October 30th, 2026
When Emily Bolcik's boyfriend, Dan, died suddenly in 2021, her world split into before and after. In the before, she and Dan were on the precipice of exciting life adventures. In the after, Emily found herself navigating the shock of his death, the trauma of finding his body, and a world that seemed to expect her to move forward before she could even begin to understand what had happened. Emily is the author of I Found My Boyfriend's Dead Body on the Floor and Then Tried to Be Polite and Never Bring It Up Again. In this conversation, she talks about the messy, complex, and often unexpected realities of grief: feeling embarrassed by the depth of her pain, finding connection with people who have experienced similar losses, and learning how to be present with someone else's grief without trying to fix it. She also reflects on how creativity, humor, spirituality, and her volunteer work at Dougy Center with children who are grieving continue to shape her life.
Go To Episode
This is an encore episode that originally aired on February 25th, 2019. Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC, recently published her new book, Anxiety, the Missing Stage of Grief, that delves into all the ways read more...
Go to Episode
When someone dies, many of us expect to cry and feel frustrated, but we aren’t as prepared for intense fear and worry. Anxiety can catch us off-guard, either because we’ve never dealt with it before o read more...
Go to Episode
When someone dies, many of the people left behind seek out formal sources of help like a therapist or traditional support group. What happens though when those avenues don’t feel like the right fit? T read more...
Go to Episode
The list of things that are hard to do when you’re grieving is long - eating, sleeping, focusing, surface-level chit-chat, remembering where you left your phone, planning for the future, or forgiving read more...
Go to Episode