On any given day, paramedics are called into chaos—heart attacks, car crashes, overdoses, and everything in between. For Aaron Westfall, those emergencies too often involve the painful grip of addiction. But instead of only seeing tragedy, he chooses to see the person behind the struggle.

That’s because Aaron has been there himself. He not only battled his own addiction, but also survived brain cancer—twice—endured abuse, and mourned the devastating loss of the person he loved most as a child. His life has been shaped by pain most of us can hardly imagine.

Yet through it all, Aaron has found resilience, purpose, and a way to help others. On this episode of Grieving Out Loud, he shares how he turned unimaginable hardships into hope—and what he wants you to understand about addiction from his perspective as both a paramedic and a survivor.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may like the following:

• Stopping The Sigma: A look at Medications For Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) or Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
• A paramedic’s harrowing shift from lifesaver to bereaved mother in the fentanyl crisis
• A Childhood Shaped by Loss, a Life Reclaimed in Sobriety

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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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Connect with Angela

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For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

This fall, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was transformed into a sea of grief and remembrance. Four thousand tombstones stretched across the grass—each one representing a life cut short by substances. The Trail of Truth was more than an event; it was a call to action, shining a light on the nation’s fentanyl and substance use disorder epidemic and urging lawmakers to finally take notice.

Among the rows of stones, families gathered—mothers, fathers, siblings, and friends—united in both sorrow and determination. They came not only to mourn but to make sure their loved ones are never forgotten.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, some of those voices are shared. Angela recorded these interviews on-site at the Trail of Truth event in Washington D.C. The guests speak candidly about what it’s like to love someone battling substance use disorder—the frustration of trying to find help, the constant undercurrent of fear, and, for too many, the heartbreak of loss. These are raw, unfiltered stories. And that is exactly why they matter. Because the more openly this disease is spoken about, the less room shame and stigma have to silence the people who need help most.

Read Angela's blog about the Trail of Truth:

4,000 Tombstones on the National Mall and One Named Emily

The founder of Trail of Truth, Alexis Pleus, has been featured on the podcast twice before. Once on her own, sharing more about TruthPharm and underreported overdose deaths, and a second time to discuss the Trail of Truth alongside another grieving mother, Kimberly Douglas. You can listen to those episodes below:

Shedding light on underreported overdose deaths with Truth Pharm

Thousands of Tombstones by the U.S. Capitol to Honor Lives Lost to Substance Use

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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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

From appearances on the Oprah Show to features in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Ken Druck has long been recognized as a leading voice on grief. A pioneer in grief literacy, he has earned numerous honors, including the “Distinguished Contribution to Psychology” award. But what makes his voice so powerful isn’t just decades of expertise—it’s the personal heartbreak that shaped his path. When his 21-year-old daughter died in a tragic accident, Druck was forced to navigate the very journey he now helps others face. 

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, he shares how he found a way forward, and how you, too, can begin to rediscover joy after loss. He also offers everyday tools for coping with grief and building resilience, no matter where you are in your healing.

 Visit Ken's website to learn more: https://www.kendruck.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, check out the following next: 

• What This Grief Expert Wants You to Know About Healing and Hope
• Surviving the holiday season while grieving
• Mindfulness and Grief with Heather Stang
• ‘It Was Like Going to My Own Funeral:’ Identical Twin Talks Life After Loss

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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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

The numbers are heartbreaking. Nearly 40% of high school students say they feel persistently sad or hopeless, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in five reported struggling with anxiety or depression in just the past two weeks, and another one in five said they seriously considered suicide in the past year.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, we sit down with the researchers behind a powerful new book, Mind the Children, that digs into what’s fueling America’s youth mental health crisis. The authors—journalists, researchers, and clinicians—want parents and policymakers to understand the full picture. Too often, they say, the blame gets pinned on a single factor. But the truth is, there are many forces at work. 

  Today I'm joined by Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies child welfare and foster care, and Dr. Ken Winters, a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute in Minnesota, and consultant at the Center for Indigenous Behavioral Health at the University of Iowa.

Learn more about and purchase their book, Mind the Children, here.

