The Caring Death Doula
In a world that rushes past death and ignores grief, The Caring Death Doula stops to listen with tenderness, truth, and time. Whether you are grieving right now or here to learn how to help those grieving, join your host, Frances, a certified grief educator on the journey of finding connection, conversations, and comfort. Let's make grief and death a natural part of our conversations.
Episodes
72 episodes
Estrangement Grief
In this episode we are discussing the disorienting truth behind estrangement grief, a form of loss that rarely gets casseroles, sympathy cards, or even a patient listener. I talk about why this pain feels so sharp and lonely, especi...
Grief Intertwines with Life
Grief doesn’t politely wait for you to be ready. It shows up after you’ve had a “good” stretch, after you’ve checked the boxes, and sometimes right when you think you finally have a handle on it. I’m honest about why I’m late gettin...
Holiday Grief
We remind you that grief is yours, and nobody gets to judge how loud, how long, or how often you feel it. We talk through why holidays can hurt, how to ground your body when your mind won’t settle, and how to show up for someone who is...
Grief Wave and Joy
In this episode, Frances shows up raw on a hard day and names the numbness that can hit without warning when grief waves roll in. A quiet morning in the park becomes a reminder that joy can break through in an instant, even when sorrow...
Your Grief Is Beautiful
When grief gets judged, that pressure can make you feel even more alone. In this episode, I’m here to say the quiet part out loud: you matter, and you don’t have to prove your pain to anyone. If you’ve ever wondered whe...
Living Grief
Grief makes people uncomfortable, so we try to organize it, timebox it, and rank it. That’s how we end up with the quiet pressure to “be strong,” to stop talking about the person who died, or to act like the funeral is the finish line. I’m push...
Grief: Putting Yourself Aside
You can be the person who holds everyone together and still be hurting. That tension has been weighing on my heart lately, because so many of us practice “self care” in theory while living out the opposite in real life: we spend our energy serv...
You Are Not Alone In Grief
I thank you for coming here and making this space a part of your grief journey. Grief can be loud, or it can be eerily quiet. Either way, it can convince you that you are on your own. I recorded this message for you to hea...
Grief Asking For Attention
Grief has a way of making us disappear from ourselves. In this episode, we discuss how we stay busy, stay quiet, keep it moving, and hope time will do the work we refuse to touch. But when nobody talks about grief, we often...
Rest Is Part Of Grieving
In this episode, we discuss how your body can only carry grief for so long before it starts sending louder signals. We talk honestly about what it feels like when you’ve been pushing through loss for weeks, month...
Holding Space For Mother’s Day Grief
Mother’s Day lands differently when your mom is gone or when motherhood has been shaped by loss. This episode follows Morher’s Day weekend here in the U.S. and I wanted to honor the place a mother has in our lives. And, to let the ...
Grieving More Than a Death
This episode comes from the thick envelope from a lawyer that lands in my mailbox and flips my whole day upside down. Inside is news I never expected to learn this way: my aunt has died, and I don’t even know when it happened.
Normalizing Death Helps Children
In today’s episode we talk again about children and grief. We discuss how important it is for children to see death as a natural part of life. They need to be part of conversations and hear adults talking. If talking about death aro...
Children And Grief
I’m sitting in a park in my hometown, gently swinging while we talk about something most families stumble through: children and grief. When a divorce hits, a loved one dies, a pet dies, or life changes in the way it can, children are often the ...
When Grief Hits I’m Here
In this episode, I talk honestly about the days when I’m grieving in more than one way, when words are nonexistent, and when grief whispers, “stay in bed”. If you’re coping with loss right now, I want you to feel seen and supported....
Grief For Those You Did Not Know
Some grief doesn’t get “approved” by the people around you. It shows up when someone says you didn’t know them, didn’t have them long enough, or shouldn’t still be thinking about it. I share a personal, tender look at that kind of i...
Grief Mind, The Call You Can’t Make
Your hand reaches for the phone before your brain catches up. For a split second, it feels perfectly natural to call your dad, your mom, your person and then reality hits, and the grief rushes in.I share a moment that happened to me thi...
What If Silence Is The Real Mistake
In this episode, we talk about why so many of us hesitate to reach out after someone grieves the death of a loved one and how that silence can grow when weeks turn into months. Frances makes the case that it is not too late, that yo...
When Grief On The Page Feels Too Real
In this episode, I discuss how a book can be something we look forward to until it suddenly feels like a mirror. I sit down ready to gather grief resources and instead I’m stopped cold by a story that’s too close to home. With my brother-...
Grief and a Birthday
A birthday can be a celebration and a gut punch at the same time, especially when it arrives only weeks after a funeral. Today I’m holding space for my brother in law’s family and anyone staring down a hard date: your loved one’s bi...
Grace In Grief: Choosing Rest, Choosing Connection
Ever have a day where your heart says not tonight and the world keeps asking anyway? We start right there—at the honest edge of not wanting to show up—and talk about how grief reshapes energy, attention, and appetite for connection. Frances, th...
When Grief Knocks You Sideways
Grief doesn’t ask if you’re ready. It arrives and sometimes it knocks you flat. In this episode, I open up about the death of my brother‑in‑law and how the shock unsettled not just my thoughts but my body, even with years of trainin...
Fifty Episodes, Zero Rules For Grief
Plans unraveled, but the heart of our work held steady. We set out to share the origin story behind “the caring death doula” for a milestone 50th episode and ran into tech roadblocks—so we did what grief teaches best: we stayed present. This co...
Why “I’m Sorry For Your Loss” Still Matters
In this episode, Frances, The Caring Death Doula, pushes back on grief-shaming and makes the case that a simple “I’m sorry for your loss” is better than nothing.Frances shares how to move from polite words to real presence, and how to in...