Grieving Out Loud: A Mother Coping with Loss in the Opioid Epidemic

Jon Sommervold grew up with high-achieving, affluent parents, but that didn’t protect him from becoming a victim of sexual abuse. He turned to alcohol at a young age to cope with trauma and eventually developed a $1,000 a day cocaine habit. Yet, Jon excelled in school and went on to be successful in the finance world. Still, his life was a mess and he failed to find true recovery after entering treatment multiple times. Today, Jon runs a recovery center and sober living homes called Tallgrass. He’s sharing his remarkable journey on this episode of Grieving Out Loud. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

After suffering a miscarriage, Shauna Domalain dealt with her own grief and heartache, but as a spiritual medium, Shauna says she has connected with the son she lost and that has given her hope. Shauna believes we can all connect with our children in Heaven if we are open to it. She believes communication with the children we lost can lead to healing and a renewed purpose in life. She says her psychic skills were evident at a very young age and now uses them to help others find peace through her website, blog and podcast, The Oracle of Light.

Shauna's Website: www.livealifeyoulove.org

Shauna's Podcast: The Oracle of Light 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

The short film, STRUNG, is picking up plenty of awards at film festivals all over the world. It deals with the tough issue of addiction. 

Lost in the forest of his own mind, the main character, Eric must rely on the survival skills of an enigmatic nine-year-old boy to help him battle vicious withdrawals and self-deprivation to catalyze change within his family's cycle of addiction.

The filmmakers are currently working to turn STRUNG into a full-length feature film. They’re also committed to using the subject matter to raise awareness on addiction and help those struggling with this disease of the brain. 

On this episode of Grieving Out Loud,  Angela Kennecke is joined by STRUNG co-directors, Joseph Bezenek and Ryan Reid, as well as the lead actor and story creator, Jeromy Darling, who talk about the future of a full-length film and how they're giving back to help people find recovery.

Learn more about the 4est Films here. 

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

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:
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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 & Kayli Fitz

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 & Kayli Fitz

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 & Kayli Fitz

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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Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz