Giving Grief Grace
Giving Grief Grace is a heartfelt podcast offering a safe space where stories of love, loss, light, and healing are shared with compassion and empathy. In each episode, honest conversations woven with nurturing insights create a safe haven, fostering a community of support where sorrow is met with kindness, and the path to healing is approached with utmost care, respect, and love.
Episodes
49 episodes
Episode 47 - When Men Get Breast Cancer: Jake Messier on Stigma, Stage 4, and Breaking the Silence
What happens when a man is diagnosed with a disease the world has decided belongs to women? Jake Messier, known as @theguywithstage4breastcancer, is living that answer every single day. After a stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis in 2...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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1:00:21
Episode 46 - When Grief Becomes a Calling: How Kelly Edmondson Turned Loss Into Light with Timely Presence
What do you do with your grief when you've spent 25 years as a nurse helping families through their hardest moments and then overnight, you become the family in need? That's the journey Kelly Edmondson found herself on three years ago wh...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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51:17
Episode 45 - It's Okay to Say Died: How to Talk to Children About Death at Any Age with Carrie Silver of A Haven
What do you say when a child asks, "Is Mommy coming back?" This week, Lisa sits down with Carrie Silver, Clinical Director of A Haven, a nonprofit child and family grief center in Exton, Pennsylvania, to explore one of th...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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46:24
Episode 44 - Still Raising Hell at 97: Alton "Honky" Hartung on Living Life to the Fullest in Maine
In this episode, Lisa sits down with her grandfather, Alton "Honky" Hartung who recently turned 97 and is still living alone and driving! Honky is a living piece of American history who has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.Born ...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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1:18:32
Episode 43 - Finding Joy Without a Cure: Melanie Ezell on INHERITED, Motherhood & Living Fully with Stage 4 Cancer
This week, we welcome back Melanie Ezell — writer, mother, yogi, and surfer from the North Shore of Oʻahu — to celebrate the release of her new book, INHERITED: A Life Without a Cure. Diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer at a yo...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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51:22
Episode 42 - Ash Rose Project (Week 4): Honoring Legacy, Finding Hope, and Looking Toward the Future
In this bittersweet finale of the Ash Rose Project series, host Lisa Hartung and artist/Executive Director of the Ash Rose Foundation, Ian McCartor close out their 30-day grief journey with a conversation full of hope, whimsy, and renewal. The ...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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45:40
Episode 41 - Ash Rose Project (Week 3): Finding Meaning in the Present Through Creativity & Connection
In Week 3 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, host Lisa Hartung continues her 30-day grief journey with Ian McCartor of the Ash Rose Foundation.This week centers on finding meaning in the present moment. Lisa and Ian discuss integrating...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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53:18
Episode 40 - Ash Rose Project (Week 2): Processing Grief Through Creativity, The Healing Power of Art & Legacy
In Week 2 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, Lisa continues her personal grief journey with Ian McCartor, Founder of the Ash Rose Foundation. They move from honoring the past in Week 1 to processing grief in the present through creativity.
