Let's Talk Death! ... a HealGrief® program: Recent Episodes
Various Guest Speakers
Let’s Talk Death is a series of conversations created to normalize, educate and demystify the taboo around death, dying and the journey of grief. Let’s Talk Death is brought to you by HealGrief, a non-profit providing the tools and resources to support one's journey with grief. We seek to empower individuals to achieve a healthy post bereavement growth. Everything we do is inspired by our core belief that no one should ever grieve alone.
In this episode, Raymond shares how his interest in the afterlife began. The afterlife was very counterintuitive to his way of thinking. Yet today, he can't think his way out of it.
Raymond Moody is an MD with a Ph.D. in philosophy focused on unintelligibility.
Raymond, founder of the Life After Life Institute in 1975, coined the term near-death experience. Today, he is a world-renowned scholar, lecturer, and researcher, widely recognized as the leading authority on near-death and shared-death experiences. Dr. Moody's work profoundly illuminates our understanding of death, dying, and grief.
Raymond is the bestselling author of many books, including Life After Life, Glimpses of Eternity, The Light Beyond, and Coming Back, and is co-author of Proof of Life after Life: 7 Reasons to Believe in an Afterlife.
A counselor in private practice, Raymond received his medical degree from the College of Georgia and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He has appeared on many programs, including Today and Turning Point.
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In this episode, Paul is asked, when, during your research in the afterlife, did you become a believer? Paul recalls a particular woman whose experience led him to believe her consciousness truly did leave her body.
Paul Perry is an author and documentary filmmaker intending to make media that matters. He has co-written several New York Times bestsellers, including The Light Beyond and Evidence of the Afterlife. He was knighted in Portugal for his film and book about Salvador Dalí, and the secret painting that changed his Life.
His latest books, Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One’s Passage from This Life to the Next, Paranormal: My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife, and Proof of Life after Life: 7 Reasons to Believe in an Afterlifeare the most recent books he has co-written with Dr. Raymond Moody, the founder of near-death studies.
Paul is a graduate of Arizona State University and Antioch University.
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In this episode, Francesca shares how love, compassion, and intuition drew her to lean into a loved one's end of life as they transition to death and how that was the seed to becoming a death doula.
Francesca Lynn Arnoldy is a community doula and death literacy advocate. She is aresearcher with the Vermont Conversation Lab and was the original course developer of the University of Vermont's End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate Programs.
Francesca authored Cultivating the Doula Heart, Map of Memory Lane, and The Death Doula's Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared.
A trusted thought leader, Francesca has been featured in articles by The New York Times, Fast Company, Newsweek, The Verge, and AARP. She regularly presents on life-and-death topics, hoping to encourage people to support one another through times of intensity.
You can find her contemplating birth, death, and life with the doula heart at FrancescaLynnArnoldy.com.
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In this episode, Oshri shares how his grief connected him to a life-long friend he never met and how they coauthored When Their Bodies Leave Them.
Oshri Hakik is an author, artist, and musician based in Los Angeles, CA, who creates to uplift. He especially loves creating illustrated books about unconventional topics for children and grown-ups to help people live more adaptive and happy lives.
Recently, Oshri coauthored an illustrated book about grief called When Their Bodies Leave Them.
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In this episode, Scott recalls the words of a hospice nurse caring for his father. During his end of life, she said, "Your father is on a wonderful adventure." That moment was so profound, it changed the trajectory of his life.
After nearly forty years as a high-profile trial attorney, Scott Grossberg shifted his focus to helping people create fearless and sacred lifestyles. His mission is to guide individuals in reconnecting with their boundless confidence, creativity, love, and excitement.
Drawing inspiration from various spiritual and shamanic traditions, Scott's work as a coach, trainer, and instructor is grounded in practicality, straightforwardness, and time-tested principles.
In addition to his coaching and consulting work, Scott is an author and content creator, focusing on topics such as life enrichment, mysticism, and divination. Scott's new book, "the unfinished book: a journal for the end of the journey" (and perhaps for those whose road still seems endless), is available now on Amazon.
Scott has a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a minor in Theatre Arts, and a juris doctorate in Law. He holds certifications in life coaching, consulting hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Ho'oponopono.
