The Grieving Journey Podcast

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Some grief doesn’t come with a goodbye — it comes with change, uncertainty, and learning how to let go of what life used to look like.

In this final episode of Season 3 of The Grieving Journey Podcast, Angel sits down with Yolanda Thorne for an honest and heartfelt conversation about navigating grief that isn’t tied to death, but to transitions, relationships, and identity shifts. Yolanda opens up about parenting through mental illness, grieving the life she once envisioned, and learning how to show up for herself in new ways.

Together, they explore the quiet grief that often goes unseen — the kind rooted in unmet expectations, evolving family dynamics, and seasons that test your faith. Through vulnerability and reflection, Yolanda shares how therapy, faith, and community became anchors during moments of deep uncertainty.

This episode is a reminder that grief doesn’t always look the same, and healing isn’t linear. Sometimes it’s about learning to hold both gratitude and loss at the same time.

💛 Key Themes
• Grieving change and unmet expectations
• Parenting through emotional transitions
• Faith, therapy, and emotional resilience
• Releasing what no longer serves you
• Redefining healing and strength

✨ Connect with Yolanda
Instagram: @BossGalsTalkingTea

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast
Instagram + Facebook: @thegrievingjourneypodcast
📧 Share your story or inquire about being a guest: [email protected]

Thank you for walking with me through Season 3 — your support, listening, and presence mean more than you know. 💛

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In this powerful episode, Angel chats with Erika Duncan for an honest and deeply moving conversation about grief, faith, self-compassion, and what happens when life asks more of you than you feel able to give.

Erika shares the three defining “stops” of her grieving journey: surviving her husband’s life-altering stroke, navigating the sudden loss of her sister, and losing her father just years later. She opens up about caregiver grief, survivor’s guilt, and the moment when she realized she had been pushing through pain she never fully allowed herself to feel — until her body and spirit could no longer carry it.

Throughout the conversation, Erika reflects on how self-compassion became the turning point in her healing. Not self-care. Not pushing forward. But learning to slow down, trust God, and ask herself the grounding question: What do I need right now? She also shares how faith, therapy, and community support helped her rebuild when “the wheels fell off.”

Together, Angel and Erika explore the reality that grief is not linear, emotions need motion, and healing requires permission — permission to feel, to rest, to receive support, and to be human. As Angel reflects, Erika’s words echo a familiar truth: you need to feel to heal.

This episode is a reminder that strength doesn’t come from holding everything together, grief doesn’t follow a checklist, and self-compassion isn’t selfish — it’s sacred.

💛 Key Themes

Survivor and caregiver grief
Sudden and cumulative loss
Faith and trusting God through unanswered questions
Self-compassion as a healing practice
Therapy and mental health awareness
The importance of community and support
Why grief is not linear and emotions need motion

✨ Connect with Erika Duncan
Instagram: @statgirl97
LinkedIn: Erika Young Duncan

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast
Instagram + Facebook: @thegrievingjourneypodcast
📧 Share your story or inquire about being a guest: [email protected]

Tune in to hear Erika’s story and the reminder we all need: slow down, feel what you feel, and give yourself grace.

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In this powerful episode, Angel sits down with Malcolm, a respected Detroit DJ, for an honest conversation about grief, mental health, faith, and what it really means to heal.

Malcolm opens up about experiencing multiple losses over time, losing his mother suddenly, navigating grief in silence, and how therapy became a turning point in his life. He shares how learning to slow down, focus on small daily goals, reconnect with faith, and create a new normal helped him move forward without minimizing the pain.

Together, they explore how grief shows up differently for men, the importance of safe spaces, the power of community, and why healing isn’t about “getting over” loss — it’s about learning how to live alongside it.

This episode is a reminder that strength doesn’t require silence, healing isn’t linear, and giving yourself grace is part of the journey.