If you liked this episode, check out the following next: 

• Your To-Die List: Bestselling Author on Living Fully and Resiliently
• A mother’s urgent message on mental health and addiction
• Mental health expert offers advice after his own son battles depression, anxiety & addiction
• Mother blames cannabis-induced psychosis for son’s death

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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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

From a school shooting in Minneapolis to bomb threats against Jewish hospitals in New York, hate crimes continue to make headlines across the country. FBI data shows that reported incidents rose by more than 200 in just one year, from 2022 to 2023. With every act of hate comes unimaginable grief, something today’s guest knows far too well.

Mindy Corporon’s life was forever changed when a hate crime took the lives of both her 14-year-old son and her father. Rather than allowing her pain to turn into anger, she chose a different path, one rooted in kindness, compassion, and the belief that the world can be better.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Mindy shares her advice for those living with grief and her vision for how we can all move forward in a time marked by hate and division.

Learn more about her mission at sevendays.org.

Purchase Mindy's book, Healing a Shattered Soul, here: https://www.mindycorporon.com/healing-a-shattered-soul/

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out the following: 

Broken Heart Syndrome: 4 Ways We Grieve

Changing lives through grief and the gift of pain

Growing Up with Grief: Emily’s Siblings Open Up

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

What began as a joyful winter break reunion quickly turned into tragedy. In January 2016, a group of college friends gathered at a lake house in southern Wisconsin to celebrate the new year. But before the celebration was over, four of them had vanished—including Sally McQuillen’s 21-year-old son, Christopher.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Sally shares her son’s story, the heartbreak that followed, and what it has been like to live with unimaginable loss. She opens up about the weight of fear, guilt, and regret—and how grief, while devastating, has also revealed the depth and power of love.

Learn more about Sally's memoir: https://www.sallymcquillen.com/reaching-for-beautiful-memoir

If you enjoyed this episode, check out Episode 214 "Growing Up with Grief: Emily’s Siblings Open Up": https://emilyshope.charity/episode/abby-adam-groth/

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

Picture this: 3,800 tombstones stretched out near the U.S. Capitol. Each one represents a life lost to substances— not a number, not a statistic — but a son, a daughter, a sibling, a friend.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, I sit down with Kimberly Douglas and Alexis Pleus, the women behind the Trail of Truth. For them, this mission is deeply personal. They’re turning their grief into action, demanding that lawmakers pay attention while hundreds of thousands of Americans die every year from alcohol and drugs. And now, even as the crisis grows, treatment and prevention programs are on the chopping block. Most importantly, you’ll hear what they believe needs to change to save lives.

You can listen to Alexis's previous episode on Grieving Out Loud here. 

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

Grief is something most of us will face at some point in our lives—but it’s not exactly coffee shop conversation. Gary Roe is hoping to change that. He’s not only an award-winning author who’s written more than 20 books on grief, but also someone who speaks with honesty, compassion, and deep personal experience.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Gary shares about his painful childhood, the lessons he’s learned about grief and resilience, and what he hopes others can carry with them from his journey.

You can visit Gary's website here. 

If this episode resonated with you, here are more conversations you’ll want to hear:

Surviving the holiday season while grieving

Broken Heart Syndrome: 4 Ways We Grieve

Your To-Die List: Bestselling Author on Living Fully and Resiliently

Growing Up with Grief: Emily’s Siblings Open Up

Words of Wisdom: Surviving Grief

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

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

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

New York City is home to more than twice the population of any other U.S. city, so when a story makes headlines there, it usually means it’s something big. But for Scott Caddell,  the reason his son’s name appeared in the news was devastating.

First, Scott lost his oldest son to a brutal and widely publicized murder. Then, years later, his younger son died from fentanyl poisoning. Long before either tragedy, Scott was battling his own addiction, a struggle that began when he was still a kid.

On this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Scott opens up about the heartbreak no parent should ever have to endure. He talks candidly about addiction, grief, the lessons he learned too late, and how he is still putting one foot in front of the other, even after losing so much.

Send us a text

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. 

Support the show

Connect with Angela

Follow Grieving Out Loud

Follow Emily's Hope

Read Angela’s Blog

Subscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope Updates

Suggest a Guest

For more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charity
Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz