Heart Healing Conversations

Dawn Michele Jackson

5.0 (1)
Mental Health

Heart-to-heart conversations about grief, healing, life transitions, and finding your way back to joy. Honest stories, practical wisdom, and compassionate support for anyone navigating life's hardest moments. dawnmichelejackson.substack.com

4d ago

The Hidden Grief of Divorce

What do we really lose when a marriage ends? Divorce is often talked about as the loss of a relationship, but the grief can run much deeper, including loss of a home, friendships, family traditions, financial security, a sense of identity, or the future you thought you were building. In this episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn welcomes her husband, Ed Owens, Vice President of the Grief Recovery Institute, for an honest and personal conversation about the hidden grief of divorce and the losses no one talks about. Having both experienced divorce in the past, they share openly about what they carried from those relationships, what they learned, and how healing changed the way they viewed their past and their future. Together, they explore: * The many losses that can accompany divorce beyond the loss of a partner * Why divorce can leave us feeling like a failure or carrying shame * How anger and blame can keep us connected to the pain * The importance of looking honestly at our own part in a relationship * Why unresolved grief can follow us into future relationships * How divorce and ongoing conflict can affect children * What forgiveness really means, and what it doesn’t mean * Why forgiveness isn’t forgetting or condoning what happened * The importance of being gentle with yourself during heartbreak * Asking yourself, “How is this working for me?” * Recognizing the choices you have about how you respond and move forward * Opening your heart again after it has been hurt * Remembering that you are worthy of love after heartbreak Dawn and Ed also talk about something that can be hard to see in the middle of heartbreak: the pain of how a relationship ended can sometimes overshadow everything that came before it. If you’re navigating divorce or still carrying pain from a past relationship, this conversation will be one you don’t want to miss. You can’t change the past. But you can choose what you carry into what comes next. For more support, check out these resources: ✍️ Article - Beyond the Heartbreak of Divorce ❤️‍🩹 Heart Healing Companion - Navigating Divorce 🎧 Listen to Heart Healing Conversations on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or YouTube Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Host/Guest: Learn more about Dawn Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Ed Owens served in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a First Sergeant in 2009, while also working in law enforcement for many years. Following the devastating loss of his three-year-old son in 2010, Ed discovered the Grief Recovery Institute and found a path toward healing. Today, he serves as a trainer and Vice President of the organization, helping others navigate their own journeys through grief and emotional loss. Follow Ed: LinkedIn You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 28

When Life Keeps Throwing Curveballs

What do you do when life seems to bring one thing after another? In this heartfelt conversation, Dawn talks with productivity coach and mother of three young adults, Mia Moran, about a year when life kept throwing her curveballs. Mia experienced significant health challenges of her own, health concerns involving family members, her son graduating and leaving home, and the emotional shifts that came with entering a new season of life. Through it all, she found herself facing something many of us experience but don’t always know how to talk about: the emotions we carry when life changes in ways we didn’t expect. Dawn and Mia explore: * What it feels like when difficult things keep happening, one after another * The emotional impact of health challenges affecting ourselves and the people we love * Grief that comes with children growing up and leaving home * Why grief and gratitude can exist at the same time * Why slowing down can sometimes be more productive than pushing forward * How to make emotional processing part of the plan rather than something we squeeze in later * Creating space to celebrate, feel, rest, and acknowledge what each season of life is asking of us Mia also shares a powerful perspective on productivity: emotional work deserves space on the calendar, too. This conversation reminds us that we don’t have to pretend we’re okay when we’re carrying more than anyone realizes. We can make room for the hard emotions, acknowledge what we’ve lost or what has changed, and still experience gratitude, love, and joy along the way. Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Hosts: Learn more about Dawn Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Mia Mia Moran is a productivity coach and mom of three young adults who has struck her perfect balance. She supports high-achieving female entrepreneurs overwhelmed by work, life, and wellness, and helps them find their version of balance while making an impact. She hosts the PlanSimple podcast, is a bestselling author, founded Pause Magazine, and created the FLOW Planning Method, the FLOW Planner, and FLOW365. Follow Mia: Instagram, Substack, Podcast, LinkedIn You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 21

