“A place where we can be ourselves”

After Sam died of cardiac arrest at the age of 41, Adriane was eager to find support for her two sons. Abe and Sol (ages 10 and 9 at the time of their father’s death nearly nine years ago) appreciated the unspoken understanding they found at Dougy Center. It was a place where they could be around other kids who had experienced a similar loss. Peer grief support groups at Dougy Center are organized by age and by the type of death their person experienced, while also recognizing that each loss is unique. Adriane reflected, “Sharing space with other kids who had endured a similar circumstance was incredibly grounding and reassuring for my boys. They did not feel like they were the only ones. They did not feel alone. It was a space where you could share and talk if you wanted or listen and process quietly. Healing can be found in all of it.”

Latest Episode

September 11th, 2026

Easing The Bureaucracy Of Loss - Frank Flores & FamiliaLista

When Frank Flores's younger brother Marcelo died suddenly at 23, Frank found himself in an unfamiliar role: identifying his brother's body, navigating paperwork, and figuring out how to bring him home to the U.S. from Mexico. There was little room for grief. Instead, Frank went back to work - and then worked even more. Five years later, Frank's father died during COVID. Once again, grief was crowded out by the bureaucracy of death: bank accounts, debts, paperwork, family responsibilities, and the messy, exhausting task of untangling a life after death. Frank describes this as a "mountain of paperwork stacked on top of our grief." It took years for Frank to recognize how staying busy prevented him from being with his grief. That realization eventually became part of the inspiration for FamiliaLista, a bilingual resource designed to help people organize the information family members need if someone becomes unable to speak for themselves—or after they die. In this conversation, Frank talks about the deaths of his brother and father, the pressure he felt to be strong for his family, cultural discomfort with talking about death, and how he's making more space for grief. He also shares his hope that preparing for death can be understood not as morbid or inviting death, but as an act of love. read more...