Are We There Yet?

Vanessa Fierstadt started a counseling practice called Kintsugi Grief Center that's near me in Pasadena, CA. I wanted to find out what drew her to work with people who are grieving and our conversati…

When I started to Interview Peter Rukavina for this episode, I had no idea we were going to be exploring such overarching questions about grief. The story of raising his daughter Olivia after her mot…

This episode took my breath away. Maddie McFadden lost her father Brad to cancer when she was fourteen and she has been through a lot in the four and a half years since then. From dealing with anxiet…

This conversation is extraordinary in many ways. Laura Aviva is the only person I've interviewed so far who has lost a sibling, and her story is not what I expected. Laura was 23 when her brother Mic…

Lynne Hughes is an exceptional example of someone who has tremendous strength and fortitude despite her traumatic childhood. Lynne lost both parents by age twelve and had to move in with extended fam…

Hope Edelman is my guest this week and I couldn't be more excited to share our conversation. Hope is the leading expert on historical loss for women who lost their mothers at a young age. She is the …

Charlotte Maya's memoir Sushi Tuesdays chronicles the many years she navigated her grief and that of her kids and stepkids after her husband Sam died by suicide. Charlotte unexpectedly found love aga…

This week I talk to author, screenwriter, essayist, and producer Emily Ziff Griffin about her latest project, her recent New Yorker essay, and her 2017 novel, all of which have something to do with h…

On this week's episode, I talk to Lauren Schneider, the clinical director of child and adolescent programs at Our House, the only grief support center in Los Angeles, serving the second-largest schoo…

This week health reporter and author Rachel Zimmerman shares her story of raising two young daughters after her high-achieving husband suddenly died. She had no preparation for how to deal with telli…

Parents, there's a bit of profanity in this one but it's a great episode. My friend Mark Lightcap was a young punk when his best friend and bandmate was diagnosed with cancer. Listening to Mark share…

"Kids make you better," Heather said, talking about how much she's learned from parenting her kids after their father died. Heather's husband died a year before the pandemic hit, so she was in surviv…

This week I'm talking to Austin Liston who entered parenthood fast when he started dating Chad, his now husband, who already had two kids. Then they decided to have more kids and ended up with four f…

In this episode I talk to the first of several professionals in the field of childhood and adolescent grief, Jana DeCristafaro from The Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon. Jana is also the host of Grie…

This week I talk to Kimberly about how she did her best to navigate her kids' grief, as well as her own, in the wake of her husband's death. Having lost her mother to cancer a few years earlier, Kimb…

In this episode, I talk to Nancy and Eric, a couple who didn't realize (or don't remember knowing) that they were in the same club when they met. The club of parent loss is one that no one asks to be…

In this episode, I interview my sixteen-year-old son, Skops, who has a lot to say on the subject of grief. He reminded me that I'm doing a show about adolescent grief, so I should have younger guests…

My close friend, Vivian (Trimble) Lewine died this month so I am dedicating this episode to her.

This interview with another close friend, Raequel London, was the most meaningful one, for me personall…

In this episode I talk with Trilby, a former schoolmate, about the aftermath of her mother's murder in 1980. We go into depth about how she tries to support students, as a teacher, when they are goin…

In this episode, I talk to Diane, whose father died on Veteran's Day, 1963, eleven days before the assassination of President Kennedy. Diane was born in the aftermath of World War ll so she is from a…