Living With MS

In this heartfelt episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn talks with author Cheri Warcholak Lohrey about living with multiple sclerosis and the grief that can accompany a chronic health diagnosis. Cheri was living a full, busy life as an educator, wife, mother, fitness enthusiast, and someone who loved a packed calendar and taking care of things on her own. Her MS diagnosis changed the path she had imagined for herself. But the diagnosis brought more than physical challenges. Cheri describes grieving the loss of her career, independence, familiar routines, and the identity she had built over the years. For nearly a decade, she kept much of her experience to herself, often responding to questions with, “I’m fine,” while carrying much more beneath the surface. Eventually, she had to confront what was happening and learn to navigate life differently. In this conversation, Cheri and Dawn explore: * The grief that can accompany a chronic illness diagnosis * Losing a career and a sense of identity * What it means to look fine on the outside while struggling internally * Learning to slow down and make space for self-care * The difficulty of asking for help when you’ve always been independent * Why community and support matter during difficult transitions * How writing became part of Cheri’s healing journey * Finding creativity and unexpected joy after a major life change * Reframing difficult experiences and looking for what they can teach us Cheri’s message throughout the episode is simple and powerful: Pause. Breathe. Pivot. Sometimes life doesn’t follow the plan we created. That doesn’t mean there can’t be meaning, connection, creativity, and joy in the next chapter. If you’re navigating chronic illness, grief, or a life that looks very different than you expected, this conversation is for you. Follow Cheri on Social Media: Instagram- PoweredbythePivot Facebook- Cheri Warcholak Lohrey LinkedIn - Cheri Warcholak Lohrey Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Host/Guest: Learn more about Dawn Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Cheri Cheri Warcholak Lohrey, a type A planner, a fitness enthusiast, and a career woman, a suburban wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend, was living her life to the fullest when suddenly everything changed. Receiving a tumultuous diagnosis, her life plan was upended. With over 25 years of service as an educator, Cheri’s determination to “Never Give Up” perseveres as she navigates the unexpected challenges of multiple sclerosis progression, illuminating the power of resilience. Cheri is the international bestselling author of Powered by the Pivot; Secrets Revealed in my journey Manifesting Peace, Love & Gratitude; and the 2026 International Impact Award-winning author of Cleo the Caterpillar CAN Pivot: A Story of Decision-making and “I AM Cleo: A Story of Courage.” Her picture books are rhythmically told, inspiring growth in the young and the old. Her mission, both in life and through her writing, is raw, real, and relatable, featuring her personal strategy to Pause, Breathe, and Pivot. Invited on her journey, readers will be inspired to embrace change, feel supported through real-life moments of decision-making, and ease the heaviness of illness. Her messages will strengthen self-confidence, reveal secrets that are often unseen, and empower readers to reframe challenges and consider a perspective shift. Additionally, I AM Cleo debuts Cheri’s illustrations, depicting an intimate look at her personal and symbolic journey through life’s pivots. You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 14

13 Losses in 8 Months

What would it take to keep moving forward when loss seems to come faster than you can process it? In this deeply personal episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn sits down with Boise Thomas, an actor, artist, author, yogi, world traveler, and Grief Recovery Method® Specialist. Boise opens up about an extraordinary season of loss in which he lost 13 people, including his mother, in just eight months, as well as his home, community, security, and beloved cat. Rather than simply moving on, Boise began exploring what it meant to actually heal the grief he was carrying. He shares how asking for help changed the direction of his life, how the Grief Recovery Method® helped him heal his emotional heart, and how walking the Camino de Santiago became an unexpected part of his healing journey. In this episode: • Why asking for help can be an important part of healing • Boise’s experience with the Grief Recovery Method® • Powerful miracles while walking the Camino de Santiago • Staying connected to loved ones after death • Finding hope after profound loss • Creating new chapters after painful experiences • Continually becoming and reinventing yourself If you’re carrying grief or navigating a difficult transition, we hope this conversation reminds you that healing is possible and that meaningful chapters still lie ahead. Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Host/Guest: Learn more about Dawn Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Boise Boise Thomas is an Actor, Artist, Minister, 2x Author, and Grief Recovery Specialist. After 30 years of seeing all his dreams come true on stages and screens in Hollywood, a death wave (13 losses in 8 months) followed by the January 2025 fires forced him to leave California. His new beginning and reset now find him traveling around the world while getting his master’s & doctorate in Metaphysics, publishing a second book, and working online with grievers. You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 7

The Unexpected Things We Grieve

What does the passing of Dolly Parton have in common with transitioning to an empty nest? At first, they may seem like two completely unrelated experiences. But both can bring up powerful emotions and unexpected feelings of loss. In this episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn and Janna explore the many things we can grieve throughout our lives, including losses we may not expect to affect us so deeply. The conversation begins with the recent loss of Dolly Parton and why so many people can feel genuine sadness when a beloved celebrity dies, even when they never knew that person personally. Dawn and Janna then turn to another significant transition: children growing up and leaving home. Even when we’re proud of our children and excited for their next chapter, their departure can bring sadness, a loss of purpose, and a very different kind of emptiness. In this episode, you’ll hear: * Why we can feel genuine loss when a beloved celebrity dies * How the people who touch our hearts become part of our lives * Why one loss can bring other memories and unresolved emotions to the surface * The complicated emotions that come with children leaving home * Why empty nest grief can include both sadness and excitement * The importance of giving ourselves space to process emotions Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Hosts: Learn more about Dawn Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Janna Janna Wellemeyer is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist who brings compassion and understanding from her own healing journey. You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 31

