“There’s a moment in grief when you realize the story didn’t end… it just changed shape.”

In this episode of Restorative Grief, Mandy is joined by filmmaker and Emmy-winning producer Jon Hill, whose feature film Above the Clouds was born from the loss of his father and shaped over thirteen years of quiet persistence. What began as heartbreak slowly became a creative path toward meaning, connection, and unexpectedly laughter.

Together, we explore what it looks like to honor someone we love through art, why humor can coexist with deep sorrow, and how creative expression can help us move through grief without trying to rush past it. Jon shares the personal roots of his film, the long road to bringing it into the world, and the gentle hope he carries for anyone walking their own healing journey.

This conversation is an invitation to hold grief with honesty, to stay open to moments of lightness, and to remember that restoration often arrives in ways we don’t expect.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Turning personal loss into meaningful creative work

• The surprising role of humor in the healing process

• What thirteen years of persistence can teach us about grief

• Balancing tenderness and levity when telling hard stories

• Helping grieving people feel less alone in their experience

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Learn more about Above the Clouds: https://www.abovethecloudsfilm.com/
• Learn about Jon's work: https://www.jonhilldirects.com/
• Learn more about Restorative Grief: https://www.mandycapehart.com/
• Become a Patron of the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/mandycapehart

“Much of what we experience while scrolling the news is actually grief trying to move through the body.”

How do we stay present to the world’s suffering without being swallowed by it? In this episode, we explore the very real tension of living everyday life while absorbing constant global distress. From doomscrolling and body tension to the quiet pressure to stay informed, this conversation names what so many are feeling but struggle to articulate.

We talk about how grief shows up physically in the body, why your nervous system responds the way it does to ongoing crisis, and how to practice what I call responsible distance. You’ll walk away with simple, grounded ways to stay compassionate and engaged without overwhelming your capacity to keep showing up.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• MandyCapehart.com/coaching
• Around the Circle: National Grief
• Polyvagal Theory overview with Deb Dana
• Get the workbook for more on doomscrolling management

"I was in survival mode, and I needed to be really honest about it."

What if the reason your spiritual life feels impossible right now is because you’ve been handed tools that were never designed for your grief?

Today’s conversation is a tender one. I’m joined by my friend Becky McCoy - writer, spiritual director, and someone who understands firsthand what it means to live inside deep loss while still reaching for gentle hope.

We talk honestly about what faith and spiritual practice can look like when you are simply too tired to perform your way through healing.

Becky’s upcoming book, In the Company of the Weary, offers compassionate, doable spiritual practices for people living in grief, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. This conversation brings that same gentle permission into real life.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re failing at grief, failing at faith, or simply too weary to keep up, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How grief reshapes our spiritual lives

• What “weariness” really means (and why it matters)

• Why traditional spiritual practices often stop working in seasons of loss

• The difference between gentle and performative faith practices

• Trauma-informed spirituality in everyday life

• What the church and helping communities often misunderstand about grief

• Where to begin when you feel spiritually numb

• One gentle permission for the bone-deep tired

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Pre-order In the Company of the Weary: https://amzn.to/3ZYbVTB
• Connect with Becky on IG: https://www.instagram.com/beckylmccoy
• Follow Mandy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mandycapehart
• Become a Patron/Get the Workbook: https://www.patreon.com/mandycapehart

Our safety doesn't come from certainty.

When grief breaks the story we thought we were living in, our minds naturally go looking for explanations. In this episode, we explore why we reach for certainty when life stops making sense—and how that instinct can lead us into stories that promise safety but don’t always deliver it.

Together, we’ll look at narrative fallacy, the human tendency to create tidy explanations for painful or chaotic experiences, and consider what it might mean to loosen our grip on certainty while we grieve.