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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52:58
Episode 39 - Ash Rose Project (Week 1): Honoring the Past Through Memory, Ritual, and Reflection
In Week 1 of the Ash Rose Project mini-series, Ian McCartor of the Ash Rose Foundation and Lisa Hartung begin the most emotionally intense part of the journey: honoring the past.This episode centers on reflection. Of memories, values, r...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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53:27
Episode 38 - When the Artist Becomes the Art: Inside the Ash Rose Project with Ian McCartor
This week we welcome back Ian McCartor, Founder and Executive Director of the Ash Rose Foundation, for a first-ever behind the scenes exploration of the Ash Rose Project. This episode marks ...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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1:01:19
Episode 37 - Grief Group Support: The Power of Connection, Healing, and Community After Loss
What kind of support actually helps after loss—and what role does community play in healing? Everyone is different and has their own unique grief journey. In this episode, the original Giving Grief Grace small grief group com...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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41:49
Episode 36 - Pancreatic Cancer at 34: Mom of 3 on Self-Advocacy, Surgery, FOLFIRINOX & Finding Hope
What happens when you know something is wrong—but no one is listening?In this episode, Lisa sits down with Amy Johnston, a 34-year-old mom of three and stage 3 pancreatic cancer survivor, to share the story that changed her life. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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57:14
Episode 35 - Escaping the Berlin Wall & Grieving from Afar: Freedom, Loss & Finding Home
What does grief look like when it begins with leaving home?In this episode, artist and musician Jacqueline van Bierk shares her extraordinary life story of escaping communist East Germany as a teenager just weeks before the Berlin...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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1:00:14
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Episode 34 - The Holiday Hangover: Grief, Reflection, and Finding Joy After Christmas
After weeks of anticipation, celebration, and emotional effort, the holidays end and for those who are grieving, the quiet that follows can feel overwhelming. In this solo episode of Giving Grief Grace, Lisa reflects on the often-unspo...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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16:54
Episode 33 - Grieving Through the Holidays (Week 4): Gratitude & Grief
As we arrive at the final week of the Grieving Through the Holidays Advent journey, we turn toward a powerful truth: gratitude can coexist with grief.In this episode, Lisa reflects on how grief is not something to “move past,” b...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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15:25
Episode 32 - Grieving Through the Holidays (Week 3): Legacy & Creating New Memories
In Week 3 of the Grieving Through the Holidays Advent series, Lisa invites the community to shift from remembrance and fully embracing emotions into a sense of renewal. After honoring our loved ones in Week 1 and holding space for our ...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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10:19
Episode 31 - Grieving Through the Holidays (Week 2): Feel & Hold Space
In Week 2 of our Grieving Through the Holidays Advent Series, we move from honoring memories to fully feeling what is bubbling up inside.Our focus is about feeling the feelings and holding space for where ...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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13:21
Episode 30 - Grieving Through the Holidays (Week 1): Honor & Remember
The holidays are tough. Add grief to the mix and life can get a bit complicated. We get it - we're there too, sitting alongside you on this grief journey. Welcome to Giving Grief Grace's "Grieving Through the Holidays
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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21:47
Episode 29 - Finding Support Through Grief: Navigating Work, Parenting, and Identity After Loss
This week, we explore what it means to navigate grief while juggling work, caregiving, motherhood, and identity shifts. Sarah Kagan of Keriah Grief Coaching shares the story of losing her mother to ...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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42:10
Episode 28 - Grief Through the Holidays: Ideas, Rituals, and Support for the Hard Days
The holidays can feel overwhelming when you’re grieving. In this episode, we are joined by Walker Posey, a fourth-generation funeral director at Posey Funeral Directors and National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) spokesperson known for bl...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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47:12
Episode 27 - Running with Purpose: My NYC Marathon with Project Purple and the Power of Community
In this solo episode, Lisa shares her experience of training for and running the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon with Project Purple. At ten months postpartum, she took to the streets of NYC on a perfect marathon day, raising awar...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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24:09
Episode 26 - Grief, Legacy, and Literacy: How Loss Shaped an Educator’s Mission to Help People Read
Former teacher and principal, and current K–12 literacy director, Katie Megrian has spent over two decades working in schools. She founded The Reading Symphony, a mission-driven platform that helps families and educators understand how reading ...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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38:35
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Episode 25 - Grief in the Digital Age: Dr. Camelia Clarke on Social Media Etiquette and Setting Boundaries After Loss
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Camelia Clarke — owner of Paradise Memorial Funeral and Cremation Services, National Funeral Director Association (NFDA) spokesperson, and grief et...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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46:59
Episode 24 - Living Fully with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer: The Freedom of Letting Go
When stage 4 ovarian cancer came back for the third time, Melanie Ezell made a radical decision—to stop fighting and start living. A surfer, yogi, nutritionist, and coach in Oahu, Hawaii, Melanie has turned her diagnosis into a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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54:22
Episode 23 - Soul Echoes: Finding Comfort and Connection After Death Through a Spiritual Medium
This week we sit down with Trish Riggle, a fifth-generation intuitive and spiritual medium who has been connecting with spirits for over twenty years. Trish opens up about what it means to carry that lineage—how she first recognized her ...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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58:19
