The Widowed Mom Podcast

18 months ago, Helen Tanner was widowed after her husband Philip died unexpectedly following a short illness. In this episode, Helen shares her raw experience of becoming a widow at 43 years old, and how she’s navigating her grief as a doctor and mother of two.

Hear how Helen’s medical training left her ill-equipped to handle her grief, how she has helped her young boys process their anger and sadness in healthy ways, and the unexpected gifts that have emerged since her husband passed.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/276

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

One of the most essential ingredients to loving life again, yet one of the least talked about, is your belief in your inherent worthiness. Even if it’s unconscious, if you don’t believe you’re worthy of loving life again, you will keep repelling it.

Learn how your long-held limiting beliefs may be blocking your path forward and how to cultivate a deep knowing that your worth is fully intact.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/275

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

Hugo’s death happened in such a way that, within a matter of hours, the rug had been ripped right out from underneath me, and he was gone. While you might not have the same story, I know that sense of powerlessness is a shared experience, no matter how your person died.

Learn why the desire for control and power is normal, examples of how this might be manifesting in your life, and how to make peace with the feeling of powerlessness.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/274

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

Losing a loved one leaves us feeling like we’re at the effect of circumstances in life we didn’t and would never ask for. While we can’t change the significant loss we experience in grief, we can intentionally choose our internal experience of how we respond to life.

Learn why choosing helpful thoughts in grief matters, how the intentional thoughts you choose can shape your grief experience, and a list of helpful thoughts I encourage you to borrow.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/273

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

How do you allow yourself space to grieve without fighting your feelings? This is something my Mom Goes On client, Berit Van Neste, had to learn when she lost her husband, Roy, to dementia and began slowly putting the pieces of her life back together.

Berit shares her journey through love, loss, and finding herself again, and the surprising lessons she’s learned about navigating grief.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/272

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

I get mad when people suggest false binaries in the dating experience of widows, especially when they haven’t been through this experience themselves. Wouldn’t it be nice if dating again as a widow was cut and dry, and not complicated, messy, or an emotional rollercoaster?

I give you permission to embrace the 'and' in dating and offer 20 examples of how the 'and' in dating again as a widow helps you make space for the human experience you're having.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/271

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

Every single day, I work with widows who are creating post-traumatic growth and don’t even realize it because the changes they’re undergoing don’t feel big enough.

It’s time to expand what we consider post-traumatic growth. Learn what post-traumatic growth in the small things could look like for you and how you might already be showing up with courage and bravery in the little things.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/270

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

I have coached widows who are struggling with their in-laws countless times. It’s an experience that’s extremely common, and while these situations are far from pleasant, there are also many opportunities here for you to cultivate more freedom, self-trust, and self-validation.

I give you 10 strategies that will help you maintain perspective as you navigate what might be a challenging relationship with your in-laws.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/269

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

My client, KC Morris, has accomplished a lot since her husband’s passing, but she felt there was more to life than just keeping her household together, staying on top of her career, and being a mom.

KC decided to take a leap of faith and push herself towards the full, rich, vibrant life that she knew was available to her, and she’s here today to share her experience of navigating early grief and wearing all the hats as a widowed mom.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/268

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026

I love the possibilities that post-traumatic growth gives us in grief, but while growth is always available to us, it is far from a “should.”

Whether you’re explicitly telling yourself that you should be growing from your grief, or your “should” is showing up in disguise, join me this week as I show you why you shouldn’t grow from grief unless you want to, and alternative ways to start seeing your grief experience.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/267

Mentioned in this episode:

A Widow’s Guide to a Happier Holiday Season

Navigating the holidays after losing your loved one doesn't have to mean just gritting your teeth and surviving. Join Happier Holidays, a free 3-day online event for widows from November 10th through 12th, to learn practical tools for managing difficult emotions, releasing guilt, and taking control of your holiday season.

Happier Holidays 2026