Good Grief

Cheryl Espinosa-Jones

4.9 (14)
HEALTH & FITNESS
UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

On Good Grief we explore the losses that define our lives. Each week, we talk with people who have transformed themselves through the profound act of grieving. Why settle for surviving? Say yes to the many experiences that embody loss! Grief can teach you where your strengths are and ignite your courage. It can heighten your awareness of what is important to you and help you let go of what is not.

1D AGO

Ashes

Cheryl Krauter and her husband, John, assumed she would die first. After all, she had lived through an aggressive breast cancer diagnosis that challenged her resilience and health. But then it was him, suddenly, with no warning at all. His heart attack killed him in under five minutes. Taken to her knees but relying on the tools she had relied on to navigate cancer and every other challenge in her life, Cheryl acknowledged her experience, noticed what seemed to help her, and looked for the power in her own experience, including magic serendipity. Months after his death, he won the fly fishing trip in the yearly raffle he had tried for years to win. Now she would take the trip to honor him while grappling with how to move forward. Cheryl Krauter, MFT an Existential Humanistic psychotherapist with over 40 years of experience in the field of depth psychology and human consciousness. With her background in theater arts, working with performing artists, visual artists and creative people has inspired her. She works with people who have been diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, their partners, family members, and caregivers. She has published two books on cancer: Surviving the Storm: A Workbook for Telling Your Cancer Story (Oxford University Press 2017) and Psychosocial Care of Cancer Survivors: A Clinician's Guide and Workbook for Providing Wholehearted Care (Oxford University Press 2018). Her book Odyssey of Ashes: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Letting Go (She Writes Press 2021) was released on July 20, 2021. She is a contributor to Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis: Women Writers Respond to the Call (She Writes Press, July 2022) and a contributor to Loss and Grief: Personal Stories of Doctors and Other Healthcare Professionals (Oxford University Press, August 2022.) She was given the Distinguished Public Service Aware by the American Psychosocial Oncology Society in 2022.

52 min
JAN 14

Taking Tea With Elisabeth

Ken Ross grew up immersed in the work of his mother, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Unlike most people in the West, he was immersed in a world where death, dying and grief wer openly talked about and explored. How did he come to view his unique experience with the pioneering author of On Death and Dying? We will talk about his mother's work, his childhood and how he carries her work forward, honoring the legacy she left. We'll also explore how he thinks his own perspective on end of life has been formed by his unusual upbringing. Ken Ross, son of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, is the founder of the EKR Foundation (2006) and President (2006-2013 & 2018-Present). He also served on the board of the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center from 1989-2005. Ken was his mother's primary caregiver for the last nine years of her life until her passing in 2004. From childhood through adulthood, he accompanied her on extensive international travel, observing her lectures and workshops on death, dying, and the human experience—an influence that continues to inform his work today. As President of the EKR Foundation, Ken oversees relationships with more than 80 international publishing partners in 44 languages, leads global public relations, manages copyright and trademark matters, expands the foundation's international chapters, cultivates strategic partnerships, and curates Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's personal archives. To honor the 50th anniversary of On Death and Dying, Ken appeared in major media outlets—including Radiolab, BBC's Witness History, Irish National Radio, and ABC Australia—sharing reflections on his mother's enduring influence. From 2022 to 2023, he delivered foundation presentations in Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nepal, Singapore, and Uganda. In 2023, he was recognized as an Honorary Faculty Member at the University of Indonesia's School of Economics in Jakarta. Ken also serves on the Board of Directors of Open to Hope and sits on the Advisory Council of the Humane Prison Hospice Project.

55 min
JAN 7

Magic in Ordinary Things

When Gina Harris' parents died, she tried to stay connected to them through memory and music. As a jazz singer, over time she began to sing her sorrow, and her healing. The music that came out of this deep place in her led her to offer it to others, in performances and a podcast series dedicated to them and to her own grief process. Join us as we talk about what compelled her to create the series and how it helped her to move forward after loss. Gina Harris is a singer/songwriter and actor who has performed in theaters and jazz clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. A protégé of Columbia Recording artist, Lilian Loran, and a veteran of the Groundlings and Peggy Feury's Loft Studio; Gina had a leading role in Peter Ustinov's Broadway and national touring productions of Beethoven's Tenth. Her solo musical, "The Magic of Ordinary Things," played to sold-out audiences in San Francisco as part of the "Let's Reimagine" Festival in 2019 and The Marsh Rising Series in early 2020. She then turned the show into an audio drama podcast, created in the popular radio drama format. The podcast is now available on all streaming platforms as well as her website: www.ginaharris.com.

55 min
12/31/2025

Night Lake

Liz Tichenor has taken her newborn son, five weeks old, to the doctor, from a cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe. She is sent home to her husband and two-year-old daughter with the baby, who is pronounced "fine" by an urgent care physician. Six hours later, the baby dies in their bed. Less than a year and a half before, Tichenor's mother jumped from a building and killed herself after a long struggle with alcoholism. As a very young Episcopal priest, Tichenor has to "preach the Good News," to find faith where there is no hope, but she realizes these terrible parts of her own life will join her in the pulpit. The Night Lake is the story of finding a way forward through tragedies that seem like they might be beyond surviving and of carving out space for the slow labor of learning to live again, in grief. Liz Tichenor, the author of The Night Lake, has put down roots in the Bay Area but is originally from New Hampshire and the Midwest. An Episcopal priest, she serves as rector at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill, California. Tichenor and her husband, Jesse, are raising two young children and continuing to explore the adventure of living, parenting, and serving in their community.

55 min
12/24/2025

Holiday Grieving

Our life losses can seem overwhelming when it appears the rest of the world is celebrating. But in fact, we are in good company! Holidays are natural times to remember people we've lost and to honor them. But how do we step back from the high intensity, busy shopping and party season to make space for our grief? How can the people in our lives who have died bring deeper meaning and resonance to our holidays? Instead of feeling like we're out of step, can we allow the season to be a time for honoring, remembering and making connection with the people we've lost? Winter is a natural time of reflection and remembrance. Join us to explore how to integrate losses into the season. Tom Zuba is a life coach, author and speaker teaching people all over the world a new way to do grief. Tom offers those living with the death of someone they love dearly the tools, knowledge, and wisdom to create a full, joy-filled life. In 1990, Tom's 18-month-old daughter Erin died suddenly. His 43-year-old wife Trici died equally as suddenly on New Year's Day 1999 and his 13-year-old son Rory died from brain cancer in 2005. Tom and his son Sean are exploring life one day at a time in Rockford, Illinois. Tom's first book "Permission to Mourn: A New Way to Do Grief" was the subject of our interview together at the beginning of 2015, and he has come back to talk with me about grief and the holidays.

56 min
12/03/2025

Disappearing Mother

When dementia comes for someone we love, how do we maintain connection and relationship? For Suzanne Finnamore it takes accepting that her mother, in her final stage of dementia, lives in another country; Suzanne has needed to learn the customs and accept the differences. When she can accept, there is room for magic, including the magic of living as if there is no death; where everyone we ever loved is still alive. Suzanne is able to see the ways in which her mother is still herself and still vital. She is able to see the beauty of her mother's marriage and the life she built out of loss and challenge. They are able to love each other in the present moment whether all is remembered or nothing is. Suzanne Finnamore was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1982 with a degree in English Literature. She has published four books and has been translated into twenty languages. Her debut novel was a Barnes & Noble Discover New Author selection. Her second book was a Washington Post Book of the Year in 2002. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Marin Magazine, PoetryNow, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and has been included on several Oprah reading lists. She lives with her very last husband, Tom, and their two little dogs. My Disappearing Mother: A Memoir of Magic and Loss in the Country of Dementia began as a column in The New York Times, "Dementia Is A Place Where My Mother Lives. It Is Not Who She Is," which ran on Mother's Day 2022.

55 min
11/19/2025

A Rad American

What does it take to prepare ourselves to do the work of anti-racism? At this time when there is an outcry against racism and oppression, many white Americans are confronting the hard truth that we benefit from the system that oppresses others. How do we face that truth, which involves a loss of who we thought we were, and find unique actions we can sustain to bring about change? Kate Schatz has been searching for answers to these questions for years and, when her friend W. Kamau Bell offered her up as a white person willing to help Conan O'Brien sort it out, she became a resource for many people asking the hard questions and searching for the true answers. Kate Schatz is the New York Times-bestselling author of Rad American Women A-Z, Rad Women Worldwide, Rad Girls Can, Rad American History A-Z, the illustrated journal My Rad Life, and the book of fiction Rid of Me. She's a writer, activist, public speaker, and educator who speaks often about feminism, anti-racism, parenting, politics, American history, and more. She lives with her family on the island of Alameda.

55 min
11/05/2025

Keep Going

Aimee DuFresne lost her father and young husband within a year of each other. Devastated by the loss, she had to choose how to continue living her life. Ultimately, she found the courage not just to live but to create a life beyond what she had imagined. Her choice, to live life to the fullest, led to a career that has included a radio show, several books, and a coaching practice to help other women live their best life, encouraging her clients to live the healthy life she has found for herself. As she says several years later, "My focus is not on the pain of the loss, but the joy in the living." Kicking off her thirtieth birthday with a surprise celebration in Iceland, Aimee DuFresne was oblivious to the fact that the year would soon be filled with tragedy and unimaginable heartbreak. In the next 12 months Aimee lost the two most significant men in her life: her ailing father and her young husband. In her deepest state of grief, Aimee realized she had a choice: she could simply give up or she could fight to keep going. She began letting go of fears to live her life to the fullest and realized her dream of being an author, a speaker, a radio show host and healthy living chef. After transforming her own life, she now empowers other women around the world to do the same.

55 min

See All (541)

4.9

out of 5

14 Ratings

Great podcast

12/05/2022

RSB5

Cheryl is warm, prepared and so knowledgeable. Thank you for your important work in helping us all learn from loss.
Great Host!

02/08/2022

David Richman Author

Cheryl is a great host! She's very welcoming, engaging, and knows how to get the flow going. I had a great time being interviewed on her beautiful Good Grief show. Way to go, Cheryl!
Wonderful Host & Show

12/10/2021

Sabine Gedeon

Cheryl is an amazing and engaging host! She made me feel at ease during the interview and I had a wonderful sharing my story, lessons learned, and strategies to help others move through their seasons of trauma, grief, and growth. Thanks Cheryl!