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

In a special year-end edition of Grieving Out Loud, we take a look back at some of the emotional and meaningful conversations featured on the podcast this year. The show, produced by Emily’s Hope and hosted by Angela Kennecke, spotlights families affected by the opioid epidemic, as well as experts working to curb the growing mental health and substance-use crisis.

Throughout 2025, Kennecke interviewed lawmakers, law enforcement leaders, and parents who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. Their stories, taken together, offer a clearer picture of the challenges communities are facing — and the efforts underway to create change.

Listen to the full episodes featured in this special: 

• Grieving Moms Take on Snapchat and Congress After Their Sons’ Fentanyl Deaths - Amy Neville & Bridgette Norring
• Naloxone Saved Me, Now I’m Saving Others: Morgan’s Story - Morgan Mentele
• ‘I lost who I was.’ Emily’s Hope Treatment Scholarship gives mom second chance - Melissa Carter
• A Paramedic Using His Battle With Addiction to Save Others - Aaron Westfall
• Teens Share What Really Works to Prevent Drug and Alcohol Use - Mollie Kruse
• A Mother’s Warning About Laced Marijuana - Paula Santos-Young
• Choosing Love After a Hate Crime Took Her Son and Father - Mindy Corporon

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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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Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

The holidays can be especially painful when you are carrying grief. While the world celebrates joy and togetherness, many people are quietly navigating loss, absence, and memories that feel heavier this time of year.

Dr. Ken Druck has spent decades helping others understand grief, but his work is deeply personal. After losing his 21 year old daughter in a tragic accident, he was forced to walk the same path as the people he now supports. His experience reshaped how he understands loss, healing, and the possibility of joy after heartbreak.

In this special rebroadcast of Grieving Out Loud, Ken offers his gentle wisdom and compassionate insight for those navigating grief this holiday season. He shares guidance on honoring loved ones who have passed while letting go of the pressure to grieve in a specific way. 

This episode is a reminder that you are not alone, and that it is okay to move through the holidays at your own pace.

Learn more about Ken Druck and purchase his book here. 

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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

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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

In American culture, men and women are often expected to grieve in very different ways, but those expectations can leave many men feeling pressured to stay silent, stoic, or emotionally closed off. Morgan Rich is working to challenge that pattern.

Rich, a writer and life coach, focuses on helping men navigate grief, change and pain in healthier, more authentic ways. His work also explores what healthy masculinity can look like beyond the stereotypes that often shape how men are “supposed” to cope.

Rich’s interest in this work is personal. His father died when Rich was 18, an experience that pushed him to reconsider the way he lived and how he processed loss. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, hear how Rich’s loss influenced his approach to life, masculinity and emotional honesty. He also offers insight for men struggling with grief and for the women who want to support them.

Visit Morgan's website and purchase his book here.

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

• What This Grief Expert Wants You to Know About Healing and Hope
• Surviving the holiday season while grieving
• Words of Wisdom: Surviving Grief

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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 teenage years are a crucial time to prevent addiction. The brain is still developing, making it more vulnerable to the lasting effects of drugs and alcohol. It’s also a time when peer pressure can lead to risky choices. So how do you help teens not only say no, but also inspire their friends and communities to make better decisions?

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, meet Annabelle Lovell, a high school junior raising awareness about the dangers of teen drug and alcohol use—not just at her school, but across the country. She recently served as the opening speaker at CADCA’s national conference. CADCA, or Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, represents thousands of community coalitions nationwide, making Annabelle’s role a major honor and responsibility for someone her age.

Annabelle joins us along with Mollie Kruse, a member of our Emily’s Hope Youth Prevention Coalition, who’s taken the message all the way to Washington, D.C., even meeting with the Senate majority leader to talk about the importance of preventing substance use. Together, they share their advice for parents, educators, and other teens as the nation continues to face a deadly drug epidemic.

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

• Why So Many Teens are Struggling, and What We’re Missing
• Growing Up with Grief: Emily’s Siblings Open Up
• Inside Victoria’s Voice: The Diary That’s Waking Parents Up

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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

Loss shows up in every part of life. We lose games, we lose jobs, and sometimes we lose the people we love most. This week on Grieving Out Loud, Marcia Earhart shares a story shaped by more heartbreak than most people could imagine. Before she reached adulthood, she had already faced 17 major losses.

She believes those early experiences may have prepared her, at least in some small way, for the unthinkable: losing two of her children. One died in a tragic car crash, and the other was taken by a violent murder.

How does someone keep moving forward after so much pain? In this episode, Marcia talks about her journey, the lessons grief has taught her about love and resilience, and the grace she has learned to find in the hardest moments. She also shares more about her new book, Gripping Grace in the Garden of Grief.

You can learn more about her book and purchase it here: https://www.thesterlingrosesanctuary.us/gripping-grace-in-the-garden-of-grief

Send us Fan Mail

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

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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

"Dopesick" — the Emmy Award-winning series that dives deep into one of the most devastating crises of our time: the opioid epidemic. The show pulls back the curtain on Purdue Pharma, the company that aggressively marketed OxyContin and helped fuel addiction across America. It’s gripping television based on real events—and real people.

Today on Grieving Out Loud, you'll hear from two of those real-life heroes. Rick Mountcastle, the inspiration behind one of the main characters in season one—portrayed by actor Peter Sarsgaard—was one of the first to take on the powerful Purdue Pharma. His real-life story is every bit as compelling as what you saw on screen.

Also joining me is Ed Bisch, whose story helped inspire characters in "Dopesick" and "Raising Lazarus." After losing his teenage son to an OxyContin overdose at the very beginning of the opioid epidemic, Ed refused to stay silent. Long before most people had even heard the name OxyContin, he was sounding the alarm—calling out Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family when few others would.

See how your state is utilizing opioid settlement money here: opioidsettlementtracker.com

Send us Fan Mail

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

Terry Almanza knows a thing or two about gangs, drugs, and organized crime. She spent nearly three decades with the Chicago Police Department, following a long family tradition of public service. But after her teenage daughter died from an overdose, Almanza says she was devastated by how law enforcement handled the case.

Now, she’s traded her badge for advocacy. Terry believes too many drug dealers are getting away with murder — and she’s calling on others to push for stronger laws and accountability in their communities.

She went on to form the Drug-Induced Homicide Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting families like hers and driving change. In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Terry shares her daughter’s story, what she’s learned about addiction through both her career and her grief, and what it took to speak out against the very system she once served.

Learn more about Drug-Induced Homicide Foundation here: https://poisoningofamerica.org/

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

• A grieving father’s fight to bring deadly drug dealers to justice
• Coping With Grief and Choosing Life After Tragedy
• He Wanted Justice for His Son, So He Became the Investigator

Send us Fan Mail

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

Imagine going to a treatment center for addiction, only to be sent to work at a chicken processing plant for no pay. That’s one of the shocking realities investigative reporter Shoshana Walter uncovered in her national investigation into court-mandated addiction treatment. Her reporting exposed how a broken system turned thousands of people into an unpaid workforce for some of the country’s largest corporations—work that made her a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

At the center of her story was a treatment program founded by a former poultry executive, where participants were forced into unpaid labor inside chicken plants. But that was only the beginning. In her new book, Rehab: An American Scandal, Walter reveals a multi-billion-dollar web of mismanaged treatment centers, where profit too often comes before recovery.

On this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Shoshana shares what she discovered, what everyone should know about the addiction treatment industry, and what she hopes her reporting will change.

Click here to purchase Shoshana's book Rehab: An American Scandal 

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

• Telling Everyone’s Story While Hiding Her Own: A Journalist’s Battle with Addiction
• Can We Save Lives While Cutting Funding? A Tough Conversation at the Top
• Saving tiny lives and healing families at a sanctuary for opioid-exposed newborns
• ‘I lost who I was.’ Emily’s Hope Treatment Scholarship gives mom second chance

Send us Fan Mail

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 changes everything. It’s the kind of pain that steals your breath and reshapes your world, a weight that never fully lifts. For Stephanie Wiley, that pain runs deeper than words can express. She suddenly lost her teenage son, the boy who never missed a chance to say “I love you,” to fentanyl poisoning.

In the aftermath of unimaginable loss, Stephanie found healing in an unexpected place: her kitchen. What began as therapy, a way to cope with grief one cookie at a time, has grown into her purpose. Baking has become her business, her mission, and a tribute to her son’s memory, helping raise awareness about the fentanyl epidemic along the way.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Stephanie shares her powerful journey as she reflects on the struggle to find help for her son’s substance use disorder, the fleeting joy of his recovery, and the heartbreak that followed. Through it all, she has found a way to keep his spirit alive by spreading warmth, sweetness, and hope to others who know the ache of loss.

Click here to visit the Tommy's Cookie Co. website and purchase your cookies! 

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

Choosing Love After a Hate Crime Took Her Son and Father

Surviving the holiday season while grieving

What a mother wishes she knew before losing her son to fentanyl

Send us Fan Mail

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

A 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles, introduced the world to David and Jackie Siegel, the powerhouse couple behind Westgate Resorts. The film showcased their booming business, lavish lifestyle, and bustling household of eight children. But behind the glamour, life took a devastating turn. The Siegels’ world came crashing down after the loss of their 18-year-old daughter, Victoria — a tragedy that reshaped not only their family but also their life’s work. While they knew about some of Victoria’s struggles, her diary revealed painful truths they never fully understood.

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, you’ll hear Victoria’s story, what her family wishes they had known, and how they’re now using their grief to raise awareness and prevent other families from experiencing the same heartbreak.

Purchase the diary - Victoria's Voice, Her Words from Beyond the Grave

Visit the Victoria's Voice website

Emily's Hope website

Learn more about Angel Army

Send us Fan Mail

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