Life, Death, Grief, Unscripted | Unfiltered Discussions on Living and Dying

About Life, Death, Grief, Unscripted | Unfiltered Discussions on Living and Dying

”Life, Death, Grief, Unscripted” breaks the silence around death and focuses on understanding grief, celebrating legacies, end-of-life planning, and providing families with a roadmap of support, practical resources, and emotional guidance when needed. More than a podcast - we’re your partner in navigating life’s most profound transitions with dignity, love, and purpose.

Publisher

Christina Holohan - Celebration of Life Event Planner, End-of-Life Doula, and Grief Coach

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 Dec 2025

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

22 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026

   Epi 21 - We Felt Like We Were Losing Her - A Conversation About Substance Use, Family, Grief, and What Came After

   Episode Overview *Content Note: This episode includes candid discussions about substance use, addiction, and suicide.  If this is a sensitive topic for you, please listen with care. What happens when a family feels like they are losing someone who is still here? In this personal episode, Christina sits down with her sister, Charlene Bargas, for an open conversation about substance use, family, grief, and what came after. Two sisters who lived through the same years in different ways make room for both perspectives. Together, they explore the words we use and the labels that can miss the person behind them, what changed and what didn’t, ambiguous loss, and how love, boundaries, and forgiveness can live side by side. Charlene also shares the life she is building today, from finishing the degrees she started to her hope of helping others find their way forward. This episode also marks the start of a new tradition on the show: three questions Christina will ask every guest. Episode Highlights [00:45] Content warning [00:57] Opening: why we’re sharing this conversation [06:20] Two sisters, one history, two experiences [09:51] What was happening beneath the surface [13:28] What our family experienced [15:57] The language we use matters [35:47] What changed, and what didn’t [47:32] What came next [49:11] Who Charlene is today [54:18] What Charlene wants people to understand [59:37] Three questions I ask every guest [01:02:33] Closing reflection and sign-off Guest Bio Charlene Bargas is a mother of four, writer, legal professional, and lifelong learner. She has spent more than two decades in the legal field, with additional experience in behavioral health, crisis response, and peer support. Charlene holds a Master of Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science from Metropolitan State University of Denver, focused on Holistic Approaches to Human Change. She is passionate about social enterprise, and her writing explores motherhood, family, identity, and what it means to understand our past without letting one chapter explain an entire person. She brings to this conversation not a finished story, but the full range of her own experience. Connect with Charlene Instagram: @charlyrayne76 Facebook: Charlene on Facebook LinkedIn: Charlene Bargas, MS Resources If You or Someone You Love Is Struggling SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Free, confidential, 24/7, 365 days a year, in English and Spanish, for individuals and families facing mental health and/or substance use concerns. gov/find-help/national-helpline Find help near you: Text your ZIP code to 435748 (HELP4U), or search the online treatment locator at gov Listener Challenge: Give It a Name This week, think about someone you may be grieving while they are still here. A person, a relationship, or a version of someone you love. You don’t have to fix anything or reach out. Just give that feeling a name, and notice that love and grief can live in the same place. Share This Episode If you know someone who is loving a person through a hard season, please share this episode with them. You never know who needs to hear that they’re not alone. Connect with Christina Celebration of Life, Colorado celebrationoflife-colorado.com information@celebrationoflife-colorado.com 720-792-7774 Join a Good Life Good Death Café — two live gatherings a month in Colorado, plus one virtual gathering monthly. Details at https://www.celebrationoflife-colorado.com/event-list About the Podcast Life, Death, Grief, Unscripted | Unfiltered Discussions on Living and Dying is hosted by Christina Holohan, Certified Death Doula, Thanatologist, and founder of Celebration of Life, Colorado.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Ep 20 - Grief Coaching and Living with Loss | Blooming Through Loss with Eryn Elder