Emotional Eating

Why do we reach for food when we’re stressed, overwhelmed, grieving, or emotionally uncomfortable? In this episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn talks with Kate Johnston, a former physician assistant and eating habits and weight loss coach, as they explore how emotions, grief, and stress can influence our eating habits. Together, they explore why healthcare professionals and other people in demanding careers often learn to suppress or compartmentalize difficult emotions. You’ll hear about: * Why we often use food to comfort ourselves when we’re uncomfortable * The connection between grief, stress, and emotional eating * How suppressing emotions can affect our lives in ways we don’t expect * Why awareness is an important first step in changing eating habits * How our thoughts can intensify the emotions we’re experiencing * Learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions instead of immediately trying to escape them * Why feeling difficult emotions can actually help us experience joy more fully * The importance of compassion instead of shame when changing our relationship with food * Why you really can learn to handle hard emotions, even if no one taught you how This is a conversation about something many of us experience but rarely talk about: what happens when we don’t know what to do with our emotions. If you’ve ever eaten for comfort, pushed your feelings aside, or wondered why you keep turning to food when you’re not physically hungry, this conversation may give you a new way to understand what’s really happening beneath the surface. Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Host/Guest: Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Dawn Kate Johnston helps women in demanding careers break free from unhealthy eating habits and build habits that support the life and body they love, through her private coaching program, Lighter, her group coaching program, Lighter Together, and her podcast, Eating Habits for Life. As a former Physician Assistant-turned-Eating Habits and Weight Loss Coach who used to emotionally eat, she understands how a demanding career, thoughts, and emotions affect why, what, and how much you eat. Learn more about Kate Eating Habits for Life podcast Kate’s LinkedIn Kate’s Instagram You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 24

What We Avoid by Keeping Busy

What happens when keeping busy becomes a way of avoiding what we’re feeling? In this episode of Heart Healing Conversations, Dawn and Jana talk about the tendency to fill every moment with doing instead of slowing down long enough to feel, process, and simply be. Together, they explore: Why we often keep busy when we’re experiencing grief, pain, or difficult emotions How staying constantly busy can prevent us from processing what we’re feeling Why slowing down and creating space for ourselves can feel so uncomfortable The connection between emotional avoidance, overwhelm, and burnout Why rest and quiet aren’t signs of weakness or selfishness How making yourself a priority can actually help you be more present for the people you love Simple ways to create more breathing room in your day What we might discover when we finally stop long enough to ask, “What am I avoiding?” Why giving ourselves permission to pause can be an important part of healing and finding our way back to joy The episode ends with an invitation to look at your own calendar, priorities, and emotional needs, and to consider where you might make a little more room for yourself. Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Hosts: Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Dawn Janna Wellemeyer is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist who brings compassion and understanding from her own healing journey. Learn more about Janna Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 17

Growing Up With Tools for Emotional Honesty

What happens when you grow up learning how to be emotionally honest? In this heartfelt conversation, Dawn talks with Bradley Owens, her stepson, about what it was like to grow up with the communication tools and principles of the Grief Recovery Method. Bradley shares how learning to acknowledge emotions, communicate honestly, and process painful events has shaped who he is today. Rather than learning these tools later in life, Bradley grew up with them. He reflects on how they influenced his relationship with his dad, his friendships, and romantic relationships He also shares what he believes young men, and really, all of us, need to understand about emotional honesty, slowing down, and giving ourselves permission to feel. In this episode, we talk about: * What it’s like to grow up with tools for emotional honesty * Learning to talk about emotions instead of keeping them inside * The impact of emotional honesty on communication * How we can learn to create space for others to be emotionally honest * Why it’s okay to slow down and take a breath * What emotional honesty can teach us about strength This conversation offers a beautiful glimpse into what can happen when emotional honesty becomes something we learn, not just something we discover after experiencing years of pain. Subscribe to Heart Healing Conversations and join us for honest conversations about grief, healing, and finding joy again after heartbreak and loss. ❤️‍🩹 About Your Hosts: Dawn Michele Jackson, RN, is an Advanced Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, author, and advocate for emotional healing. After more than 30 years in nursing, Dawn helps individuals release unresolved grief and emotional pain so they can reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and what matters most. Learn more about Dawn Bradley Owens grew up learning the principles and tools of Grief Recovery and became the youngest Grief Recovery Method® Specialist in the world. After recently graduating from high school, where he spent four years in the JROTC program, he’s now joining the Air Force to pursue a career in Security Forces. You never have to navigate your healing journey alone. 💕 If you’re looking for support, please schedule a call with me! I’m always here to offer heart-to-heart human support for life’s most difficult moments. Get full access to Heart Healing Conversations at dawnmichelejackson.substack.com/subscribe

See All (13)

Creator

Dawn Michele Jackson
Years Active

2026
Episodes

13
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Heart Healing Conversations

Heart Healing Conversations

Episodes

The Hidden Grief of Divorce

When Life Keeps Throwing Curveballs

Living With MS

13 Losses in 8 Months

The Unexpected Things We Grieve

Emotional Eating

What We Avoid by Keeping Busy

Growing Up With Tools for Emotional Honesty

About

Information