Salisbury Family Part 2: Katarina Salisbury Reflects on Losing Her Dad at Age 6

I had such a great discussion with Katarina Salisbury for this episode. This is the second episode in a two-part series with the Salisbury family—Katarina is with us this week, and last week we spoke with her mom, Leila. I hope you had a chance to catch that discussion—listeners are telling me it was a powerful one. Katarina is just 15 years old, and she lost her dad when she was 5. She’s very articulate and she’s passionate about helping grieving kids and teens. It was so great to hear her reflections and perspectives and to be able to share those with you today. It’s such a privilege to be able to hear directly from a teen, and I hope it will help those of us who are widowed parents try to better understand our kids’ experiences.

Some topics Katarina and I discuss include:

• Learning that her dad died by suicide, rather than a car accident, when she was 8 or 9—a few years after his death;

• How much she appreciated the kids grief program she went to when she was younger;

• Feeling like her dad’s suicide must have been her fault;

• Being labeled ‘the kid with the dead dad’ at school;

• Feeling embarrassed and singled out when teachers would remind the whole class that her dad had died recently;

• Navigating telling people at her new school, after she moved to another state, about her dad;

• Losing her grandmother in middle school, and how that was much harder than she expected;

• Struggling at school because of her grief;

• Her plans to be involved in leading peer-to-peer teen grief support groups;

• How she and her mom have acknowledged her dad’s birthdays and death anniversaries;

• Being upset that one year her dad’s birthday passed without acknowledgment;

• Wishing that she had told her mom more about what she was going through; and

• Deciding that she wants to become an adolescent psychiatrist based on her experiences.

I hope you enjoy my discussion with Katarina Salisbury.

Links & resources for this episode

• Salisbury Family Part 1: Leila Salisbury Reflects on Widowed Parenting

• Kentucky Center for Grieving Children & Families

• The AfterGrief, 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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