Mosaic Identity

Grief, Ancestry & the Unseen With Dania Balohé Lacourrège

In this episode of Mosaic Identity, I sit down with Lebanese grief therapist, death doula, and transgenerational analyst Dania Balohé Lacourrège for a conversation about grief, identity, family, intuition, and the parts of ourselves we may have been taught to distrust.

Dania shares what it was like growing up as the eldest daughter in an Arab family and how her cultural identity has shaped both her personal life and the work she does today. We talk about grief as something much bigger than the death of a loved one. Grief can also come through identity shifts, relationships ending, migration, family wounds, trauma, and becoming someone different from who we were expected to be.

Dania also takes us inside her work as a grief counselor and death doula including what it means to accompany people through death, loss, and major life transitions. And then the conversation goes somewhere we don't often openly go in Arab spaces: intuition, psychic experiences, spirituality, and the unseen. Dania shares her own experiences with psychic abilities and what it has meant to make sense of them within cultural and religious environments where these experiences may be dismissed, feared, or shamed.

We explore a bigger question: What if decolonization also means questioning which ways of knowing we were taught were legitimate and which ones we were taught to fear?

In this episode, we talk about:

Growing up as the eldest daughter in an Arab family Moving back and fourth between Lebanon and France

Lebanese identity and living within the diaspora

The responsibilities often placed on eldest Arab daughters

Grief beyond physical death

Becoming a grief counselor and death doula

What a death doula actually does

Intuition and psychic experiences

Cultural and religious shame around spirituality and the unseen

Decolonization and reclaiming ways of knowing that have been dismissed or pathologized

About Dania:

Dania Balohé Lacourrège is a Lebanese therapist based in France whose work centers grief, trauma, major life transitions, and transgenerational healing. She describes her work as Aliveness Therapy and works as a death doula and transgenerational analyst, incorporating grief therapy, body-based awareness, symbolic practices, and personalized rituals into her approach.

Learn more about Dania and her work:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dania.balohe/?hl=fr

Website: https://daniabalohelacourrege.fr/en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWhc_U5PH9FUnWnUn83pzng

About Mosaic Identity

Mosaic Identity is a podcast exploring the complicated intersections of culture, identity, mental health, family, migration, belonging, and what it means to build an identity when you come from more than one world.

Mosaic Identity Podcast Ep 3 | Intersecting Identities: Leadership, Art & Mental Health w/Omar Kurdi What does it mean to hold multiple identities… and still feel like yourself? In this episode of Mosaic Identity, I sit down with Omar Kurdi—an Arab American leader, artist, and community builder—to explore the complexity of living between roles, expectations, and inner truth. We talk about what it means to navigate leadership while staying connected to your emotional world, the pressure many Arab men carry in silence, and how artistic expression can become a pathway back to the self. This conversation moves through identity, mental health, masculinity, diaspora, and the tension between who we are… and who we’ve been taught to be. If you’ve ever felt like you’re holding many versions of yourself at once—this episode is for you. In this episode, we explore: Arab American identity and living between cultures The roles we carry vs. the self beneath them Mental health and emotional expression in Arab men Leadership, responsibility, and internal pressure Art, poetry, and creativity as healing Navigating purpose, community, and authenticity Connect with Omar Kurdi: Website: https://www.omarkurdi.net Follow Omar Kurdi on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/omarkurdiofficial/ Listen to Omar Kurdi on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/2JvR54awYtFyhvV6Y3CMjh ____________________________ Let's connect on Social Media! Submit Video requests through the following: Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/micheline.maalouf TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@micheline.maalouf Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/michelinemaalouf.therapist Learn more about me: https://www.michelinemaalouf.com/ My therapy practice: Website: http://www.Sereincounseling.com Share this episode with someone who’s navigating identity, belonging, or the pressure of holding it all. And don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe—it helps more people find these conversations and feel seen in them.

Episode 2: The 3rd Culture Identity Welcome back to Mosaic Identity with Micheline Maalouf. In this episode, I’m talking about the third culture identity: what it is, how it forms, the beauty and complexity of living between cultures, and the mental health impact of growing up in the in-between. I explore the benefits of being shaped by more than one world, including adaptability, empathy, and a broader way of seeing life. I also speak about the harder parts of the experience: identity confusion, code-switching, not fully belonging, and the emotional toll that can come from constantly navigating multiple cultures, expectations, and versions of yourself.

I also share personal reflections from my own experience as an Arab American therapist and somatic practitioner, and how third culture identity can shape the nervous system, self-worth, and sense of home. Whether you are Arab in diaspora, a child of immigrants, or someone who has always felt caught between worlds, this episode is for you. In this episode,

We cover: What third culture identity means

How growing up between cultures shapes your sense of self

The benefits and strengths of third culture identity

The grief, confusion, and drawbacks that often go unnamed

The mental health impact of living between worlds

Why identity struggles can live in the nervous system

What healing and integration can look like

Connect with me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micheline.maalouf/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@micheline.maalouf

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichelineMaalouf

Website: https://www.michelinemaalouf.com

Episode 1: Welcome to Mosaic Identity Welcome to Mosaic Identity, a podcast for Arabs in the diaspora—and for anyone living between cultures, languages, expectations, and versions of themselves. In this first episode, Micheline Maalouf shares the heart behind the podcast, the meaning of the name Mosaic Identity, and why culturally grounded mental health conversations matter. As an Arab American therapist and somatic practitioner, Micheline speaks about the gaps she experienced in healing spaces that overlooked culture, family dynamics, and survival responses. This episode explores identity, otherness, masking, people-pleasing, inherited trauma, and the nervous system, while setting the foundation for future conversations centered on nuance, belonging, and coming home to yourself. Follow Micheline on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube: @micheline.maalouf