💛 Key Themes

• Grieving sudden and cumulative loss
• Men and emotional vulnerability
• Therapy as a tool for healing
• Faith and community as grounding forces
• Creating a new normal after loss
• Living in the present, one day at a time

✨ Connect with Malcolm
Instagram/Facebook: @IamKidMcFly

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast
Instagram + Facebook: @thegrievingjourneypodcast
📧 Share your story or inquire about being a guest: [email protected]

Tune in to hear Malcolm’s story and the reminder we all need: “Stay up.”

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In this heartfelt episode, Angel sits down with Casie Williams for an honest conversation about a form of grief many people experience but rarely talk about — grieving the family you imagined. Casie opens up about raising her son as a single mom, navigating inconsistent co-parenting, and learning to release the expectations she once held for her home and her future.

Together, they explore what it means to parent through disappointment, support a child processing absence, and find strength through faith, community, and honest conversations. Casie also shares how scriptures like Philippians 4:6, journaling, and her growing openness to therapy help her navigate anxiety and healing.

This episode is a reminder that your story does not have to match society’s picture of a “perfect home” to be full of love, resilience, and grace.

💛 Key Themes

• Grieving the life or family you imagined
• Parenting through emotional complexity
• Faith as a grounding force
• Building and relying on your village
• Giving yourself permission to heal

✨ Connect with Casie Williams
🎙 Boss Gals Talking Tea — Instagram: @BossGalsTalkTea
🏈 Back to You Bob Sports Media — Instagram: @BackToYouBobSportsMedia

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast
Instagram + Facebook: @thegrievingjourneypodcast
📧 Share your story or inquire about being a guest: [email protected]

Tune in to hear Casie’s powerful journey and the hope she offers to anyone walking a similar path.

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In this deeply honest and tender episode, Angel Morel sits down once again with her friend Tianna Jones — wife, mom, licensed therapist, and grief survivor — for a raw conversation about navigating loss through the colder months and beyond. Tianna first shared her story of losing her mother to domestic violence, the same year Angel lost her mom to a heart attack. Now, she returns to share how grief has evolved for her as both a daughter and a therapist holding space for others.

Together, they unpack what it means to actually check in with yourself when you’re grieving, especially as winter, anniversaries, and birthdays collide. From crying behind a closed office door, to asking for help, to letting your “strong friend” just be human for a moment, Angel and Tianna offer a real look at what healing can look like when you give yourself permission to feel.

Tianna opens up about her own turning point in seeking therapy, how watching her mother grieve without support shaped her, and why finding the right therapist (or coach) matters. She also shares how working with children has softened the way she views tears, emotional release, and coping skills — and why her simple mantra, “one day at a time,” continues to ground her in seasons that feel heavy.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be reminded that you don’t have to be the strong one all the time — and that healing isn’t about rushing past your pain, but about honoring your heart one day at a time.

💛 Key Takeaways

• Grief often feels heavier in colder months and around anniversaries — and that’s normal.
• Checking in with yourself might look like crying, resting, taking a day off, or asking for support.
• Your “strong friend” needs real check-ins, not just a place to absorb everyone else’s emotions.
• The right therapist or coach will challenge you, not just agree with you.
• Taking life one day at a time helps calm anxiety about the future and keeps you present.

✨ Connect with Tianna Jones

🔎 Find her on Psychology Today: Search “Tianna Jones Psychology Today”
📱 Instagram: @thoughtsofme_therapy

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook: @thegrievingjourneypodcast
📧 Share your story or inquire about being a guest: [email protected]

Healing doesn’t mean you stop missing them — it means you keep moving forward, one day at a time.

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In this deeply honest and heartfelt episode, Angel Morel sits down with her friend and sister in Christ, Lanasia Angelina — life coach, business strategist, two-time author, and transformational speaker — for a raw conversation about grieving the life we thought we’d have.

Together, they unpack what it means to let go of expectations, timelines, and versions of life that didn’t go as planned — from relationships and friendships to career goals and personal dreams. Through laughter, tears, and truth, Angel and Lanasia show that two things can be true: you can love your life and still grieve the parts that look different than you imagined.

Lanasia shares how faith, positive self-talk, and gratitude have helped her find peace in the present moment. The two also open up about their own past struggles with suicidal thoughts and how therapy, prayer, and community became lifelines in their healing journeys.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be reminded that healing isn’t about “getting over it” — it’s about learning to see beauty in the life you have right now.

💛 Key Takeaways

• Two things can be true: acceptance and disappointment.
• Healing grows through community — you don’t have to do it alone.
• Start every day with gratitude to reframe your perspective.
• Faith isn’t about perfection; it’s about being honest with God.

✨ Connect with Lanasia Angelina

🌐 Website: www.lanasiaangelina.com

📩 Email: [email protected]

📱 Instagram / Facebook / TikTok: @LanasiaAngelina

🎧 Connect with The Grieving Journey Podcast

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📧 Share your story: [email protected]

Healing doesn’t mean forgetting — it means moving forward with faith.

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In this episode, I sit down with Stacey L. Anderson—a husband, father, Kappa man, community leader, and entrepreneur—to talk about grief, faith, and healing. Stacey opens up about experiencing multiple losses over the years, including his brother, father, grandmother, mother, and best friend. He shares how he used to go straight into work mode to hold everything together, and how therapy helped him finally slow down and process the pain.

We talk about the importance of finding the right therapist (especially for Black men of faith), learning to receive support the way we give it—“eat what you serve”—and staying grounded through prayer, journaling, and scripture. Stacey reminds us that while grief changes us, it also grows us. As he beautifully says, “You can go there, but you can’t stay there.”

Connect: IG/FB @TheGrievingJourneyPodcast · Share your story: [email protected]

Guest: Stacey L. Anderson — IG @AndersonGroupInc · Email: sland1911@gmail · LinkedIn: Stacey L. Anderson

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🎙 Welcome back to The Grieving Journey Podcast!

We’re kicking off Season 3 with a special episode honoring my mom on her birthday — the heart behind this entire journey. 💛

While this episode is short and sweet, my hope is that it reminds others that it’s okay to give yourself permission to talk to, celebrate, and honor your mom — or anyone you’re missing who is no longer here in the physical.

This season, we’re diving deeper — exploring all types of grief, from loss of loved ones to the loss of relationships, health, jobs, and identity. Each story will shed light on the many ways we experience loss and the strength it takes to heal.

This episode sets the tone for what’s ahead: honest conversations, healing moments, and stories that remind us we’re never alone in grief.

Stay tuned — the journey continues. 

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To share your story, email us at [email protected]

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As we wrap up season 2, we want to thank you all for tuning in and listening and sharing. We pray that the journeys that have been shared have helped you on your journey.

During this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking to someone who truly turned his pain into purpose. George Ackerman shared his journey of losing his mother to Parkinson's disease. Since becoming aware of her diagnosis, he has been bringing awareness to the disease in hopes for a cure. In speaking with George, we learned that he is passionate about using his voice to speak for those who may not be able to or who may not be heard. George is also a published author, podcast host, has earned a PhD, JD, and MBA.

To get in contact with George, his website is www.togetherforsharon.com . You can also follow him on IG @TogetherForSharon , Facebook at Together For Sharon and YouTube at Together For Sharon

Follow us on IG @TheGrievingJourneyPodcast and Facebook @TheGrievingJourneyPodcast 
To share your story, email us at [email protected]

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During this episode, Angel and Dr. Portia honor their dads who are no longer present on this earth. While their experiences with their dads were completely different, the stories can be relatable to many.

To all of the fathers, God fathers, and acting fathers, Happy Father's Day to you! We love you!

Follow us on IG @TheGrievingJourneyPodcast and Facebook @TheGrievingJourneyPodcast 
To share your story, email us at [email protected]