The Importance of Grief and Grieving, And Why We Get It Wrong Most Of The Time, with Leslie Barber

ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Grief is right up there with politics, sex & religion as "things not to talk about" for a lot of people. And grief doesn't only apply to the impact of someone dying, it's much broader and impacts every single one of us...so why is it so taboo in our culture?

Leslie Barber knows grief all too well after suddenly losing her husband to cancer, and has shifted her career to helping others understand all-things grief. In this episode, we talk about how it impacts us all, how we can be better at "doing" grief, and why we usually get it wrong. 

She shares thoughts for parents who are grieving the "normal" things that go along with raising teens when they veer off course and your now-normal looks very different from what you'd anticipated. Leslie also helps us understand what ambiguous and anticipatory grief is and why it's so relevant to parents of kids struggling with substance use.

You'll come away from this special hour having a better understanding of why it's so important to grieve, whether that's a person you love, a pet, or a missed experience, and will have some practical tools for navigating your own grief. 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Leslie’s website: www.agriefwarrior.com
• What to say when someone dies - blog post
• Pauline Boss website, Ambiguous Loss
• Pauline Boss’s podcast interview on On Being: Navigating Loss Without Closure
• Heartfelt Sympathy Gifts - gift boxes for those who are grieving

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