

• Sibling loss is one of the most underrecognized yet identity-shaping forms of grief.
• After a sibling dies, family systems shift; roles, dynamics, and unspoken bonds all reorganize.
• Grieving styles differ, even within the same family; compassion and communication can help bridge those differences.
• The metaphor of The Broken Pack™ reminds us that when one member of the “pack” dies, the structure changes forever, but connection endures.
• Disenfranchised grief (grief that society doesn’t fully acknowledge) can deepen isolation; naming it helps restore dignity and belonging.
• Theories of grief are evolving, from linear “stages” to models that honor ongoing bonds, meaning-making, and the coexistence of love and loss.
• Community and conversation are vital to healing; grief needs witnesses, not fixes.
• The conversation closes with a reminder that even when our “pack” is broken, love continues to ripple outward through story, memory, and connection.

Guest: Angela Dean, PsyD, FT

•  Licensed psychologist, thanatologist, podcaster, sibling grief specialist
• Creator of The Broken Pack™
• thebrokenpack.com
• IG: @thebrokenpack | Facebook

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

When Ben Forman lost his brother Sam, his world shifted overnight, leaving him with survivor’s guilt, grief for what could have been, and a search for meaning. 

In this episode of Grief and Light, Ben shares how a 10-day motorcycle therapy trip through the Himalayas became a transformative journey of healing, reflection, and connection. Along the way, he immersed himself in nature, friendship, and mindful practices, and drew on conversations with monks and his heritage to navigate loss.

***

This episode is also available in video here.

***

Ben also discusses his deeply personal film, Higher Calling, which captures this journey and explores themes of adventure-based therapy, brotherhood, grief, and the power of storytelling to channel pain into meaning. 

Together, we explore how grief can reshape identity, open new paths for growth, and leave a lasting imprint of love.

Key Takeaways

• Grief can redefine identity and purpose. It reshapes who we are and invites us to find meaning in a changed world.
• Survivor’s guilt happens. Acknowledging it helps us honor both our life and the one we lost.
• Adventure therapy can help us move through grief. Physical journeys, like Ben’s 10-day ride through the Himalayas, can mirror emotional healing.
• Nature grounds and reflects us. In its stillness and vastness, we can find space to breathe and begin again.
• Pain reflects love’s depth. The intensity of grief feels like a measure of how deeply we’ve loved.
• Healing requires patience and self-compassion. Grief has no set timeline. Only gentle permission to mend at your own rhythm.
• Every grief journey is personal. Healing looks different for everyone; there’s no single path.
• Suffering can lead to growth. Turning toward pain opens the door to transformation and resilience.
• Art and storytelling heal. Creative expression helps us make meaning and carry love forward.
• Sibling bonds endure beyond death. The connection we share with those we’ve lost continues to shape, guide, and illuminate our lives.

Guest: Ben Forman

• Filmmaker, Producer
• Watch the Trailer
• highercallingmovie.com
• @thebenforman  and  @highercallingmovie

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

No man should have to carry it alone.

Many men are hurting in silence, and Robb Pollard knows that silence well.

In this deeply human conversation, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Robb Pollard, founder of Walk With Me Brother, a nonprofit devoted to men’s mental health and connection.

***

VIDEO AVAILABLE HERE

***

Robb shares his journey of living with bipolar disorder, navigating bullying and alcohol, and learning to face the parts of himself he once tried to outrun. What emerges is a story not just of survival, but of purpose. One of transforming pain into a path that invites others to walk beside him.

In April 2026, Robb will begin a 3,600-mile walk across America, carrying with him one message: no man should have to walk alone. 

Through his openness, Robb reminds us that vulnerability isn’t the opposite of strength. It’s the foundation of it.

Together, Nina and Robb explore what happens when men begin to talk, listen, and support one another, and how breaking the silence can change not only individual lives, but entire communities.

This episode is an invitation: to listen differently, to show up for the men in our lives, and to remember that healing starts with a single honest step forward.