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In this episode, Michele shares how difficult it was to find others who understand her grief as a newly bereaved widow, how she lost her sense of self, and the challenges she faced finding her new self.
Michele is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Soaring Spirits International, a non-profit organization providing peer support programming for widowed people worldwide, and is the author of Different After You: Rediscovering Yourself and Healing after Grief or Traumapublished by New World Library in February of 2022. Her passion for supporting widowed people and the power of integration fuels her presentations and community activism.
Michele has received local, state, and national recognition for her work in founding Soaring Spirits, including a letter of recognition from then Vice President Joe Biden. In addition, Michele was named a 2021 Top Ten CNN Hero and was honored to share the stage with Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter.
Michele’s work is featured in an upcoming AppleTV docuseries and will be the focus of a PBS documentary available for streaming in 2023.
Michele resides in Simi Valley, California, and shares her life with her three amazing kids, their awesome partners, her grand-cats, and one very Australian husband.
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In this episode, Amanda shares how, as a teenager, art became her way of coping. Yet it was only later in the years that she realized it and developed it into a tool of expression.
After losing her father at the age of twelve, Amanda turned to art and writing as an outlet. It became her voice. A way to cope. A way to escape. And a way to tell her story. She was thus inspired to teach art and pursue her passion for writing and illustrating children's books.
Today, Amanda Davis is a teacher, artist, writer, and innovator who uses her words and pictures to light up the world with kindness.
Through her work, Amanda empowers younger generations to tell their stories and offers children and adults an entryway into a world of discovery. A world that can help them make sense of themselves, others, and the community around them.
Amanda is the author of the award-winning picture book 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag. She is a recipient of the Ann Whitford Paul—Writer's Digest Most Promising Picture Book Manuscript Grant.
When she's not busy creating, you can find her sipping tea, petting dogs, and exploring the natural wonders of The Bay State with her family and her rescue pup.
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In this episode, Colin brings us back in time to the tragic day when his two children died in a car accident after being hit by a drunk driver. He shares how instrumental community was and continues to be in his journey to live life.
Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. The short film, Seraglio, which he wrote and directed with his beautiful and talented wife, Gail, was nominated for an Academy Award. Campbell teaches screenwriting at Chapman University and theater at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Columbia University.
Yet, for this episode, Colin comes to us as a bereaved father. Colin and his wife were in a car accident with a drunk driver and lost their teenage children.
Years after, Colin has written a beautiful and helpful book from the ashes of that profound loss titled, Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose. In addition, he is developing a solo performance piece titled Grief: A One Man Shit-Show.
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In this episode, Alexandra shares how as a writer, she had no words to express the grief she experienced after her husband's death. Yet today, she looks back and finds the beauty and love her experience brought to her "new self."
Alexandra Vassilaros is a Pulitzer Finalist, Playwright, Mother, and Founder. Alexandra's work in the theater is extensive. Her plays were commissioned and premiered at American theatres On and Off-Broadway, as well as in featured international festivals. She was the winner of a Jefferson Award for Best New Play at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and was a co-finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play Omnium Gatherum. In addition, she's been a guest artist at premier theater institutions such as Juilliard and New York University.
In 2016, one year after the passing of her husband of 23 years, Alexandra pivoted from writing for the theater and founded the Make Meaning Workshop.
Alexandra continues to develop her work with hundreds of women, men, and young adults facing the challenges that loss, crisis, and change inevitably bring.
She is the mother of 3 wonderful young men.
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In this episode, Marni, a lawyer responsible for her mother's advanced directives, shared her emotional block around completing paperwork that had to do with her mother's death.
Marni Blank is a trained death doula, mediator, lawyer, and female-founded small business owner.
Marni's goal is to create a safe space to learn and talk about death, dying & grief, including one's accountability in completing advance care directives & end-of-life planning, creating legacy projects, and helping with pre and post-death logistics. She brings deep compassion, active listening, practical resources, and a healthy dose of humor to her work.
Death and grief affect us all. The more we connect with our families, communities, and ourselves, the less fear plays into these critical discussions and decisions.
She has written articles for Trust & Will and Lantern.
