Grief Out Loud

About Grief Out Loud

Remember the last time you tried to talk about grief and suddenly everyone left the room? Grief Out Loud is opening up this often avoided conversation because grief is hard enough without having to go through it alone. We bring you a mix of personal stories, tips for supporting children, teens, and yourself, and interviews with bereavement professionals. Platitude and cliché-free, we promise! Grief Out Loud is hosted by Jana DeCristofaro and produced by The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families in Portland, Oregon.

Publisher

The Dougy Center

Category

health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Jan 2015

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

510 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   What's It Like When There's No Tomorrow? - Ami Baio On Grief, Games, And Her Dad

   From an early age, Ami Baio was curious about death and grief. As a game designer and the creator of Pink Tiger Games, she eventually turned that curiosity into Proof of Life, a conversational game about death, grief, and talking about what matters most to the people in our lives. In a professional and personal overlap, as Ami was finishing the game, her father was dying of cancer. Ami's relationship with her dad had changed dramatically over the course of her life. After her parents divorced when she was five, she and her father became separated from each other, and their relationship was complicated for many years. In 2010, Ami reached out to apologize for the distance she had created between them and to acknowledge the effort and love her father had put into their relationship. Years later, her father offered an apology of his own. When he became ill, Ami and her siblings found themselves navigating the uncertainty of his cancer diagnosis while her dad remained determined to live. Conversations about death were difficult, but Proof of Life eventually gave the family another way to talk, laugh, remember, and connect. Ami also shares what it was like to be with her dad when he died, the playlist he created for his own funeral, the waves of grief that followed, and the unexpected ways music, memories, humor, and even dancing have helped her stay connected to him. In this episode, we talk about: Two powerful apologies between Ami and her father Making Proof of Life while her dad was dying Using a game to open conversations that were otherwise difficult to have Being with her dad in the final days and at the moment of his death The playlist her dad created and the role music played in his final days The waves of grief that followed his death Finding room for joy, silliness, and fun in the midst of grief Staying curious about the people we love — even when we've known them our whole lives Ami Baio is the creator of Pink Tiger Games (https://pinktigergames.com/), which makes conversational games designed to bring people together through curiosity, connection, humor, and reflection. Follow on IG - https://www.instagram.com/pinktigergames/?hl=en

2. 

   25 Sept 2026

   Learning To Grieve Together - Kelly & Miguel Cervantes

   In this episode, we talk with Kelly and Miguel Cervantes about their daughter Adelaide, who lived with epilepsy and complex medical needs. Kelly and Miguel share what it was like to parent a child who couldn't speak or move but who still made her preferences known – including smacking her brother when she was done playing and loving anything by Frank Sinatra. They talk about the very different roles they occupied during Adelaide's life: Kelly as a full-time caregiver who became fluent in her daughter's medical world, and Miguel, who moved in and out of that world while performing eight shows a week as Alexander Hamilton in Chicago. We also talk about grief that followed when Adelaide died in 2019, just before her 4th birthday. Kelly describes the secondary loss of her identity as a caregiver and Miguel talks about what it meant to step onto a stage each night and, at times, find his own grief story overlapping with Hamilton's. Both parents reflect on how differently they grieve — Kelly's grief as something that pours out in what she calls "werewolfing," and Miguel's as private and internal — and how learning to recognize and support those differences became a turning point in their marriage. They close by talking about their son Jackson, and what they've learned about supporting a child who grieves on his own terms. We discuss: Adelaide — her personality, her humor, her love of Sinatra The different roles of parent and caregiver Miguel's experience moving between the hospital and the Hamilton stage "Werewolfing" — Kelly and Miguel's very different ways of grieving, and how they learned to support each other in those Secondary losses: grieving an identity, a routine, a sense of purpose, alongside grieving Adelaide Finding meaning through advocacy, writing, and music in Adelaide's honor Parenting their son Jackson through his own grief, and learning he needed support that didn't come from them About Kelly and Miguel Cervantes: Kelly Cervantes is a writer and advocate whose books include Normal Broken and The Luckiest. She serves on the boards of CURE Epilepsy and the Undiagnosed Diseases Network Foundation. Miguel Cervantes (https://www.instagram.com/mig.cervantes/) is an actor and singer known for originating the title role in the Chicago production of Hamilton. Kelly and Miguel will be joining Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon, on October 27th, 2026, for our Focus on Hope luncheon. Visit dougy.org/hope for details.

3. 

   17 Sept 2026

   The Grief That Doesn't Get A Funeral - Juniper Wong On Ambiguous & Ancestral Loss

   Sometimes grief and how it shows up is obvious. Other times we might not recognize our experience as grief until something shifts our perspective. This was true for Juniper Wong, MSW, LICSW, a therapist who specializes in supporting those who are grieving through self-compassion, mindfulness, somatic experiencing, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Juniper shares how caring for her father during the final weeks of his life changed her understanding of grief, sparking a recognition of how much of her own life had been shaped by the loss and grief passed down her family line. Becoming a mother led Juniper to see connections between her own fears and those of the women in her family line, fears that were rooted in loss. She describes using meditation, movement, writing, and even imagined conversations with ancestors as ways of making sense of what she was carrying. All of these personal experiences with grief inform the work Juniper does to help others name and work with their grief - including Happy Hour for Sad People (https://www.groundedgrief.com/event-details/happy-hour-for-sad-people-an-unconventional-grief-circle-2026-09-28-19-00), a monthly gathering through Grounded Grief in Portland, Oregon, where laughter, dark humor, tears, and connection can coexist. We Discuss: Recognizing how grief often underlies other challenges like anxiety and depression How caring for a dying parent can transform a relationship The grief that can surface when someone no longer has the energy to keep it buried Ancestral grief and the losses we may carry without knowing their origins Ambiguous loss and "the loss that doesn't get a funeral" How pregnancy and motherhood opened up a new understanding of family grief Rituals for staying connected to people who have died Making room for laughter and dark humor alongside grief Creating less traditional spaces for people to gather around loss Follow Juniper on IG - https://www.instagram.com/iamjuniperwong Substack - https://substack.com/@juniperwong Grounded Grief - https://www.groundedgrief.com/ (https://www.groundedgrief.com/)

Who has been a guest on Grief Out Loud

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jessie
• Molly
• Danielle LaRock
• Camila
• Mark Chesnut

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

84

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

Contact Grief Out Loud

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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