Diane Eide lost her 25-year-old son, Trace, in April of 2021 to a methamphetamine overdose. While they are not as common as opioid, and specifically fentanyl overdoses, meth overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the last decade. Diane is sharing her ten-year battle for Trace's life and the aftermath of his death to raise awareness that meth too, can kill. Trace fought the disease of addiction since the age of 14. Treatment was not always successful, but before his death, he celebrated seven months of sobriety. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller

Their shared grief over the loss of their children brought Carol Baum and Jeannie Ammon together. Both women lost their sons at a young age. Carol's son Jeremy completed suicide after battling meth addiction in 1999. Jeannie's son Wyatt died at the age of 24 in 2005 in a freak accident while overseas.
Carol and Jeannie joined forces to help others by creating the Mothers Healing Garden, in Dell Rapids, SD. At the center of the garden is a labyrinth. The Mothers Healing Garden has now been used as a model across the country and Carol and Jeannie say their friendship has also been essential to their own healing.  

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller

David J. Roberts teaches a course on death, dying, and bereavement at Utica College in New York. He lost his 18-year-old daughter, Jeanine to cancer in 2003. In addition to leading grief groups, he is a retired addiction professional. Out of his nearly three decades of working with people who suffered from substance use disorder, he wrote a blog titled: “They Were Unique, Misunderstood, and Among my Greatest Teachers.” In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Dave promotes looking at the addict as a whole person and gives advice on dealing with stigmatized deaths such as overdose and suicide. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller

Dreams--what do they mean and how they can help in the grieving process.  Joshua Black, PhD, is a grief researcher, speaker, consultant, and host of the Grief Dreams Podcast. Joshua’s work focuses on dreams and continuing bonds after loss, including prenatal and pet loss. 
In this episode, we hear from mothers grieving the loss of a child and the kind of dreams they are experiencing.  Joshua talks about the healing power of dreams and what they may be telling us to help us move through our grief journey. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller

Jessica Lahey is a mother, teacher, and author of The New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. Jessica, who been sober for eight years, says her new book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence, came out concern for her own children following that same path. The book delves into genetics, psychology, and the science of addiction and offers practical things parents can do to keep their kids from suffering from addiction.

Read Jessica's blog here. 

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Podcast producers:
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Alica Steinfurth’s and Marica Leonard’s sons, ages 23 and 24, worked together as beer truck delivery drivers. Josh and Tanner were outdoorsmen and enduro racing enthusiasts. After a night of drinking last August, they made the fatal mistake of purchasing what they thought were prescription opioid pills. Both young men died from a fatal dose of fentanyl. Marica’s other son, Tyler, who was with them, also overdosed but was revived with Narcan. 

The two moms have been very open about what happened to their sons,  in order to serve as a warning for others. Learn how they are coping as the one-year anniversary of their sons' deaths approaches and the bond they have formed with one another, following the loss of their sons. 

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Podcast producers:
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Jessica Pfau has battled opioid and alcohol addiction ever since her 2011 gastric bypass surgery.  She first joined Angela Kennecke on this podcast in 2019, before heading to prison. Jessica overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl and that violated the terms of her probation.  Jessica spent eight months behind bars, but says she received little to no treatment while in a state women's prison. Jessica says the time away damaged her connections to both her husband and pre-school son. Through it all, Jessica says she has maintained her sobriety, but she is having trouble finding employment with her criminal record. In this podcast she talks about how a system set up to punish, doesn't foster healing for someone with substance use disorder.
You can hear Jessica's first interview on Grieving Out Loud on Episode 17.

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud,  Angela Kennecke talks with Heather Stang, a, thanatologist, yoga therapist, author of Mindfulness & Grief and the new guided journal, From Grief to Peace.  Stang founded the Mindfulness and Grief Institute and is the host of her own podcast by the same name. 
Stang shares how her own experiences with grief brought her to her profession and has advice for anyone suffering with loss, especially overdose loss, on how to use mindfulness to cope with the extreme pain that accompanies grief. 

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Podcast producers:
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While on a long car drive, Sally Ponzio heard an unmistakable voice in her heart--that of her son, Travis, who had died of overdose six months earlier. Sally says Travis gave her the lyrics to a song called, "Remember Me." She pulled over and  wrote them down as fast as she could on a napkin. Now that song has been released and Sally and the composer, Frank Ponzio, as well as singer, Eleanor Dubinsky, join Angela Kennecke to talk about the overwhelming response listeners are having to the heartfelt melody.
Sally hopes that "Remember Me," gives comfort to anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved-one and hope in its message for the living to continue to find joy in life.

You can watch the video with the song here.

*Permission was granted by Sally Ponzio, Frank Ponzio and Eleanor Dubinsky to play "Remember Me" in its entirety in this podcast. 

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Norma is a 52-year-old mother and grandmother. She didn't start drinking until the age of 35, but within a year, she says she was an alcoholic. She had period of sobriety, but now has new hope for long-term recovery after seeking treatment at the Avera Addiction Care Center and receiving an Emily's Hope Treatment Scholarship. 
Norma shares her story in hopes of reducing the stigma and shame surrounding addiction and encouraging. others to seek help. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Marley Miller