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In this episode, Daniel shares his experience about his time spent with his dying mother. During her last year, he spent hours with her weaving together the life stories of his parents.
Daniel Kenner holds a Master's in Educational Theatre from NYU and a BA in Theater from George Washington University and is a proud member of Actor's Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and National Players Tour 60.
In the Spring of 2017, and within a month of each other, Daniel became an orphan after both parents died. However, they left behind their legacy, Daniel, who spent hours with his mother during her last year weaving together their life stories. Room for Grace is a love story of family and community told by a mother through her son, detailing the 60 years of a life well lived.
In the spring of 2022, Daniel facilitated a five-week storytelling residency that utilized the power of storytelling as a processing tool to cope with the demanding stress of caregiving.
Through Daniel's experience, he's created art-based research projects titled, Tuning In, A Window at the Moment, and Branching Out.
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In this episode, Matthew shares the story of his mother's long journey with addiction to medically prescribed opioids and the trauma and the relief of her death.
Matthew Kennedy is a self-taught ceramic artist whose professional career has spanned more than 25 years. Matthew set himself apart from others as one of the first who began using a tattoo machine as a carving tool on ceramics. Today his artwork is featured in many offline & online galleries.
Matthew says he has a mission to serve people with his creative ability. He helps memorialize loved ones by giving them a special, unique resting place with his one-of-a-kind urns.
Custom Military Urns
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In this episode, Dean shares memories of his time with his son, hours before his son 's suicide. Dean shares his experiencing finding his son's body and the blessing he found in the tragedy.
Dean Lambert has worked with funeral professionals for nearly 30 years to help them connect and serve the families facing one of the most challenging moments of their lives: the loss of a loved one.
As a father who has experienced the loss of a child, he knows firsthand the grief that clouds the vision needed to honor a life well-lived.
Dean is leading the Love Always Project with a team of experienced subject matter experts and people committed to its purpose: encouraging people to think more positively and proactively about end-of-life issues and funeral prearrangement.
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In this episode, Zander shares how going through his father's photos created a new relationship with his father, almost a co-dependency. For Zander to tell his father's legacy, he needs his father's photographs. And his father needs Zander to share his story.
Zander Masser is an occupational therapist, husband, father, musician, and author of the narrative photography book Unburying My Father.
Zander's father, Randy, contracted HIV from contaminated blood products to treat his hemophilia and died in 2000 from AIDS-related illnesses. Zander, at the time, a young fourteen-year-old boy.
Twenty years later, Zander unburied ten thousand slides from Randy's career as a professional photographer, which prompted him to dig deeper into his father's life. What started as a photography project evolved into a transformative exploration of living with, and healing from, grief.
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In this episode, John speaks about his personal story and how writing his book led to many conversations with others who shared similar experiences about one's conflict over assisted suicide.
John Byrne Barry is a writer, designer, actor, pickle ballplayer, and crossing guard. He is the author of When I Killed My Father: An Assisted-Suicide Family Thriller, which is fiction but is informed and inspired by his family's journey with their mother, who died in 2018 after ten years of dementia.
When I Killed My Father, his third novel, is a "page-turner with a conscience" about a man caught between what is compassionate and what is legal. First, psychologist Lamar Rose's father, who has cancer and dementia, asks his son to help him die. Lamar refuses, but his father keeps asking, and he relents. Then, at his father's memorial, Lamar's sister accuses him of murder from the church's pulpit.
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In this episode, Karen shares her journey following the overdose that led to her son's death and how it transformed her own path to growth and spirituality.
Judge Johnson is a Georgetown Law Center (J.D.) graduate, a former Fulbright Scholar in Afghanistan, and holds master’s degrees in public health and Public and International Affairs (MPH, MPIA). Karen is a retired federal administrative law judge who has practiced criminal and energy law for more than 30 years. She also is a former U.S. Army officer, Major, USAR.
