News
News
Here’s what I’ve been up to lately…
The Reality of Grief: When Secondary Loss Shows Up as a Gain
This is a hard one to put out there. In my work, I talk often about grief literacy and secondary losses. Recently I realized that one of my own secondary losses has been the sense of familiarity I used to have with my own body. This story is not about weight. It’s...
Open to Hope: The Sounds of Grief
I recently published my first piece as an author for Open to Hope: The Sounds of Grief. Since my mom died, I’ve been cataloguing what I think of as “the sounds of grief.” So far, I’ve documented five. Some are raw and animalistic. Others are quiet, barely audible. One...
Podcast Takeover: Grief Out Loud
I had the incredible honor of guest-hosting this very special episode of Dougy Center’s Grief Out Loud podcast so Jana DeCristofaro, LCSW, longtime host of Grief Out Loud and Advocacy & Education Manager at Dougy Center, could shift to the guest role and share...
Speaking Grief: 5 Years Out
In 2018, I began developing an initiative with the working title "The Grief Project." It would eventually become WPSU's Speaking Grief, and it would change my life.In the early days, we were told no one would want to fund a project about grief. Thankfully, those...
NACG 2025: Internet Killed the Video Star
I had the honor of presenting at the 2025 National Alliance for Children's Grief Symposium in Kansas City, MO. My session, Internet Killed the Video Star: Effective Strategies for Facilitating Learning and Engagement in a Changing Media Landscape, explored how grief...
Introducing 12 Degrees: A New Podcast on Real-Life Wellness
When the Penn State Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing approached WPSU with the idea of creating a wellness podcast, we were excited to collaborate on something meaningful and accessible. The result is 12 Degrees, a new podcast produced by WPSU in partnership with...
Op-ed: Grief Literacy Can Change Lives
What if grief education started before the crisis?What if we grew up learning that grief is part of life—and not a detour from it?What if our schools, sports fields, and community centers were places where grief wasn’t something to fix or fear—but something we knew...
Grief Dreams Podcast: Pet Loss and Other Life/Loss Updates
Grief Dreams Podcast: Exploring Pet Loss and the Bond We Carry I recently had the honor of joining Joshua Black, PhD, on the Grief Dreams Podcast to talk about a form of grief that often goes unrecognized—pet loss. In this conversation, we explore the depth of the...
ADEC 2025: Maximizing Media
✨ Just wrapped up an incredible experience presenting at the 2025 Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) Conference! ✨ My session, “Maximizing Media: Effective Strategies for Delivering Thanatology Research to a General Audience,” focused on one of my...
Speaking Grief Blog: You Don’t Need to Be a “Feelings Person” to Offer Meaningful Support to Someone Who Is Grieving
When it comes to grief, we often mistakenly think if we’re not “good with feelings,” we have nothing to offer a grieving person. That is categorically false. Emotional support is an element of grief support, but it’s not the only element. From companionship during a...