Key Takeaways:

• Many men are hurting in silence and need safe spaces to talk about it.
• Asking for help can save your life.
• Vulnerability is a form of strength, not weakness.
• Bullying and shame can leave lasting marks on mental health.
• Community and connection are vital for healing.
• Therapy, medication, and alternative approaches can be life-changing.
• Listening is an act of love, and often more powerful than advice.
• Robb’s Walk With Me Brother movement is a call for awareness, compassion, and shared humanity.

Guest: Robb Pollard

• Founder of Walk With Me, Brother
• IG: @itsrobbp and @walkwithmebrother
• Connect with Robb: linktr.ee/walkwithmebrother

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

When Sara Rian’s mother unexpectedly died in 2018, her world, and her words,  changed forever. 

***

This episode is available in video here.

***

What began as a private act of survival through poetry slowly became a bridge to others who were grieving too. Her poems, often found reaching grieving hearts through social media feeds, give voice to what so many can’t yet name: the ache, the confusion, the beauty, and the brutal honesty of grief.

In this conversation, Nina and Sara trace the ways grief reshapes not only the heart but also the body, relationships, and creative expression. Sara shares how poetry became both her mirror and her medicine, helping her navigate the duality of love and pain, the tension between vulnerability and protection, and the ongoing work of tending to loss as both a therapist and a human being who lost her mother to suicide.

Together, they explore what it means to live inside the messiness of grief — where healing isn’t about tidying the pain but learning to move with it. 

The episode both opens and closes with two of Sara’s poems, a quiet reminder that love doesn’t end where life does.

Key Takeaways

• Grief reshapes how we inhabit our bodies, our creativity, and our relationships.
• Writing can become a form of survival; a place to meet emotions without needing to fix them.
• The mother–child bond leaves an indelible mark on how we grieve and love.
• Grief isn’t only love, it’s also raw, contradictory, and profoundly human.
• Healing asks for tenderness toward the body as much as the heart.
• Artistic expression can transform isolation into shared understanding.

Follow Grief and Light wherever you tune in, and join us as we keep exploring the many ways love and loss coexist.

Guest: Sara Rian

• Grief Writer • Author • Therapist
• sararianbooks.com
• Get the Books
• @sara_rian_books

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

A mother’s story of love, advocacy, and finding joy while parenting a child in hospice.

What happens when the life you imagined for your child suddenly changes forever?

For Dr. Tasha Faruqui, that question became her reality when her daughter, Soraya, was born with a rare and little-known genetic condition.

A doctor herself, Tasha thought she knew how to navigate the medical world. But nothing prepared her for the mix of love, fear, and relentless uncertainty that came with parenting a child whose life would look very different from what she’d dreamed.

In this week’s episode, Tasha — physician, advocate, and author of her debut book Keep Your Head Up: A Mother’s Story of Chasing Joy in the Face of Grief — opens up about what it means to grieve the child you imagined while fiercely loving the one in front of you.

We talk about how she’s learned to balance hope and surrender, the ways her other children have shaped her understanding of anticipatory grief, and how joy has become an act of resistance against the unfairness of it all.

Nina and Tasha explore:

• What it means to grieve the ideal while embracing what is
• How advocacy and agency intertwine in a child’s care
• The quiet grief of siblings walking their own path beside medical complexity
• Why hope and heartbreak can live side by side
• How spirituality and creativity help her family keep going
• Why joy isn’t found, it’s chosen, over and over again

If you’ve ever lived between grief and gratitude, this conversation will remind you you can hold both.

Guest: Tasha Faruqui, DO

• Physician • Author • Speaker • Advocate
• Read: KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
• tashafaruqui.com
• Fundraising & Merch
• @thefaruqui5

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

How do you grieve while parenting? How do you tend to your own heartbreak and hold space for your children’s?

In this heartfelt conversation with Reshma Kearney, a Trauma-Informed Mindfulness and Healing Guide, shares her journey after losing her husband, Sean, to suicide. She opens up about navigating grief as a solo parent, communicating loss with honesty, and finding moments of presence through mindfulness in the first three years of grief.