Karen is also a grieving parent of a son, forever 27 years old, who is now trained extensively in the techniques of Illumination, Soul Retrieval, Extractions of Energies and Entities, Divination, and Death Rites. Personally trained by Alberto Villoldo, Karen is faculty at the Four Winds Society and a Master Practitioner of Energy Medicine, and the author of Living Grieving: Using Energy Medicine to Alchemize Grief and Loss.Karen writes, *“You may be feeling stuck in your grief and wondering why you can’t seem to get over it. I felt the same way until I realized we do not get over grief. It’s not like catching the flu; we aren’t sick. There is no cure, and we can’t medicate it away. Instead, grief is a state of being that carries energy that you can tap into to create a new life. Just as we use the energy of other newly acquired states of being like marriage or parenthood to transform our lives, we can likewise use the energy of grieving to transform.”
You can learn more about Karen here*.
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In this episode, Robert shares how his personal grief experience led him to write a guide that helps others navigate through the steps necessary after someone has died.
Robert Kabacy has been a lawyer in the estate planning and wealth transfer industries for more than twenty-five years.
After his mother's death, he experienced firsthand the difficulties of navigating the legal complexities of her estate and doing so while grieving. As a result, he wrote and developed About Me: Information You Will Need When I've Passed.
Robert enjoys reading, stage/parlor magic, outdoor activities, and swims almost daily in his spare time.
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In this episode, Scott shares his grief and how, through his experience, he hopes to offer comfort to the unanswered questions grieving parents often face.
Scott Huffaker is a diverse businessman who is an entrepreneur, banker, investor, and musician. Born out of the death of his son, Scott is also an author of his newly published book, Lost Arrows: Coping with the Death of a Child.
Scott considers himself an ordinary guy who has had some extraordinary experiences that have allowed him the insight he shares to questions such as, why do I feel so alone? How long will I be broken? Will I ever be myself again? to name a few.
Scott, his wife Tammy, and two youngest children live on the Gulf Coast. He is the father of six children and three dogs.
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In this episode, Michelle shares her passion for helping those through trauma and speaks about the differences between grief counseling versus grief coaching.
Michelle Post is a licensed mental health provider, consultant, coach speaker, retreat leader, international life strategist, business coach, and grief coach. She has specialized in grief, loss, trauma, anxiety, and stress management since 2002.
Today, through her business, Post International, Michelle specializes in helping people identify and achieve their personal goals by coping with the issues causing them distress, stress, burnout, or compassion fatigue. Michelle uses transparency, vulnerability, and personal experience in her teaching. She recently innovated and integrated basic "desert-island" effective techniques and tools into her practice to help you #IgniteYourLife.
Michelle enjoys gardens; she paints, cooks, and records her weekly podcast "Keeping Your Sh*t Together in a Stressed World" with her colleague, Scott Grossberg, Esq.
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In this episode, David shares his experience moving from despair to hope while at the same time his sister is transitioning from hope to death, dying from a terminal disease, and how that changed his life's meaning.
David Richman is an author, public speaker, and endurance athlete whose mission is to form more meaningful human connections through storytelling. His first book, Winning in the Middle of the Pack, discussed how to get more out of ourselves than ever imagined. With Cycle of Lives, David shares stories of people overcoming trauma and delves deeply into their emotional journeys with cancer.
He continues to do Ironman triathlons and recently completed a solo 4,700-mile bike ride.
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In this episode, Philip shares how all his medical degrees might have helped his family and daughter through her life's transition to death, it never prepared him for his grief as a bereaved father.
Dr. Philip Lister is an adult and child psychiatrist in private practice in New York City. He received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine and moved to New York to enter psychiatric training. Trained in adult and child psychiatry at the Payne Whitney Clinic of Weill Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Lister joined the voluntary faculty there supervising residents and teaching medical students. Overlapping with residency and fellowship, he trained in adult and child psychoanalysis at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He then joined the faculty at the Psychoanalytic Center, participating in the basic course surveying the work of Freud.
Most recently, he has trained with MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). That training prepared him to be a team of therapists offering research participants MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a Phase 3 study to determine whether MDMA will provide a new, more effective treatment for entrenched, treatment-resistant PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. The research is currently underway.
Dr. Lister is here with us today as a father and author of A Short Good Life, and he shares Liza's story of facing death.
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In this episode, William shares about his near death experience, and talks about how his accident shattered his hopes and dreams. Yet the experience led him to a path of hope as he witnessed desperation in others.
