We come into this world knowing how to grieve. We naturally know how to express ourselves to get our needs met. Then life happens, along with generational teaching that creates the perfect storm for adult issues.

So much of what is wrong in our lives, as adults, can be traced back to our childhoods. That goes for possible health concerns, as well as our mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Adulthood is a childhood re-enactment. And, considering that research suggests that our brains develop in response to the environment in which we are raised or in as children, it makes sense that we find ourselves resorting to those points of reference in adulthood. And often, they're not very healthy points of reference.

I look forward to digging into this topic more deeply and, explore this further with future experts. In the meantime, listen to this week's episode and see if you can connect some dots of your adult life experience to your childhood.

As long as we are medicalizing mental health, we'll continue to see the same issues repeated in our society. We must pull the weeds. And the roots, I believe, are in our childhoods. And, I don't care if you had the most idyllic upbringing. Because no parent is perfect, and every last parent resorts to what they know. And, in my experience, when it comes to grief, there's a lot of misinformation and myths playing out in the world.

RESOURCES:

• David Woods Bartley Ep. 21 | Ep. 22
• Rachel Pozzesi Ep. 46
• Crystal Partney Ep. 47

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NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

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This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Crystal shares the impact of losing her sister by suicide and the process of working through the grief that led her to start not one but two businesses in honor of her sister.

What you will learn, though, through Crystal's episode, is that the loss of her sister was not the first. It was actually one of three within a short period of time. And, if there's one thing that I've learned through the work that I do and conversations for this podcast, it's that grief isn't a one-and-done experience. We often have many losses or grief-causing experiences that all blend into one another. And, there are ripples of each and every loss. We touch on this, too, in this episode, including how Crystal talked to her then three-year-old about the death of her aunt.

Through Scattering Hope and Owl and Thistle, Crystal reaches both those who have lost a loved one by suicide and those who feel disempowered or at a loss to help those struggling with depression and/or suicidal ideation.

Through her work, Crystal has brought panels of experts, including myself, to share on topics that embody a variety of areas of mental health.

If you wish to reach out to someone struggling that you care about, check out Owl and Thistle. And, if you are wanting to learn how to navigate this kind of loss, check out Scattering Hope.

RESOURCES:

• Website | Scattering Hope Subscription Box
• Helping Children with Loss
• When Children Grieve, the book

CONNECT WITH CRYSTAL:

• Instagram | Scattering Hope
• Instagram | Owl and Thistle

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Need help?
Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling w

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

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NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Rachel was living the good life; valedictorian and class princess, great friends, travel enthusiast, and living her best twenties life. That is until life became not so good.

Her body began to deteriorate and, she didn't know what was happening or why. And, it would take several years, fourteen different doctors, and a diagnosis of Hashimoto's, mold biotoxin illness, chronic Lyme disease, endometriosis, and mast cell activation syndrome before life would get better.

Rachel shares the rollercoaster of ups and downs of living with chronic illness as a young adult, not to mention other losses experienced along the way, which she also shares.

This episode highlights the loss of health, which is intangible and often goes unseen, and its impact on all other areas of life. This episode is a reminder to offer curiosity rather than judgment, empathy rather than expectation, and demonstrating care through action rather than lip service. We never know what others, even our own family, are going through.

RESOURCES:

• Boundaries Will Set You Free by Nancy Levin
• Lyme Disease Symptoms 
• ILADS
• Lyme Disease & Co-Infection Testing: DNA Connexions Lab | IgeneX Lyme Lab
•  Tickborne Disease Info
• Lyme Treatment Center 
• SOT Facebook Group (for NEW Lyme Therapy) 

CONNECT WITH RACHEL:

• Website 
•  Instagram 
• Email: [email protected]

______

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

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NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

I get really fired up when a podcast guest shares their story of, essentially, their emotional pain being dismissed. Instead of their pain being addressed when seeking help, their symptoms are "addressed."

If misguided white coats started to flip that around, and look at the bigger picture and set aside the big pharma kickbacks, and become patient-centered, we'd maybe be in a less dire situation when it comes to mental health in the U.S. than we are today.

Both Brianne and Jordan ended up finding holistic means of addressing their grief and trauma. And, they are the perfect examples that it is possible.

What grievers also need to understand is that there is no magic pill. As Brianne shared in her episode (Episode 44), you have to dig through your shit to find your gold. And, as Jordan shared in his (Episode 44), he found that therapy and EMDR were what he needed and has since been off all meds that he was told he needed to be on (since childhood).

Let's stop pushing the pills and let's start pushing for patient-centered care and holistic, unharmful ways to help people heal. Grief Recovery and Reiki have been my saving graces.

AN INVITATION:
Have a story of holistic healing of something specific that worked for you? I'd love to hear from you. Or, do you know of any medical studies that have followed medicated children well into adulthood? I'd be interested in hearing about that, too. If you're a researcher who has dug into this matter, even better - I want you on my podcast. Reach out to me via the links below.

RESOURCES:

• Ep 43 | Brianne Davis
• Ep 44 | Jordan Brodie
• Jordan Brodie  / BE YOUR SELFIE BRACELET
• Helping Children With Loss

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

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NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Jordan grew up knowing he was different. And, it was in that knowing where he could be himself with his loving, supportive father.

However, in the outside world, he navigated the harsh reality of mean kids. Aside from his sexuality, growing up as a child of a deaf adult (CODA) also felt like a dirty little secret.

What happened, as Jordan grew, is years of trying to deal with being put in a special class for kids with high intelligence, and in middle school, he found himself drinking and starting to experiment with drugs. This was on top of the medication he had been put on and was on since the age of 8, and was later able to get off for "diagnosed" ADHD and anxiety, which, by the way, he's no longer taking.

The years that followed were challenging and would lead Jordan to follow his childhood friend to Hollywood, who also would later die of an accidental drug overdose, who was the one who took Jordan to his first meeting to get addiction support. Thankful for that start in sobriety, Jordan has been sober for four years, but not without a lot of inner work and therapy.

On top of the grief Jordan shares in this episode, one week following our recording, his older brother, who is deaf and who had also been struggling with addiction, died of a fentanyl overdose. Jordan will be coming back on the podcast to record a follow-up. In the meantime, as you listen to Jordan's many stories of loss, attempt to put yourself in his shoes.

RESOURCES:

• The Grief Recovery Handbook
• Sibling Revelry Podcast

CONNECT WITH JORDAN: INSTAGRAM | FACEBOO

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Actress, Podcaster, and Author, Brianne Davis shares, for the first time, about the loss of who she once was.

Brianne has come to terms, with the help of therapy and the 12-step program for sex and love addiction, to understand the depths and impact of being sexually abused as a child. And, how that experience, along with early exposure to what she believed love was impacted her well into adulthood.

She would find herself choosing a profession where she could blend into the roles of another person within a script, which was fitting since she was struggling in her own skin.

Follow along Brianne's journey of awareness to wholeness as went through a 9-month men detox, and later as she wrote her book,  Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex & Love Addict: A Novel.

Today, Brianne shares her full and complete heart that no longer looks to the outside world for validation and comfort, through supporting others who wish to share their secrets on her podcast, Secret Life.

Connect with Brianne: Website | Instagram

Resources: 

• Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous
• Book | Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex & Love Addict: A Novel
• Podcast | Secret Life

______

Need help?

• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available HERE.

Are you enjoying the pod

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Talking about end-of-life is never easy. And, receiving a terminal diagnosis (with a prognosis full of unknowns), is nowhere near easy either.

I reflect on what my guests, Dr. Chris Kerr, author of "Death Is But a Dream," TEDx Speaker, and researcher of end-of-life experiences of terminal patients and 17-year metastatic breast cancer survivor, Anne Jacobs, shared with and taught me.

I have flipped how I feel about end-of-life experience and what I hope my end-of-days are like based on my training as an End-of-Life Doula and my conversation with Dr. Kerr.

Anne brings so much hope and sage advice for those diagnosed, caregivers, and the rest of us - I hope you listen. Live for today; it's all you have guaranteed!

Resources:

• Ep. 40 Dr. Chris Kerr
• Ep. 41 Anne Jacobs

______

Need help?

• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available HERE.

Are you enjoying the podcast? Check out my bi-weekly newsletter, The Unleashed Letters.
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Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
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This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Anne is, what is called in the metastatic breast cancer world, an "outlier." She's lived with triple positive metastatic breast cancer for seventeen years.  And, for the past seventeen years, she's gone to sleep and woken up, not knowing when the other shoe will drop, and being out of treatment options. 

What does this do to the psyche of the human mind? How does one even begin to comprehend the weight of this diagnosis and prognosis? So many unknowns and what if's...the overwhelm and weight of it all...I can't even imagine.

And, if you can't imagine what this is like either, be a fly on the wall of my conversation with Anne, someone who has been white-knuckling hope for nearly two decades. And who has, somehow, managed to find a sense of peace with what is.

This is a podcast for all; to experience the fragility of life and the depths of joy found in the most mundane things - all within two hours. And, you don't have to receive a diagnosis to feel Anne's words for yourself.

Take all of her sage wisdom in and, as a result, be, do, and create TODAY as if you won't have tomorrow.

RESOURCES:

• Lewis Howes & James Nestor Podcast Episode on Breathing
• Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life
• M. Scott Peck, M.D., author of The Road Less Traveled
• Metastatic Cancer FB Support Group

CONNECT WITH ANNE:

• INSTAGRAM

______

Need help?

Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available H

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who is facing terminal illness right now.

Whether you are a caregiver or a patient, Dr. Chris Kerr's wisdom may help you feel empowered in how you address the end-of-life experience.

Dr. Kerr's work has focused on affirming that end-of-life experiences are real and how the medicalization of the end-of-life process hinders one's ability to have "a good death" and also impacts the family who will be left behind.

Dr. Kerr's message is impactful because the extensive research he's conducted over the past 10+ years has created a positive impact in the lives of many.

How society approaches end-of-life needs to change and, it starts with education. Please listen and share this episode. Then, watch his documentary when it releases or read his book, and consider how end-of-life can be a beautiful, integrative experience. And, in the instance of terminal illness, it's not one that has to be feared.

RESOURCES:

• Episode 5 Netflix Docuseries, "Surviving Death"
• Dr. Chris Kerr's TEDx Talk
• Book, Death Is But a Dream

CONNECT WITH DR. CHRIS KERR:

• Website
• Dr. Chris Kerr on Instagram
• Hospice Buffalo on Instagram

______

Need help?

Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...

Generational learning and ancestral trauma run deep in families. It's not even something I gave much thought to before becoming an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist.

In episode 37, Angela shared how the lessons her mom was taught were passed down generations, impacting her life ten-fold.

It takes courage to break the cycle of generational learning because it takes action and deep, internal work to address it.

In this week's episode, I talk more about my takeaways and reflections from Angela's episode and also from Shandra's episode, where she shared about her memory loss.

I share today, my reflections about the impact of not connecting the dots of our grief to our behaviors and about what's in a name.

Angela and Shandra both had to find their way back home to themselves, in ways that required each of them to address what they thought was the truth. They found what was true for themselves and, in my personal experience of having done the same, have felt more at home in my own skin than I ever have.

We are all just walking each other home (a quote I read not long ago). And, at the same time, finding our way back to ourselves, too. 

Resources:

• Ep. 37 Angela Williams
• Ep. 38 Shandra Shultz

______

Need help?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, there are free resources available HERE.

Are you enjoying the podcast? Check out my bi-weekly newsletter,

Send Victoria a text message!

Support the show

_______

NEED HELP?

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor

If you are struggling with grief due to any of the 40+ losses, free resources are available HERE.

CONNECT WITH VICTORIA:

• Instagram
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

Would you like to join the mission of Grieving Voices in normalizing grief and supporting hurting hearts everywhere? Become a sup...