***

This episode is also available in video here.

***

Reshma’s story touches on the complexities of mental health, cultural perspectives on grief, and the delicate balance of creating new traditions while honoring those we’ve lost. Through her experience, she reminds us that grief is not something to fix, but something to tend to, with gentleness, awareness, and grace.

Whether you’re parenting through loss, supporting someone who is, or learning to meet your own pain with compassion, this episode offers warmth, wisdom, and ways forward.

Key Takeaways:

• Grief is non-linear, and there’s no “right way” to heal.
• Mindfulness helps bring steadiness and presence to painful moments.
• Children grieve differently; their process deserves honesty and patience.
• Truthful communication about death fosters safety and healing.
• Cultural background shapes how grief is expressed and supported.
• Emotions like anger, guilt, or relief are natural parts of grief.
• Creating new traditions can help families honor loved ones meaningfully.
• Small moments of joy can coexist with deep sorrow.
• Open conversations about mental health can save lives.
• Parenting through grief calls for grace, flexibility, and self-compassion.

Guest: Reshma Kearney

• Trauma-Informed Mindfulness and Healing Guide
• @reshmakearney
• reshmakearney.com

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

If this conversation moved you, please share it with someone who might need to hear it.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

This week, I’m honored to share something special with you—a guided meditation created exclusively for Grief and Light listeners by Hannah Castillo, host of the Love Your Calm podcast.

Hannah has been a Mental Health Counselor for over 20 years and is passionate about making meditation approachable and supportive, especially in tender seasons of life. After her own health challenges led her to discover the power of daily meditation, she began sharing these practices with her clients, helping them find balance and calm. Her meditations are short, beginner-friendly, and designed to make the practice feel less intimidating.

When I invited Hannah to create a meditation specifically for grievers, she graciously said yes. Together, we decided to release it on both of our podcasts as a way of widening the circle of care.

Grief is a universal part of our human condition, and though your experience is uniquely yours, you don’t have to walk through it alone. Our hope is that this meditation offers you a moment of pause, comfort, and connection as you navigate your own path.

A gentle note: This practice is best listened to when you have a few uninterrupted minutes and can settle into a quiet, comfortable space. Take what feels supportive, leave what doesn’t, and return to this meditation whenever you need it.

To hear more of Hannah’s work, check out her Love Your Calm podcast below. 

And if this is your first time here, I invite you to explore past episodes of Grief and Light for more reflections and conversations about living with loss.

Guest: Hannah Castillo

• Creator & Host, Love Your Calm Podcast
• Love Your Calm: mini meditations podcast
• Love Your Calm website
• @love_your_calm

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

What if you gave yourself permission to pause? 

This episode explores why rest is essential, not optional, covering the seven types of rest, the cost of burnout, and practical ways to create your own “pause week.” Consider this your reminder that what doesn’t bend, breaks; and that even small pauses can refill your cup.

Rather than a luxury, rest is a necessity for our mental, emotional, and physical well-being

Key Takeaways:

• Pause is rest, and rest is essential for survival and life.
• There are seven distinct types of rest as identified by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith—physical, mental, emotional, social, sensory, creative, and spiritual—and each plays a role in our well-being.
• Burnout isn’t just exhaustion; it’s a warning sign that something has to change.
• Burnout is not sustainable; intentional rest prevents breakdown.
• Long-form content and slower rhythms can reawaken our capacity for focus and depth.
• You don’t have to pause from everything; you can choose one area to pull back from in order to nourish another.
• Rest strengthens resilience, helping us bend instead of break.
• Scheduling rest in your calendar is an act of self-commitment, just as important as any external obligation.
• A pause can look different for everyone: travel, nature, time with loved ones, or simply creating quiet space at home.