William Peters holds degrees from Harvard's Graduate School of Education and UC Berkeley and is a practicing grief and bereavement specialist. William has worked as a hospice volunteer with the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and as a teacher and social worker in Central and South America.
Recognized in the field of shared death studies, he has spent decades studying end-of-life experiences. William is the founder of the Shared Crossing Project and director of its Research Initiative. He is the author of At Heaven's Door: What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better.
His work on end-of-life is informed by his therapeutic work with individuals and families, personal experiences with death and dying across cultures, and his family's own end-of-life journeys.
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In this episode, Tracy speaks on why grief and loss became her specialty and focus in her practice. She talks about the importance of empowering people to grieve honestly.
Tracy Chang, MA, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles who works with individuals throughout California. She specializes in working with high-achieving adults who are navigating personal and professional existential challenges. In addition, she supports individuals grieving a death loss and those coping with life changes and transitions.
Tracy has had specialized training and experience working with grief and loss and is passionate about empowering people to grieve honestly. As a strengths-based therapist, Tracy blends her clinical knowledge with meaning-based exploration to help clients expand their awareness, boldly reimagine the status quo and live in alignment with their true selves.
Tracy earned her BA in Psychology from Mount St. Mary’s University and MA in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. For over ten years, she has been in practice, working in inpatient and outpatient settings with clients of diverse backgrounds and ages. In addition, she is a Clinical Supervisor who provides supervision to Associate therapists in California and private consultation to professionals and companies worldwide.
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In this episode, Gina shares about her grief and how it transformed her creative path. She now believes that everyone you miss is waiting inside you.
Gina Harris is a singer/songwriter and actor who has performed in theaters and jazz clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. A protégé of Columbia Recording Artist, Lilian Loran, and a veteran of the Groundlings, Gina had a lead role in Peter Ustinov’s Broadway and national touring productions of Beethoven’s Tenth.
“The Magic of Ordinary Things” came to Gina in a series of dreams and recovered memories after the deaths of her parents and beloved singing teacher. It provided a glimmer of hope in a dark time when she thought her life was over. It tells of how missed moments and things once taken for granted become the steppingstones to a new life – even when things seem hopeless.
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In this episode, Theresa shares why she chose to reopen the wounds of grief as she wrote My 13th Station, a memoir to her son whose life was lost to suicide.
Theresa Anthony is the author of two books and has a twenty-five-year career as a freelance writer. In the mid-nineties, Ms. Anthony began writing as an op-ed guest column contributor, sharing her musings about parenting, education, cultural issues, and much more.
In 2019, Theresa changed genres and tackled a very personal and emotionally difficult project, culminating in the memoir,My 13th Station, the story of her son Matthew's battle with depression and alcoholism during the final years of his life. As painful as it was to reopen the wounds, she has found that writing an honest accounting of his struggle has benefited many people.
Theresa continues her writing with her newest book, Hope Springs from a Mother’s Broken Heart, capturing 11 stories from other mothers on how they survived the loss of a child.
Theresa is a devout Catholic and credits her strong faith for her resilience and optimism. In addition to her beloved son, she is blessed with two wonderful and accomplished daughters and four beautiful grandchildren. When not writing, she enjoys the outdoors, spending time with friends and family, Zumba classes, and creating Catholic-inspired artwork and jewelry for her Etsy shop, SoulStirringsGifts.
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In this episode, Amanda addresses the vital need to care for lactating mothers whose child did not survive.
Amanda Alvarez, a graduate of the University of South Alabama and Spring Hill College, is an IBCLC, International Board of Lactation Consultant dedicated to helping families achieve informed, safe, and comfortable lactation and infant feeding goals.
Amanda currently works at Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas as an Education and Enrichment Manager. She provides clinical lactation care, manages a multi-site Baby Cafe Cluster, and directs other educational programming for the organization.
She represents Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas and Tarrant County Breastfeeding Coalition through leadership and participation in multiple local reproductive health coalitions, including Texas Breastfeeding Coalition, United States Breastfeeding Committee, and the United States Lactation Consultant Association.
Amanda lives with her husband, their three children, and a menagerie of pets. She enjoys running, cooking, travel, and volunteer work in social justice.
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