Grief Dialogues: Out of Grief Comes Art Podcast Series

Mary’s story losing both her parents within two years is not uncommon. Hear how this former addict built a strong on a dead bed promise to her mother.

Works of Love is an audio drama about love: the possession of and loss of it.  It centers on recent widower Julian Silver as he re-launches his wife’s old show, the eponymous “Works of Love”. Each week Julian reads a new essay about love and one of its variations, be it romantic, familial, fraternal, or existential. Through other’s words he strives to remember the reason why we love if the cost is grief. And once again we learn that Out of Grief Comes Art.

Special Grief Dialogues host Kimberly C. Paul, author and founder of Death by Design interviews Dr. Jane Williams on her book Mysterious Moments: Thoughts that Transform Grief. Dr. Williams shares some of her stories and thoughts on the transformative changes that can occur through "aha" or mysterious moments that can change how we experience our griefs. She explains how isolating grief can make us, but how our thoughts can help change our narratives surrounding the grief process and us heal.

Dr. Broadbent is interviewed by Kimberly C. Paul, also a fellow contributor to the book.

Elizabeth Coplan met Noha when they were both on a panel at ReimagineNYC this fall.  Intrigued by the beauty and simplicity of the Noha’s idea, Grief Dialogues reached out to the founder for a podcast about https://www.gatheringus.com/.

Kimberly C. Paul interviewed Noha, whose large family included planning an of memorials and funerals at her home in Brooklyn, NY.  Noha felt the challenges of organizing family and friends during these difficult times and yearned for a simpler way to mobilize everyone and commemorate loved ones. She created GatheringUS to gather family and friends after the loss of a loved one to support each other and celebrate life together.  In one location, you can locate your community to support you. Set up a free obituary in 30 seconds. Quickly & easily share event details with everyone. Crowdfund for funeral expenses or charity. Create groups to coordinate logistics (food, ceremony, themes).

Rachel Greenberg (Connections of Hope) and Sharon Ehler (Grief Reiki) describe the stories that lead to their writings published in Grief Dialogues: The Book.

Join Elizabeth Coplan and Dr. Karen Smith, Clinical Ethicist, LCSW, Ph.D., Henry Ford Health System.  She is also VP of the Funeral Consumer Alliance. Dr. Smith provides independent ethics consultations, ethics policy development and ethics education for hospital staff. Her passion is sharing ethics with medical professionals and the community and assisting families during difficult decisions. She specializes in death and dying issues and lecture on a variety of healthcare related ethical issues. 

Today on our podcast Dr. Smith talks of her work with families to create memorable dying memories. The concept is that during that awful, but special time when you know you are sharing your last weeks, days, hours with someone that often there is "a time" when things can be reframed, to focus on the pure love between you and the person dying.  At these times I tell families that "THIS will be what you remember MOST about this time" .   It is setting a positive intention to not remember the pain, the tiredness, the overwhelming loss but to focus on the the love, the truly being there, with your loved one.   Sometimes this time is memorialize if possible (even after death sometimes) in a photo of the linked hands of family members over the sheets of their loved one. It may be making a handprint, it may be simply creating a memory of a "good day" where you were able to talk, laugh, or do something together (go outside, to the chapel, a special visitor).   

Ever wonder what to do with your loved ones ashes? Chuck Munat wanted his ashes scattered around the world. More specifically, he wanted his ashes sprinkled in Ireland, on Squirrel Island in Maine, and in Akaroa, New Zealand.

After Chuck died, Florrie, his wife and caretaker, took his remains to New Zealand where Chuck was welcomed home by family, friends, and three hundred pairs of nesting little blue penguins.

Florrie wrote about her experience in her essay “Coming Home” from our book Just a Little More Time.