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
38 episodes
Every Grief is Valid and No One Can Set Your Timeline
Here in the first episode of our second year, we restate this as a safe space to come if you are grieving. We name losses that don’t fit tidy boxes and reject rigid rules about how grief should look. We affirm that grief is love we carry forwar...
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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8:29
Holding Space: Ending A Season, Carrying Love Forward
We close a season and a year by naming a simple truth: grief has no rules, and love doesn’t end. We offer permission to feel, encouragement to say their names, and practical ways to show up for one another.• ending the season with grati...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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7:40
Holding Space for Grief On A Holiday
Christmas morning can hurt when grief is close. I speak softly to anyone carrying loss today, offering permission to feel, simple ways to cope, and the steady reminder that being seen can help you get through the hours.• holding space f...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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4:57
Gentle Grace in Grief
A birthday arrives, the phone stays silent, and what lingers is not just absence but the weight of everything left unsaid. In this episode I share a personal story about my birthdays and my dad. We didn’t have the closest relationsh...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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6:04
Holding On Through Holiday Grief
Today, in this episode, I speak to those carrying fresh or long-held grief during this season. I offer calm words, gentle practices, and a reminder that one step; one breath at a time is all you need to focus on today. • simple ...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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4:53
Standing Strong In Your Grief
In this episode, we reaffirm this podcast as a space for people who are grieving and affirm that there is no right or wrong way to mourn. You are other to stand firm against shame, hold to your pace, and see tears as proof of love, not fa...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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6:19
Missing Someone After Ten Plus Years
In this episode, I share with you how grief can resurface after a decade and why that does not mean we failed to heal. A small moment online triggers a wave of memory, and we choose compassion over judgment while inviting space to speak names o...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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8:57
Grieving? No timeline.
In this episode, I speak directly to you who are carrying fresh or lingering grief, offering a steady reminder that there is no timeline and no approval needed to feel what you feel. I hold space, affirm your worth, and invite simpl...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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4:56
Slowing Down, Honoring Grief, Finding Rest
Holidays can be tender when the world expects sparkle and your heart feels heavy. In this episode, I begin with warm Thanksgiving wishes and then get honest about why December needs to be slower: to protect our energy, honor real limits, and le...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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7:50
A Hard Week of Grief
In this episode, we acknowledge a week where losses stacked up—canceled plans, a dream that slipped away, and a mentor relationship that ended. We share how grief lives in the body, why rest is needed, and how small choices protect energy while...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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10:36
Grief and Loved Ones During Celebrations
In this episode, we discuss how when holidays, birthdays, and family celebrations collide with loss, the result can be a confusing mix of love, pressure, and exhaustion. We walk through a compassionate, practical approach to navigating celebrat...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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11:04
Grief Writing: Simple Rituals To Carry Love Forward
The calendar says it’s time to celebrate, but your heart and body might be telling a different story. We open up about how grief doesn’t just live in feelings—it settles into muscles, breath, and the nervous system, and it can get louder around...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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8:29
When Your Grief is Activated
Some days a scent in a store aisle, a word in a meeting, a song on the radio—and your chest tightens, your thoughts race, and a memory barges in uninvited. We call it activation, and it can make ordinary moments feel impossible. I’m...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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9:41
Releasing Grief FromYour Body
We explore how grief lives in the body and why the nervous system is the doorway to healing, rest, and safety. Simple tools like touch, movement, breath, sound, connection, and tears help shift from overwhelm to regulation.• grief as a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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10:09
Regulating Grief: Simple Body Practices That Soothe A Stressed Nervous System
In today’s episode, we explore how grief shows up in the body and why physical symptoms like tightness, shallow breathing and brain fog are normal responses to loss. We guide simple practices—butterfly hug, shaking, and box breathing—to help th...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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9:10
Grief is not just emotions
Grief isn’t just emotional - living in our thoughts only. It inhabits our breath, our bones, and the spaces between heartbeats. When the mind can’t carry the weight of loss, the body takes over—ramping into fight or flight, collapsing into numb...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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10:51
No Timeline in Grief
We share why grief has no timeline and how changing roles, endings, and losses can erase the map of your life. We offer a challenge to show up for others and become the presence we once needed.• grief as lost roles, dreams, and de...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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8:49
Navigating Grief: Permission To Feel Everything
When loss rearranges your life, it’s easy to wonder whether you’re grieving “the right way.” We open a calm, safe space to remind you that there is no right way—only your way. If you wake up angry, cry at noon, and laugh by evening,...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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4:56
Take care of yourself when grieving
In this episode, we are talking to those of you grieving right now. You are encouraged to grieve without rules and to care for yourself on the hardest days. We remind you that your timeline is valid, your needs matter, and seeking support is a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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5:41
Ways To Support Someone In Grief
What if the most powerful thing you can say to a grieving friend is nothing at all? In this episode, we discuss the quiet, practical ways to support someone facing loss—whether they’re in anticipatory grief before a death or navigating the raw ...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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10:53
Gently Holding Space for Grief
Some days, the most honest thing you can do is be gentle with yourself, cry, rest, and then take another step. We dedicate this episode to anyone living with grief—loss of a person, a pet, a home, a dream—and offer something rare in...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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6:56
Anticipatory Grief
Grief doesn’t always wait for the moment of loss and death—it can arrive early, sit quietly beside us, and shape our days long before goodbye. We explore the reality of anticipatory grief with honesty and care, naming the emotions that surface ...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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14:22
Death needs to be a natural honest part of family life & conversations
I share a candid story about a family conversation on death that left my daughter almost in tears—and why that moment proves the need for open, ongoing talk about endings and grief. In this episode we discuss the importance of plann...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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11:41
Rethinking “normal grief”: love, distance, and the myth of easy loss
The phrase “They lived a good life” sounds comforting—until it lands like a period at the end of a sentence you aren’t ready to finish. In this episode we take a look at the label of “normal” and “uncomplicated grief” and discuss if...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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14:01