This episode also includes a gentle grounding practice to help us reconnect with safety in the present moment—without needing answers first.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Become a Patron
• Connect with Mandy

“There is something sacred about being with someone at the end of their life. It’s like standing at the edge of the ocean, being pulled in and out by the tide, knowing that something larger than yourself is at work.”

In this episode of Restorative Grief, we’re joined by death doula and storyteller Darnell Lamont Walker for a deeply human conversation about presence, love, and what it means to show up in life’s most vulnerable moments. Drawing from his book Never Can Say Goodbye, Darnell invites us to reimagine death not as something to fear, but as something to face with courage, compassion, and grace.

Together, we explore how storytelling can be a path to healing, why being present matters more than having the right words, and how everyday people already carry the capacity to sit with grief...their own and others’. This conversation is not about dying well as much as it is about living fully, loving deeply, and honoring the threads that connect us all, even as we prepare to say goodbye.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Death as a sacred threshold rather than a failure or fear

• Presence as an emotional and spiritual practice

• Storytelling as dignity, healing, and closure

• Grief as a path to growth and connection

• Living with fewer regrets by staying close to what matters

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Order Darnell's book, Never Can Say Goodbye
• Connect with Darnell on social media
• Learn more about Restorative Grief
• Become a Patron of the podcast

What if grief isn’t breaking you but interrupting a strategy that can no longer protect you?

Grief can make us feel unrecognizable, but what if it’s not breaking you? Maybe it's just interrupting the strategies your nervous system has relied on to feel safe, secure, or connected.

In this episode, we explore how the Enneagram can help name these survival patterns and introduce the grief-adaptive coping triad—security, belonging, and safety.

Learn how grief disrupts familiar ways of coping and what it asks of us instead, with tools to notice, support, and restore yourself from the inside out.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Become a Patron
• Connect with Mandy
• Learn more about Restorative Grief

What if the moments that trigger us in grief are not setbacks, but invitations to notice the themes shaping our responses?

This week on Restorative Grief, Mandy sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Iezzi, co-author of Reenactments, to explore how grief often shows up through repeated emotional and behavioral patterns. Dr. Iezzi shares how the themes beneath our triggers can quietly guide our reactions, and how beginning with one small, conscious action can help disrupt the repetitions that keep us feeling stuck.

Together, they reflect on restorative grief as a practice of awareness, compassion, and choice, not getting over loss, but learning how to respond differently as we carry it forward.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Dr. Tony's website: https://tonyiezzi.com/
• Purchase Reenactments: https://tonyiezzi.com/book/
• Work with Mandy: https://www.mandycapehart.com/coaching
• Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/mandycapehart

What’s really holding you back from reaching out for grief support?

In this episode we explore common worries about online support, from cost and trust to vulnerability and access. We talk about how leaning into fear can reveal what your grief truly needs and how small steps toward support can be transformative. If you’ve ever hesitated to reach out, this conversation offers clarity, reassurance, and a path forward.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Join the Restorative Grief Community
• Become a Patron
• Subscribe to the Restorative Grief Newsletter
• Work with Mandy

"The work of grief is to necessarily walk the walk of sorrow."

What if your grief isn’t something to get over—but something your body is trying to make sense of? Adam Young, therapist and author of Make Sense of Your Story, joins us to explore how our stories live in the nervous system, why kindness and connection matter in healing, and why grief was never meant to be carried alone.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Make Sense of Your Story by Adam Young
• The Place We Find Ourselves podcast
• Free resources from Adam
• Learn more about Restorative Grief

What if journaling isn’t the right doorway for you, but your body still needs a way to release what it’s holding?

In this episode, we explore a simple 90-second voice memo practice that lets emotions move without needing to be written down, analyzed, or saved. We talk about how speaking engages the nervous system, supports emotional discharge, and creates safety through impermanence.

Together, we’re practicing how to let feelings rise, pass, and gently return us to the present moment.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Join the Restorative Grief Community
• Become a Patron
• Subscribe to the Restorative Grief Newsletter
• Work with Mandy