   A Conversation with Eryn Elder, MA Grief and Loss Coach, Author, and Founder of Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching Episode Overview What if grief is not something to fix, finish, or leave behind, but something we learn to tend? In this episode, I sit down with Eryn Elder, grief and loss coach, author of Blooming Through Loss, and founder of Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching in Longmont, Colorado. Eryn shares the personal experience that led her to this work, walks us through her BloomPath® framework, and explains how grief coaching differs from therapy and support groups. We also talk about the many kinds of loss that deserve to be named as grief, the healing power of community through the Longmont Grief Collective, and what it looks like to live wholeheartedly alongside loss, with room for love, meaning, and even joy. Timestamped Highlights [00:45] — Introduction [03:45] — Eryn's path to grief work [10:05] — The BloomPath® framework and Blooming Through Loss [18:25] — What grief coaching is, and how it differs from therapy [27:57] — Loss beyond death: why every loss counts [35:05] — Community and the Longmont Grief Collective [39:35] — Living wholeheartedly alongside grief [44:23] — Where to find Eryn Guest Bio Eryn Elder, MA is a grief and loss coach, educator, author, and podcaster who helps people navigate the experiences that change them, especially the ones that cannot simply be fixed, solved, or left behind. As the founder of Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching, Eryn brings together twenty years of experience in coaching, education, leadership, and grief support. She is a Certified Grief and Loss Support Specialist, an ICF-trained coach and coach trainer, and holds a master's degree in education. She has coached hundreds of individuals and led a coaching program at a tier-one research university. After the unexpected death of her first-born daughter, Evelyn, Eryn experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to find meaningful support after loss. That experience led her to understand grief not as something to overcome, but as something we can learn to tend, carry, and integrate into a life that still holds love, meaning, connection, and even joy. This perspective became the foundation for her BloomPath® framework. Her work includes individual coaching, group facilitation, professional education, writing, and community-building through the Longmont Grief Collective. She is also a co-host of the Coaching as Benevolence podcast. Book Details Blooming Through Loss: Tending to Grief with the BloomPath® Eryn's book invites readers to slow down, make sense of what they are experiencing, reconnect with what matters, and discover how to live wholeheartedly alongside what has changed. Resources Mentioned Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching: rootsandwingsgriefcoaching.com Blooming Through Loss: Tending to Grief with the BloomPath® by Eryn Elder Longmont Grief Collective Coaching as Benevolence podcast, co-hosted by Eryn Elder, and Host L’Shawn Howard Listener Challenge This week, name one loss in your life you have never given yourself permission to grieve. It may be a job, a friendship, a home, or a version of yourself. Give it five minutes of your attention. Write it down, speak it aloud, or simply sit with it. Grief that is named has room to be tended. Connect with Christina Celebration of Life, Colorado celebrationoflife-colorado.com information@celebrationoflife-colorado.com 720-792-7774 Join a Good Life Good Death Café — two live gatherings a month in Colorado, plus one virtual gathering monthly. Details at celebrationoflife-colorado.com/events-list. About the Podcast Life, Death, Grief, Unscripted | Unfiltered Discussions on Living and Dying is hosted by Christina Holohan, Celebration of Life Event Planner, Certified Death Doula, Thanatologist, and founder of Celebration of Life, Colorado.

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Episode 19 - So... What Actually Happens at a Death Café?

   Episode Overview What happens when you walk into a Death Café? In this episode, Christina traces the model back to its origins with Jon Underwood and Sue Barsky Reid, breaks down what the research says about why these conversations matter, and introduces its lesser-known cousin — the Doulagivers-inspired Good Life Good Death Café, the model Christina trained in and now hosts herself. She walks through what to expect in each kind of room, and what it takes to start a Death Café of your own. Episode Highlights [00:46] Cold open: two flyers, two very different rooms [01:16] The death-positive movement, and where these cafés fit in it [02:21] What the research says about talking about death [04:42] Death Café's origins: Jon Underwood, Sue Barsky Reid, and Bernard Crettaz [06:08] Why Death Café is a trademarked name [06:33] Good Life Good Death Café and the Doulagivers model [08:19] Side by side: what to expect walking into each room [09:25] Why both model’s matter [10:36] How to start a Death Café of your own [14:24] Listener challenge and sign-off Resources Mentioned Death Café Resources Death Café — official guide and how to host your own Research Referenced “Talking about death and dying: Findings from deliberative discussion groups with members of the public” — Wilson, Caswell, Turner & Pollock (2024), Mortality: https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2022.2136515 “What a ‘Good Death’ Can Teach Us About Living Well” — Camille Preston, Ph.D., Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-health-in-the-workplace/202411/what-a-good-death-can-teach-us-about-living-well Doulagivers Institute Free End-of-Life Doula & Family Caregiver Training (also the path to training as a certified death doula): https://event.webinarjam.com/4kv5v/register/mzl4li79?webinar_id=43 Listener Challenge: Find the Room for You Look up whether there is a Death Café, or a community death conversation built on that same spirit, happening near you. You don’t have to attend — just find it, notice which kind of room you’re drawn to, and ask yourself why. Connect with Christina Celebration of Life, Colorado celebrationoflife-colorado.com information@celebrationoflife-colorado.com 720-792-7774 Join a Good Life Good Death Café — two live gatherings a month in Colorado, plus one virtual gathering monthly. Details at celebrationoflife-colorado.com/events-list.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

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