When I recorded this episode with Tessa and Ella Fortich in June, I didn't know it would be the last for a while, but it turned out to be the perfect season finale. My intention for this podcast has been to shed light on the experience of childhood and adolescent grief, and there's no better way to do that than to hear from kids and young adults themselves. Tessa and Ella Fortich set a great example by being open and honest about their feelings and what has helped them get through the last few months since their home was destroyed and Tessa's school was badly damaged. This conversation with two sisters, who are Altadena residents and grew up in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains that burned in the Eaton Fire in January 2025, is a powerful example of peers supporting one another through loss. I've seen this before at grief camps where kids who don't necessarily know each other very well benefit immensely from giving and receiving support. It's even more profound when siblings can do this, which is not always easy. But it was very clear from the start that Ella and Tessa have immense respect and compassion for each other. You can't see it in this audio-only interview, but they kept reaching for each other throughout the conversation, helping each other to articulate feelings and wade through their memories of January 7 and 8th. It was a great honor to interview them and to devote this mini-season to the 2025 Eaton Fire, which affected so many Altadena and Pasadena residents.

Stay tuned for the next season! The theme and timing of which is yet to be determined.

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Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

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This highly informative episode focuses on how the trauma of fire loss, specifically the Eaton Fire, is affecting children and their parents, and how parents can help their kids manage. (I apologize for the unbalanced quality of this recording, which didn't manage to accommodate the low tones of Michelle's voice very well, and makes my voice louder.) I loved talking to Michelle because she's so knowledgeable about how to help kids manage after a traumatic experience or other stressful life events. She emphasizes the importance of parents taking care of themselves so they have the emotional stability and regulation to support their children. After a trauma, it's important to have the mental flexibility to be attuned to the different needs of different children, which can be a huge challenge when everyone is stressed. Just like when a death occurs, many parents worry about their kids without realizing that their own grief and stress are affecting the kids. And the kids will often downplay or repress their emotions because they don't want to add to their parents' stress. With compassion, Michelle emphasizes the importance of parents recognizing their own needs and taking care of themselves first, and then addressing their kids' emotional needs, while acknowledging that it's hard and no one is going to do anything perfectly under these circumstances.

Michelle is also a mother of three teens, and her family lived right next to Eaton Canyon until the fires burned their neighborhood. While grateful that her home survived, Michelle's family is still displaced, so she also has firsthand experience with the trauma of the fires on her own life.

If you would like to reach out to Michelle, you can find her website here: https://www.synapse-soul-therapy.com/

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

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I always enjoy interviewing men because they tend to have a slightly different attitude about trauma and loss. Falcon and his family of four left their home up in the foothills of Altadena late on January 7 when the smoke was already thick and big embers were violently flying through the air. Their home didn't burn, but they could never go back because of the extensive damage and their landlord's decision to sell.

Falcon is a TK/Kindergarten teacher, so he understands child development and has valuable insights to share. But on January 7th, he was in survival mode. He didn't think about the effects on his kids of leaving their home in the middle of the night, not knowing if they'd ever come back again.

We talked about the gamut of losses, including our favorite hiking trails and the beauty and former vitality of the Altadena community. We all know Altadena will come back, but it will be different, and it will be a long time before people rebuild, and schools and businesses reopen. We had a great discussion about resilience and watching the students of Elliot Arts, whose school burned down, perform Shrek at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. It was an incredible experience to see the community come together to support kids who lost their school, and many of whom also lost homes.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I speak with two parents who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. Daryl and Jessica both teach in the community, so I was eager to find out how they see the kids in our area recovering from the destruction of their homes, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. They shared their unique experience of discovering their house was gone and processing the shock of seeing so many houses destroyed overnight. But they consider themselves lucky and are optimistic about what the future holds for their beloved Altadena. At the same time, they both expressed deep sadness over what has been lost and the many families for whom rebuilding may prove to be too challenging to pull off.

I was especially interested to hear how Jessica and Daryl's different schools rose to the occasion and managed to support the kids and families who were directly affected by the fires. Jessica teaches in Pasadena Unified School District, and Daryl is in neighboring La Canada, an affluent district just west of Altadena. I was very happy to hear that, as teachers, they felt supported and were impressed by how well their communities and schools worked together to support everyone who needed it.

