Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Grief Stories

Grief Stories

Grief Stories

Real people sharing their stories of loss and the insights that help them on their journey with grief. “Helping grief make sense one story at a time” Hosted by Maureen Pollard Maureen Pollard is a Registered Social Worker who has worked in the field of social work since 1991. In private practice since 2011, Maureen is a specialist in traumatic bereavement, helping individuals, families and groups navigate life after losses, including pregnancy and infant loss, child death, suicide loss, homicide loss and sudden or accidental death. Maureen is a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care provider, and she is trained in RTS (Resolve Through Sharing) Bereavement Care. Maureen’s practice areas also include work as a certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist and Educator, supporting front line professionals in building the resilience necessary to survive and thrive in high-stress, trauma-exposed work.
bookmark
Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Top 10 Grief Stories Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Grief Stories episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Grief Stories for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Grief Stories episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Grief Stories - Stillbirth - Holly

Stillbirth - Holly

Grief Stories

play

01/04/21 • 20 min

Author of "The Twentieth Year: A Memoir of Miscarriage", Maureen Pollard interviews Holly about her experience of losing her son to stillbirth at 34 weeks gestation. They discuss how shocked Holly was by the slow process to get the baby out, how excrutiating it was to go through, and how surreal it seemed that her and her husband were the only ones crying while everyone else went about their jobs - except for one nurse who cried with them, and how that helped Holly in her grief. They also discuss how important it was to spend time with her baby after he was born still - "It was all the pain and beauty rolled into a ball, one of the most traumatic days of my life, but I'm still holding my baby" - and how grateful Holly is that there were pictures taken of her son that day.
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Maureen Pollard interviews Cheryl Bower, founder of Voices Rock Canada, about grief, music, and how singing and songwriting can help people explore and process emotions as well as help them to heal. "What I found with songwriting, and also having the courage to sing my songs in company, was that it fulfilled a need I had to reflect what was going on inside of me at any particular time and put it outside of myself, and one of the things that I call it is 'soul puking onto a piece of paper, developing the idea and then having the courage to sing it in public or record it'.. and it's been an incredibly freeing exercise, and it's been something solely for me."
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Maureen Pollard interviews Eric Lichtenfeld, a psychotherapist who specializes in grief, trauma and anxiety. They talk about the idea of continuing bonds and how we hold our loved ones close to us after death.
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Maureen Pollard interviews Adele Racine, Heart Medicine Woman about the strengths that we find in circle with life as we face and move through the experience and pain of grief and loss.
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Grief Stories - The Truth About Grief: Can you get over grief?
play

05/11/21 • 26 min

Maureen Pollard interviews Dvora Entin, a licensed social worker specializing in maternal wellness and bereavement care in the Orthodox Jewish community. They discuss the fact that grief is ever-present and ever-changing.
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Grief Stories - Stillbirth - Russ

Stillbirth - Russ

Grief Stories

play

12/02/20 • 21 min

Maureen Pollard interviews Russ about his experience in losing his son to stillbirth. Russ talks about how it happened at 8 months into the pregnancy meaning his wife still had to go through labor, the process of which took over a day, and how hard it was to watch her: "from my eyes, to see her go through that and to know there is no joy at the end of this". They discuss how one of the biggest challenges for him after the loss was 'being a man' because there's an expectation for men to get over things quickly, but how it was a challenge to keep going, losing friends along the way because many did not know how to listen to him talk about his loss of a child. They also discuss how his other son is his saviour, forcing him to get up every day and keep living, and how Russ found comfort in nature, through planting a garden with plants that bloomed around his son's birthday.
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Maureen Pollard interviews musician and music therapist Adrienne Pringle about music, grief, and the ways people can use music to explore and express emotion, particularly during their grieving process. "There's always that 'aha' moment, that realization, and for some people it's thinking 'well I need to be a musician, I need to be able to play something and if I don't have those skills then this isn't for me' and that just isn't true. Music can actually be a really helpful resource to anyone: using it for mindfulness, for finding inner calm ... using your voice even."
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Maureen Pollard interviews Holly and Murray about a music program that was run for staff at a transitional shelter. This was the pilot for the Songwriting for Wellness program, which has recently launched through Toronto Songwriting School. "One of the most fulfilling developments for us in recent years has been creating songwriting programs for groups of people who have experienced loss or trauma. To formalize the program, Murray Foster has teamed up with social worker Maureen Pollard to create Songwriting for Wellness, providing programs for professionals in high-stress, trauma-exposed workplaces, and workshops for those who have experienced loss or trauma, and those in marginalized groups." You can learn more at songwritingforwellness.ca/
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Grief Stories - John Martin (Author) on Grief
play

06/08/22 • 32 min

Maureen Pollard interviews John D. Martin, author of I Can't Stop Crying and Help Me I Hurt, about grief. "Grief is so much bigger than I had imagined. It doesn't work very well with a formula, it's important to pay attention to what each person is telling you. I think something that I learned probably over the last 5 years is that emotional pain is every bit as significant as physical pain and yet we don't give it nearly as much credence or credibility or spend nearly as much time and energy towards it." You can find John's books here: www.goodreads.com/author/list/26155.John_D_Martin
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Grief Stories - Losing a Husband to Cancer - Vicky
play

01/17/24 • 42 min

Maureen Pollard interviews Vicky about losing her husband to myeloma, after surviving prostate and bladder cancer. They discuss the challenge of not having a cancer clinic where they lived, meaning they had to for drive hours back and forth for treatment. They spent so much money on hotels that they ended up having to leave their home and move closer to the clinic, adding an additional struggle of maneuvering their new apartment stairs in his state of illness. She talks about how her physical and mental health was affected as his health deteriorated, but she could still only see him with love and hope. "He's in the hospital and, this is before he died, and I stopped eating when he stopped eating. I lost 30 pounds, I wouldn't even get up to go seek water, all I could do was hold his hands and break down. And, he was so strong you know ... He wasn't getting better and I did not see that. I look at pictures now and I see how ill he was, but it's true when you look at someone through the eyes of love you don't see the illness, all you see is that beautiful face that you adore. My husband was everything to me, I mean our story was a love story." They also discuss how her friend Karen took her in after she lost everything (her home, her husband, and her own will to live) and how the Universe brought her a new friend who understood what she was going through. Both of these women lifted her up and helped her through the darkest time in her life, as did a song that her husband wrote while he was sick which you can listen to here (performed by John Sharkey): http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1715659192?ls=1&app=itunes
bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more best episodes

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does Grief Stories have?

Grief Stories currently has 68 episodes available.

What topics does Grief Stories cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Grief Stories?

The episode title 'Sara Klinck (Psychotherapist, Music Therapist) on Grief and Music' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Grief Stories?

The average episode length on Grief Stories is 28 minutes.

How often are episodes of Grief Stories released?

Episodes of Grief Stories are typically released every 11 days, 2 hours.

When was the first episode of Grief Stories?

The first episode of Grief Stories was released on Feb 19, 2020.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments