Remember the last time you tried to talk about grief and suddenly everyone left the room? Hosted by Jana DeCristofaro and produced by Dougy Center, Grief Out Loud® is opening up this often avoided conversation because grief is hard enough without having to go through it alone. We bring you a mix of personal stories, tips for supporting children, teens, and yourself, and interviews with professionals. Platitude and cliché-free, we promise!
February 20th, 2026
In this episode of Grief Out Loud, we talk with death & grief care professional, educator, and cultural advocate Joél Simone, also known as The Grave Woman. Joél shares the story behind a childhood drawing that declared her future as "the grave woman," and how that early curiosity about death grew into a lifelong vocation in funeral service, grief education, and cultural competency. Drawing from decades of experience, Joél reflects on the spiritual, cultural, and embodied dimensions of grief, including what she's learned by listening closely to families, children, and traditions that are too often overlooked. Joél also talks about her work as founder of the Multicultural Death & Grief Care Academy, including immersive learning experiences that center history, ritual, land, and lineage. Throughout the conversation, she invites us to rethink what ritual looks like and how tending to culture can provide grounding and support for grief.
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A lot goes into talking about the people in our lives who have died. Who do we tell? What do we share, not only about the person and what they meant to us, but about how they died? The words we choose read more...
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Holly Pruett, a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant who helps families to design individualized rituals for the end of life shares the wisdom she's acquired from years of working with people who are seekin read more...
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How do grief, stress, and trauma affect our bodies, brains, and emotions? Jill shares some easy to implement mindfulness suggestions for both adults and children to increase awareness and ease in resp read more...
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The term comfort food usually brings to mind mac and cheese, lasagna, brownies, and other combinations of sugar and simple carbohydrates. When someone dies, the casseroles start to arrive, even when g read more...
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Grief Out Loud® is supported in part by the Chester Stephan Endowment Fund in loving memory by the estate of Theodore R. Stephan.
Dougy Center, through the Grief Out Loud podcast, is committed to learning from and sharing diverse perspectives on grief experiences and grief support. The views expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Dougy Center, its staff, or its Board of Directors.