We talked about the importance of working together to rebuild Altadena with special attention to community members who were residents long before it became a hot real estate market and are struggling to afford to rebuild. We mentioned a project called, "Voices From The Ground," organized by @altagether91001 (Instagram) and supported by My Tribe Rise and the NAACP Pasadena.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack receive bi-weekly episodes, and an occasional newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Staci Mitchell has lived in Altadena all her life, but in this conversation she explains that it wasn't until the media coverage of the recent fires that she understood she and her family are at the center of the historic Black community there. Staci is a semi-retired professor of Pan-African Studies at CalState LA, as well as a playwright, yoga instructor, and all-around creative force. She talks about her and her husband's ancestors who came to Altadena during the Great Migration and how many of their extended family and their children still live in the area. So when Staci lost her home, many of her family members were also displaced. But she was quickly reminded of just how resilient her community is and how supported it has been by the larger Black community, as well as the global human community, who showed up with tangible support and action.

We talked about her teenage son's reaction to the fires and how she navigated supporting him as well as herself and her whole family. I was struck by Staci's responses to the fires: The way she stayed calm as the fires raged and focused on figuring out what's next, once she understood her house was gone. Everyone responds to trauma and loss differently, but I loved Staci's immediate focus on recovery, centering, and healing.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a slight pivot from this season on the wildfires in Los Angeles because I felt I needed to do something in response to the protests and injustices happening right now. I had no idea when I interviewed Ed Robinson this morning that I would be staying up late to publish it tonight, but I found him so insightful and very helpful in this moment. Ed and I connected over podcasting and a mutual interest in grief, but Ed is a lifelong community organizer who has lived in L.A. all his life and was around during the Watts riots of 1965 and the protests after the acquittal of four police officers who were caught on video beating Rodney King in 1992. The protests right now are very different: They are largely peaceful and ongoing in reaction to the continued violence committed by law enforcement on the protesters and the abductions and detentions by ICE that are tearing families apart. But it's useful to look back on these previous historical turning points to understand what's happening today and to listen to elders like Ed, who has lived through them and helped his community respond. When I asked Ed how he was personally dealing with what's going on he said, "I wake up every morning asking myself who I can help today." When we all do that, we can prevail over the hate and senseless violence being done to our communities.

Ed mentioned the Compton Initiative, which you can learn more about at JustDoGood.Org

Ed has worn many hats including hosting a public access cable TV show, being a pastor at two different churches in Compton, being a podcaster, and most recently becoming a life coach. You can find Ed on Instagram @connectwithed. I also recommend his podcast @deependwithed.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

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I'm so pleased to be able to share this deeply moving interview with Erin O'Toole-Delawari, a teacher and mother of four who lost her home in January when the Eaton Fire tore through her neighborhood. Erin is so thoughtful in her explanation of what happened to her and her family, their trauma responses, and her understanding of those responses now. It's an incredible story of what happens in a natural disaster and how Erin, as a mother and a teacher, carried the responsibility of caring for children and pets in a moment of having no control over what's happening. She talks about going back in the morning while Altadena was still burning, and how they could feel the heat from inside their car, and what it was like to see their home as it smoldered after it burned down. We often hear the word "indescribable" when people talk about grief, but Erin does an amazing job of telling this story in a way that makes me feel I was there. I was also deeply moved by how Erin talked to her students, all of whom were traumatized, about what they all went through.

Listening to Erin was very healing for me, as someone who lives close to Altadena and has felt a lot of that communal grief in the months since the fires. I felt validated by the way she described what she did as they were evacuating. It gives me some insight into my planning around such terrible events.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is an interview with my brother and sister-in-law, Jen and Ted Muller, who lived through the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history. Ted was working in Paradise, CA, as an ER doctor when the fire broke out, and he narrowly escaped. Meanwhile, Jen was an hour and a half away, knowing Ted was in danger, but with no way to contact him. I wanted to ask them about this harrowing experience and how they explained it to their three kids, who were still pretty young. Jen and Ted returned to Paradise to help the community in the aftermath of the fire and saw firsthand the beauty of a community coming together in the face of a horrible disaster. I loved hearing them talk about how they found support and when they needed it, and were able to support others once the fires were out.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season Three, a shorter season devoted to exploring how families and kids respond to the grief associated with fire losses. Laurel Braitman is the best-selling author of Animal Madness and What Looks Like Bravery, the latter of which is a memoir about losing her father when she was a teen, then her family home in a fire when she was an adult, and soon after that, her mother to cancer. Laurel knows a lot about adolescent grief and fire loss, so I knew she'd be a great guest to kick off this season devoted to the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. Laurel shares deeply about the loss of her father and how her coping mechanisms of striving for excellence in all things didn't end up serving her very well as she matured. Losing the family ranch in a wildfire brought some things into focus, and she was able to support her mother at the end of her mother's life. I learned a lot from this conversation about how such different types of losses were inextricably linked in Laurel's life. Being a writer, she's articulate and insightful about the various strands of grief and how they've become part of her story.

To hear another interview with Laurel about fire loss, I recommend her interview on rebuilding after fire with Slate's, "How To" podcast.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

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I recorded this episode with Benji Gabler in October 2024 which seems like a lifetime ago. I had planned to publish it in January and then the fires happened and I shifted gears to try to address the losses of my community. But once I finished season 2 I still wanted to publish this episode with Benji, which is a beautiful conversation about fatherhood as it relates to early loss, something I haven't had an opportunity to address before. Benji lives in Isreal which added another layer of interest for me as I have always admired Jewish traditions around death and mourning. Being a therapist, Benji brought a lot of self-awareness and depth to this conversation and our views on parenting and grief were remarkably in sync. I loved how Benji was able to hold a lot of sadness along with gratitude for the loss of his father when he was just six years old and the way he was supported by his community growing up.

If you'd like to learn more about Benji please visit his website https://www.bsgpsychotherapy.com

I will be taking a break from the podcast while I work on a mini-season devoted to fire loss and its effects on families and kids. 

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

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For this last episode, I spoke with AJ Johnson about the early loss of her mother when she was 16, as well as how she's navigating the collective grief we're all experiencing here in LA. AJ is a hilarious person, and I was giggling throughout the interview despite the heaviness of this moment in our city. I met AJ at Comfort Zone Camp, so we talked about camp and the tools it has given her to manage her grief from adolescence into adulthood and how she's using those tools now. I especially love how she talks about asking for what you need, which is something I've been learning ever since the wildfires overwhelmed LA a few weeks ago. But AJ had many other anecdotes to share about what she's learned about her grief and how to ask for what she needs.

I apologize for the lack of editing on this last episode as my editing platform just stopped working for some unknown reason. So, this is an unedited recording of an awesome conversation. I don't think there is too much I would have taken out other than annoying background sounds, but I would have done that if I could.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Because I live very close to Altadena in Los Angeles and because of the fires that raged through here two weeks ago, I decided to pivot and record an episode with two people I love about how they're doing after losing their home in the Eaton Fire. This is all very fresh for them (and for me) and I only had a day to edit so the episode is longer and more raw than usual. But it is already one of the most powerful episodes I've done because my guests were so great, so honest, and real, and it's such new territory for all of us. I'm just beginning to grasp the magnitude of the collective grief surrounding me.

