Growing Up Grieving Podcast

Cait Medugno
  • 5.0 (8)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

Growing Up Grieving — a place where grief is complicated, humor is necessary, and speaking your griefy truth is always encouraged. Cousins Cait Medugno and Alyssa Shepard team up as cohosts to dive even deeper into the messy, emotional, and sometimes absurd realities of grief. With each episode, they explore how loss impacts relationships, identity, and everyday life—bringing in guests with powerful stories for unfiltered perspectives.

  1. S2E26 - Season 2 Recap: The Griefy Moments We Can’t Stop Thinking About

    11/24/2025

    S2E26 - Season 2 Recap: The Griefy Moments We Can’t Stop Thinking About

    Season 2 comes to a close, and we’re sending it off with a full-hearted, full-volume celebration. In this finale, Alyssa and Cait revisit the guests, the stories, and the conversations that shaped one of our most transformative seasons yet. We dig into the episodes that moved us, surprised us, challenged us, and reminded us why this community matters so deeply. This season also brought new energy and new traditions—from our unfiltered Would You Rather: Grief Edition to our soul-honest Speak Your Griefy Truth segment (and mantra.) We’re talking about what those additions brought out in us and in our guests, and why they’re definitely here to stay. And of course… our four signature questions of the season. We compare every guest’s answers, explore the themes that showed up again and again, and reflect on the raw truths shared across the entire season. To wrap things up, here’s a look back at every episode that made Season 2 unforgettable: SEASON 2 EPISODE LIST ​ S2E15 — Meet Your New Cohost: Alyssa’s Grief Story​ S2E16 — Flipping the Script: Revisiting Cait’s Grief Story​ S2E17 — Grief + Relationships: The Fallout, the Friction, and the Few Who Stay​ S2E18 — Don’t Say That! What to Say (and Not Say) to Someone Who Is Grieving​ S2E19 — 5 Unusual Grief and Burial Customs From Around the World​ S2E20 — Stephanie Swanson Chang: Bold Truths from a Bereaved Mother​ S2E21 — Grief, Loss, and a Higher Calling with QueenAvius: The Hopeful Strategist​ S2E22 — From Loss to Legacy: Paula Garrant and The Reid Landry Garrant Foundation​ S2E23 — Caregiving, Grief, and Everything That Comes After with Sara Tomaselli​ S2E24 — The Grief No One Talks About: Pet Loss with RealTalkLaz​ S2E25 — Widowhood, Grief, and Rebuilding with Rachel Guida It’s reflective, heartfelt, a little chaotic in the best way—and a tribute to everyone who trusted us with their stories this season. Here’s to the griefy goodness we created together… and to what’s coming next.

    1h 2m
  2. S2E25 - Widowhood, Grief and Rebuilding with Rachel Guida

    11/17/2025

    S2E25 - Widowhood, Grief and Rebuilding with Rachel Guida

    For our final guest of Season 2, we sit down with someone deeply woven into the heart of this podcast — Cait’s sister, Rachel Guida. Rachel shares the story of losing her husband, Mark Guida, who passed away in April 2025 after a courageous battle with biliary (bile duct) cancer. She brings us into the layered world of anticipatory grief: with financial planning, the difficult but necessary conversations about funeral wishes, and the emotional preparation that begins long before a loss becomes real. To live her life and “not die along with him” - that sentiment has helped her continue pushing forward while navigating caregiving, decisions, and the slow shift into a life she never imagined for herself. Rachel also speaks openly about what it was like to unexpectedly stumble into dating again — a vulnerable, complicated, and deeply human part of rebuilding her life after loss. A reminder that even in the darkest chapters, your story isn’t over.

    1h 12m
  3. S2E24 - The Grief No One Talks About: Pet Loss with RealTalkLaz

    11/10/2025

    S2E24 - The Grief No One Talks About: Pet Loss with RealTalkLaz

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, Cait and Alyssa sit down with Laz Becerra, host of The Real Talk Laz Podcast, for a conversation that’s equal parts heartfelt and hilarious. We dive into the world of pet loss—a kind of grief that’s often dismissed or misunderstood—and Laz shares the story of losing his first dog, the one who started it all. Together, we talk about disenfranchised grief, coping mechanisms, and why mourning a pet can hit just as hard as any other kind of loss. And don’t worry—between the tears and truths, there were plenty of laughs. Because sometimes the best way to talk about grief… is to laugh right through it! Tune in for a real, raw, and unexpectedly funny conversation about love, loss, and the paw prints they leave behind.

    1h 5m
  4. S2E23 - Caregiving, Grief, and Everything That Comes After with Sara Tomaselli

    09/22/2025

    S2E23 - Caregiving, Grief, and Everything That Comes After with Sara Tomaselli

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, host Cait Medugno and co-host Alyssa Shepard talk with friend and former coworker Sara Tomaselli about the realities of being a primary caregiver for her father before his passing. Sara opens up about what happens after caregiving ends—the mountain of paperwork, the endless phone calls with corporations that show little empathy, and why something as simple as getting enough death certificates can make all the difference. This conversation goes beyond the emotional weight of grief to highlight the practical side of loss—the to-do list no one prepares you for. Sara shares her honest experiences navigating financial and legal responsibilities, and learning how to advocate for herself during an overwhelming time. If you’ve ever been a caregiver, or know you may be one in the future, this episode offers validation, guidance, and hard-earned insights about what it really takes to support a loved one at the end of life—and how to care for yourself in the process.

    51 min
  5. S2E22 - From Loss to Legacy: Paula Garrant and The Reid Landry Garrant Foundation

    09/15/2025

    S2E22 - From Loss to Legacy: Paula Garrant and The Reid Landry Garrant Foundation

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, we sit down with Paula Garrant, MSW, LICSW — a seasoned therapist with over 20 years of experience in psychology, social work, and grief support. Paula’s career has spanned mental health, trauma recovery, crisis intervention, family systems, and leadership in hospital psychiatry and emergency services. But her story is also deeply personal. After the sudden loss of her son Reid to a rare leukemia, Paula founded The Reid Landry Garrant Foundation (Reid’s Rebels) just one month later. Through this nonprofit, she has turned unimaginable grief into purpose — supporting families facing treatment financially, raising grief awareness, and fostering community healing. Paula shares her journey of navigating both professional expertise and personal heartbreak, what it means to channel grief into action, and how Reid’s legacy continues to inspire hope for years to come. Reids Rebels - Home of RLG Foundation. Let’s stop Leukemia! Seascape Therapeutic Counseling & Therapy | Seascape Therapy | United States

    1h 2m
  6. S2E21 - Grief, Loss, and A Higher Calling With QueenAvius: The Hopeful Strategist

    09/08/2025

    S2E21 - Grief, Loss, and A Higher Calling With QueenAvius: The Hopeful Strategist

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, Cait Medugno and co-host Alyssa Shepard sit down with Queen Poole aka QueenAvius—kinship mom, grief educator, and “glow-up strategist.” Queen shares her powerful story of losing her mother, grandmother, and sister—the three foundational women in her life—and how those losses shaped her journey through grief, faith, and unexpected motherhood. From the compounded heartbreak of losing 15 loved ones in a single year to the life-altering responsibility of becoming a “mom-tee” overnight, Queen opens up about what it means to hold on when everything feels like it’s falling apart. She talks about navigating court battles for custody, the weight of making end-of-life decisions, and how her faith and community continue to carry her forward. This conversation is raw, moving, and filled with resilience. Queen reminds us that while grief can completely change who we are, it can also strengthen our hope, reshape our identity, and open us to unexpected love in the most beautiful of ways.

    1h 9m
  7. S2E20 - Stephanie Swanson Chang: Bold Truths from a Bereaved Mother

    08/18/2025

    S2E20 - Stephanie Swanson Chang: Bold Truths from a Bereaved Mother

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, we sit down with Stephanie Swanson Chang — a writer, mother, and advocate who is not afraid to speak her mind about grief. She shares bold and poignant insights into navigating child loss on TikTok and social media, often breaking the silence around a topic so many find too heavy to talk about. Stephanie opens up about losing her son Joshua, and explains how her grief journey has reshaped her life. She shares what’s helped her through the hardest moments, including the power of grief journaling — a practice she now teaches in workshops to help other bereaved parents process their loss. What makes Stephanie’s voice so powerful is the way she balances raw honesty with hope. She doesn’t shy away from the hardest truths of grief, but she also offers practical ways of coping and moving forward — reminding us there can still be connection, meaning, and small moments of healing. Even in the heaviness of grief, Stephanie brings honesty, warmth, and a little bit of laughter… And for the first time, we play Speak Your Griefy Truth — a new segment where guests draw two random grief-related questions and share candid reflections about their grief. Growing Up Grieving Podcast - a place where grief is complicated, humor is necessary, and speaking your griefy truth is always encouraged!

    54 min
  8. S2E19 - 5 Unusual Grief and Burial Customs From Around The World

    08/11/2025

    S2E19 - 5 Unusual Grief and Burial Customs From Around The World

    In this episode of Growing Up Grieving, we’re traveling the globe (without ever leaving our microphones) to explore five fascinating and sometimes surprising grief and burial customs from different corners of the world. From the sky-high mystery of hanging coffins to the soulful rhythms of New Orleans jazz funerals, the ritual of consuming one’s bones in endocannibalism, the joyful bone-turning tradition of Famadihana, and the eerie elegance of seated burials, we’re diving into practices that challenge how we think about honoring the dead. We’re not anthropologists, historians, or world travelers (unless Google Street View counts), but we did our research on the internet—so you know… it’s at least 78% accurate. Join us for a mix of curiosity, respect, and just enough awkward laughter to remind you this is still your favorite show Growing Up Grieving. Growing Up Grieving - a place where grief is complicated, humor is necessary, and speaking your griefy truth is always encouraged!

    52 min
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About

Growing Up Grieving — a place where grief is complicated, humor is necessary, and speaking your griefy truth is always encouraged. Cousins Cait Medugno and Alyssa Shepard team up as cohosts to dive even deeper into the messy, emotional, and sometimes absurd realities of grief. With each episode, they explore how loss impacts relationships, identity, and everyday life—bringing in guests with powerful stories for unfiltered perspectives.

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