Brennan Wood & Jana DeCristofaro from The Dougy Center

“We’re not trying to cure grief. We aren’t trying to fix anything. We’re not trying to take away that experience from people. What we’re doing is trying to give them a safe environment in which to navigate those experiences.... We need to experience it and walk through it and incorporate whatever pieces of it we need to into who we are, and carry those forward. And that can be done in a positive, healthy way given the right circumstances and the right support.”

— Brennan Wood

I had such a great discussion with Brennan Wood and Jana DeCristofaro of The Dougy Center for this episode. The Dougy Center has programs for kids and families in Portland, Oregon, and they are also a national leader in the field of childhood bereavement. They also produce a popular, and long-running, grief podcast called Grief Out Loud, which listeners can find on their favorite podcast app.

Some topics we discuss include:

• Brennan talks about feeling different from her peers after losing her mom at age 12;

• How attending The Dougy Center as a teen changed her life;

• Meeting Hope Edelman, author of Motherless Daughters, when she was 19;

• The Dougy Center’s programs for grieving kids and families in the Portland, Oregon, area;

• Their Pathways program for families facing an advanced serious illness;

• The Grief Out Loud podcast, which Jana hosts and produces;

• Being ok with holding 2 thoughts that seem to be conflicting; and

• What widowed parents should know or consider in the first 90 days.

I hope you enjoy my discussion with Brennan Wood and Jana DeCristofaro of The Dougy Center.

Links & resources for this episode

• The Dougy Center

• Grief Out Loud podcast

• Tip sheets

• Search for grief support programs outside the Portland area

• School & community toolkit

• Jana’s interview of Jenny on Grief Out Loud

• National Alliance for Grieving Children

• Motherless Daughters, by Hope Edelman

More links for listeners

• Download: Kids & Grief: What You Need to Know

• Article: I’m a Widowed Mom: Here Are My 3 Tips for COVID-19 Widows

• Book: Widowed Parents Unite: 52 Tips to Get Through the First Year, from One Widowed Parent to Another

Thank you sponsors & partners:

Help Texts - Grief support text messaging service. Tips and support delivered all year long, personalized based on your loss. Listeners get $10 off: https://helptexts.com/jennylisk

BetterHelp - Talk with a licensed, professional therapist online. Get 10% off your first month: betterhelp.com/widowedparent

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