Bella and Cataline Bilandzija grew up in Altadena and lived in a lovely home that was constantly changing. They were used to their parents, Jessica and Daryl, always renovating and doing the work themselves. Even the gardens were continually shifting and evolving to meet their desires. But no one was ready for it all to disappear in an enormous fire that took out entire blocks of houses and businesses, leaving the wonderful area called Altadena forever changed. Bella and Catalina were both away at their respective colleges having just returned to school after winter break when the fires happened. I was curious how they were processing the loss of their beloved childhood home from afar. Death is often hard to conceive of, and what I've learned is that losing a home is very much like a death loss. Homes become a part of us, like members of the family, and fires take all the belongings that help us feel comfortable in a new home. It is an enormous loss that will likely stay with Bella and Catalina for the rest of their lives.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode with Steve Pomerantz dives into why volunteering at Comfort Zone Camp is so rewarding. When I met Steve at CZC, he struck me as a bright light I wanted to get to know better. Steve brings so much energy and enthusiasm to camp that he epitomizes the joy and fun we have at CZC and why kids get so much out of it. Because Steve has volunteered at CZC for so many years, he has seen a broad range of grieving kids and was able to share his insights on the differences between different ages and how kids who return year after year continue to benefit from the experience. Steve also owns a funeral home called Gentle Water specializing in water cremation, which I had never heard of before. So if you're curious about Comfort Zone, volunteering, or environmentally friendly options for cremation and burial, you won't want to miss this episode.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I recorded this episode with my eldest sister Kate last spring but it took some time to edit and release it. Listening to Kate talk about the loss of our mother highlighted for me how completely different our experiences were, largely due to our seven-year age difference but also our attitudes and views on grief, and because she moved to New Zealand and I moved to California when we were both fairly young. Because of these differences and distances, my sister Kate and I have had very few discussions about losing our mother, so this conversation brought up a lot of old feelings. I have a particular idea of grief, which entails processing various feelings over time and eventually forging or cultivating a relationship with the person who died, either through memories, a spiritual connection, or both. But there are certainly many other ways that people view and experience grief that are less about feelings and making conscious decisions about it. It's always good for me to expand my views of how people think about their grief, and this episode did that. I particularly appreciated Kate's perspective on mourning, having lived in New Zealand for most of her life.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claudia and Olivia Biggs lived through a very difficult and at times hellish period when their mother suddenly became seriously mentally ill. They were in middle and high school when it happened so their father John was caring for all three of them for several years. (I interviewed John Biggs earlier in the season and I recommend listening to his episode too because he tells a more chronological story of what happened over that period.) Their Dad was upset and overtaxed and struggled to support the kids emotionally while dealing with the pressure of all his responsibilities.

I find it really informative to hear the kids' perspective as well as the parent's and hear how different their experiences and memories are of the situation they all lived through. The grief of losing a family member to illness is a common theme on this show, but this episode really illustrates the trauma of losing a parent to illness and then death, because their mother was not able to parent them at all while she was ill. Mental illness adds another level of difficulty because the American medical system is much less well-funded when it comes to caring for people with serious mental illness and is so stigmatized that the community of family and friends tends to pull away rather than step up. I found this conversation deeply impactful and truly expanded my ideas about trauma and loss in young people. Like my own family, the Biggs are a family of artists and it was fascinating to hear how their creative work was part of the story.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack to receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I speak with the wonderful Ari Jalomo, a student at Kenyan College currently studying abroad in Spain. Ari and I met at Comfort Zone Camp this past summer, where she was participating in the young adults group and I was volunteering as the group's "mentor." I was so impressed by Ari, as a great example of someone who has clearly benefited from going to CZC over many years and having the opportunity to talk about her loss multiple times. Ari's father died by homicide when she was seven years old, and even at a young age Ari advocated for herself and requested a camp "Big Buddy" who had experienced a similar loss. She is very clear about how she was able to process the loss of her father over many years, as she was growing up, and how it developed and changed. Ari is incredibly articulate about the resources she was given as a child, the adults who supported her, and aware of where she is in the long arc of childhood grief. I love talking to someone who understands her grief from living it and examining it over many years. As a parent, I know I would be very encouraged to have a child who is as comfortable talking about their grief as Ari.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack where you will receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doneila McIntosh, M.Div., M.A. is a researcher getting her PhD in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota. Her work as a therapist focuses on compassionate grief therapy, helping families navigate the intersection of grief and trauma. Her research is focused on disenfranchised grief among African American families particularly in the aftermath of violent death.

It was amazing to talk to someone so knowledgeable about the disproportionate amount of death and loss in Black communities and studies the effects of that on families. Doneila works with families and prefers to think about grief in the context of the family system, rather than looking at each individual. We talked a lot about the difference between childhood and adult grief and how the grief of Black American families is largely disenfranchised, meaning it is often dismissed without being attended to or acknowledged. This is often true of childhood grief so Black children and teens are twice ignored by society and their expressions of grief are often policed and controlled. Because of the prevalence of Black death, Black children are four times more likely to have a major loss in childhood, and many experience multiple losses which can lead to desensitization and disassociation. We talked about the particular challenges that Black children face when it comes to grief and trauma and how adults in their communities can best support them.