This solo episode with Nina Rodriguez is also your invitation to look at your own calendar and schedule in a "pause week", whatever that looks like for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• "You Deserve Rest" social media post
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

About the Host:

Nina Rodriguez is a podcaster, grief-informed coach, speaker, writer, and the creator of GRIEF AND LIGHT, a podcast and support platform born from the sudden loss of her only sibling. She helps grievers navigate life after loss with curiosity, compassion, and agency, on and off the mic. Through her work, Nina invites others to honor the full spectrum of being human and build sustainable practices that embrace the both/and of life.

• Visit: griefandlight.com
• Connect: @griefandlight

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

You just lost your loved one. Now what?

Welcome to Grief and Light, a podcast about the honest truth of life after loss. Hosted by Nina Rodriguez, whose world was forever changed after the sudden death of her only sibling, this show explores the reality of grief, not as something to fix, but as a lifelong companion we learn to live with.

On Grief and Light, you’ll hear:

• Honest reflections on the complexity of grief
• Conversations about post-traumatic growth without bypassing pain
• Stories that remind us grief and joy can coexist

Here, we live in the "and", where sorrow and joy, darkness and light, loss and love all belong. Nina calls this felicitreza: life through grief-colored lenses, where our stories become lighthouses for one another, steady glows in the dark that say, you are not alone, and we are in this together.

This is a place where your grief is seen, your story belongs, and light still breaks through.

About Nina:

Nina Rodriguez is a podcaster, grief-informed coach, speaker, writer, and the creator of GRIEF AND LIGHT, a podcast and support platform born from the sudden loss of her only sibling. She helps grievers navigate life after loss with curiosity, compassion, and agency, on and off the mic. Through her work, Nina invites others to honor the full spectrum of being human and build sustainable practices that embrace the both/and of life.

• Visit: griefandlight.com
• Connect: @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Subscribe to Grief and Light wherever you watch or listen to podcasts, and join us in creating a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one story and one conversation at a time.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

What if death wasn’t the end of the conversation?

In this episode of Grief and Light, Nina Rodriguez sits down with psychic medium and mentor Karen Docherty to explore how mediumship can become a powerful source of comfort, connection, and healing after loss. With warmth and clarity, Karen shares her own journey of discovering and embracing her calling, and how she now supports both the grieving and the departed through spirit communication.

Together, they unpack what mediumship really is (and isn’t), why discernment matters when seeking a practitioner, and how the messages that come through can transform grief into moments of peace, reassurance, and even joy. Karen also opens the door to the idea that intuitive and spiritual connection isn’t just for a select few — but something we all have the capacity to cultivate.

This heartfelt conversation invites you to look at grief, love, and connection in a new light — one where bonds endure, guidance continues, and healing stretches beyond the veil.

3 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

1. How mediumship brings healing — and why it can ease the ache of grief by affirming our continued bonds with loved ones.
2. What to know before seeking a medium — including how to spot integrity and avoid common misconceptions.
3. Why intuition belongs to all of us — and simple ways to begin trusting your own inner connection.

Key Takeaways:

• Mediumship as a bridge – How mediumship connects the living and the spirit world, offering not only evidence of an afterlife but also profound comfort for the grieving.
• Karen’s path to her calling – From her earliest experiences with Spirit to becoming a trusted mentor, Karen shares how she came to embrace her gifts and the responsibility that comes with them.
• The importance of discernment – Karen emphasizes the value of seeking out practitioners who lead with integrity, compassion, and clarity.
• Healing through continued connection – Messages from loved ones can affirm that our bonds don’t end with death, helping us find peace, reassurance, and even moments of joy.
• The role of spirit guides – Karen offers insight into how guides support us, reminding us that while they walk alongside us, we still hold the power of free will.
• Clearing up misconceptions – Together, we explore common myths about mediumship and what genuine spirit communication really looks like.
• Awakening our own intuition – Karen encourages listeners to explore their own connection to Spirit, showing how tuning in can support both personal growth and a deeper sense of guidance in everyday life.

Guest: Karen Docherty

• Medium & Mentor
• karendocherty.com
• Facebook
• @karendochertyspiritmedium

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

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🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

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