Show Notes
Hearing that a friend or family member has lost a loved one can bring up a lot of questions. It is natural to feel curious about the circumstances surrounding someone’s death. While a natural curiosity is harmless, asking intrusive questions can put a grieving person in an uncomfortable situation. In the second part of a two-part series on questions, we give support people alternative questions to ask and responses to hearing about a death that are more sensitive to the grieving person.
You are not entitled to a response or answer to any specific question, but there are other helpful ways to interact with a grieving person.
More from Grief Talk Podcast
Miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss are particularly difficult losses to navigate. These losses can leave many loved ones wondering how to help. In the second part of this series, Sara interviews Chelsey Hedglin, hospital chaplain and bereavement coordinator, about how family members and friends can help their loved ones during pregnancy and infant losses. They discuss what to say and what not to say, which questions are okay to ask, and how to navigate relating and comparing grief. They also give practical ideas for gestures and ways to help out. We hope that this interview brings comfort to grieving parents, and awareness and insight to their loved ones.
Pregnancy and infant losses can often feel like a grief that so many parents carry silently. In our first ever interview, Sara sits down with Chelsey Hedglin, a chaplain and bereavement coordinator at a local hospital in Nashville. Chelsey serves as the perinatal chaplain and provides support to parents who have experienced a prenatal loss, infant loss, or adverse diagnosis during pregnancy. In part one of this interview, Chelsey and Sara discuss this unique type of loss while focusing on the parents’ grief. They cover grief comparison, defining the term for a bereaved parent, options for navigating the loss of their baby while in a hospital setting, and tangible ways in which parents can honor the loss of their child.
There are more emotions in grief than just sadness. What if you don’t identify with the normal feelings people talk about or the idea of the “stages of grief”? You’re in the right place. In this episode, we dive into a variety of emotions we feel after losing someone: shock, numbness, panic, hostility, relief, and more. We speak from our personal experience as we share the emotions that left us feeling isolated in our first year following our brother’s death.
In the second episode of our mini series - “The Anatomy of Early Grief” - we cover common mental side effects “early” grief can cause.
Grief might be most commonly thought of as an emotional experience but it can also be an intense physical experience. In the first episode of our mini series - “The Anatomy of Early Grief” - we talk about the physical effects that grief can bring. Sara breaks down the different nervous systems that our bodies have and their important functions. Susanna covers common physical side effects that early grief can cause like sleep and digestion issues. We share our candid experiences and how we cared for ourselves during that time. As a note - this episode is not intended to be medical advice. We encourage you to seek professional medical care if you are experiencing prolonged or severe physical side effects that could be caused by grief.