We talk about Doneila's appearance on another podcast, "Grief Out Loud," which you can listen to here. This is a great resource about the importance of literacy around the magnitude of Black death and grief.

We also spoke about two books: In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe and Passed On by Karla FC Holloway

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack where you will receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gina Troisi's Memoir The Angle of Flickering Light is a beautiful account of her confusing and often scary childhood through the eyes of her younger self. I was immediately drawn in by this book and Gina's ability to write so precisely from the perspective of a child about the complexity of her father's and stepmother's emotional abuse, which led to her having eating disorders at a young age, doing too many drugs, and other self-destructive habits.

What surprised me most about Gina's story was how much I related to it even though our childhoods were radically different. Gina did not have a loss due to death but her parent's divorce and her father's abusive behavior resulted in her having symptoms of PTSD at a young age and receiving very little support. We ended up talking a lot about writing about trauma, but also the way parents in the '70s and '80s expected kids to magically get along in blended families. Without much support, kids were (and still are) often expected to negotiate complex relationships with step-parents and stepsiblings at a young age.

I highly recommend Gina's book which you can find on her website.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack where you will receive bi-weekly episodes and occasionally a newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hailey is another amazing young adult who I met through Comfort Zone Camp. Hailey has been through a lot of turmoil in her life and she is just an amazing example of resiliency and learning to cope with the fallout of the losses she has experienced. While Hailey was in high school, two of her siblings died within the span of two years. Life at home was hard and her main sources of support were her best friend and a school psychologist who inspired her to become a school counselor.

Hailey's brother Dillon died by suicide when Hailey was a freshman and he was a senior at the same high school. The school's policies made it harder for her in the aftermath of her brother's death because they didn't want to "glorify" his death and forbid anyone, including teachers, from talking about it. Hailey points out that this policy only magnified the stigma around suicide and encouraged a lot of misinformation and gossip which was hurtful to her and her family. When her brother Sean died of an accidental overdose two years later, Hailey was a senior and Sean was in his twenties so she didn't tell anyone, wanting to avoid the same kind of gossip that the school engaged in previously. Both situations resulted in exacerbating the isolation and alienation that Hailey was already feeling in the wake of her brothers' deaths.

Hailey also talks about how she coped growing up in a household with substance abuse and how those coping mechanisms that helped her survive in childhood, were not healthy for her as she grew up. It took a lot of work for her to unlearn her mind's reflex to disassociate but when she did, her other trauma symptoms of flashbacks and nightmares improved. Hailey shares how she deals with her symptoms and the strategies she has learned to take care of herself and enjoy life.

At the beginning, I mentioned Comfort Zone Camp which I highly recommend for anyone who has dealt with the loss of a parent or other important family member early in life. They have free, weekend-long camps for kids, teens, and young adults. And if you are older and curious about the camp, I recommend looking into volunteering. I have done it three times now and will continue as long as possible.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack where you will receive bi-weekly episodes and a bi-weekly newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we delve deep into the research and practical experience of Dr. Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP, a leading psychologist in the field of childhood grief and trauma. It is always gratifying to learn that the research aligns with what I've learned by interviewing people who lost a family member at a young age. Early in her career, she began to differentiate between grief and trauma while also recognizing the ways they overlap, particularly in children. She shares why it's important to understand the difference between PTSD symptoms and grief responses in kids and how she treats them differently. We talked about the important role parents play in the aftermath of a death, as well as the importance of other community members, including teachers, friends, and relatives, to understand the peculiarities of childhood grief. All of this aligns perfectly with the purpose of this show: To help everyone understand what grieving kids need, and the long-term effects of early loss.

If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Kaplow you can find more information here.

I mentioned Comfort Zone Camp which I highly recommend for anyone who has dealt with the loss of a parent or other important family member early in life. They have free, weekend-long camps for kids, teens, and young adults. And if you are older and curious about the camp, I recommend looking into volunteering. I have done it twice and will continue as long as possible because I find volunteering so beneficial.

If you would like to support this show, please subscribe to my Substack where you will receive bi-weekly episodes and a bi-weekly newsletter in your inbox. You can also support the show monetarily by becoming a paid subscriber there.

Special thanks to Josephine Wiggs for the song "Time Does Not Bring Relief" from her album "We Fall."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.