Young Grief

Emely Melendez and Max Hoffmann

The start of every great friendship begins with… grief group? Having both experienced parental loss in their early twenties, hosts Emely and Max share their personal experiences with confronting grief as young adults. Challenging the notion that time heals all wounds, the pair offer listeners advice on how to navigate life after loss, as well as shed light on how you can show up and support a grieving friend. There is laughing, there is crying, but mostly there are brutally honest conversations about what happens when life throws you a curveball.

Episodes

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 8: New Year, Same Shit

    After a brief hiatus, hosts Emely and Max catch up on recent life events. Those include a new loss, another milestone missed, lessons learned from the aches of growing pains, discussions of secondary losses, and hopes for future healing.

    32 min

  2. 12/06/2025

    Episode 7: Till Death Do Us Part

    Imagine if the happiest day of your life is also one of the saddest. Well, if you are a young griever, you’ve probably already experienced some version of this duality. Whether it be a birthday, graduation, engagement, or any significant milestone, holding polar opposite feelings at the same time is no easy task. In this episode, hosts Emely and Max discuss how attending weddings has stirred up a mix of complicated emotions and fears, and share how they plan on dealing with those when planning a celebration of their own.

    39 min

  3. 10/05/2025

    Episode 6: Was That You?

    Everyone has an opinion on signs. Some of us may find solace in the passing of a bird, the flicker of a light, or the odd placement of a dime. Others may chalk it up to mere coincidence. Hosts Emely and Max voice their opinions on signs from the beyond, dissecting how their opposing viewpoints may actually be echoes of the same feelings.

    40 min

  4. 08/17/2025

    Episode 5: Friendships That Fizzle

    There’s no way to soften the blow—friendships are harder to maintain once you’ve lost a loved one.  When the going gets tough and people stop showing up, relationships change. Hosts Emely and Max share how they navigated this shift in the aftermath of losing their parents, and how the shrinking of friendship circles accelerates as a young griever.

    39 min

  5. 06/14/2025

    Episode 4: Mother’s and Father’s Day

    It’s that time of year again—the birds are chirping, flowers are in full bloom, temperatures are rising, and the sun is shining. Which can only mean one thing, right? It’s crying season! With Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations packing a one-two gut punch, hosts Emely and Max share how they navigate these two holidays full of complex emotions, and how coping for them has changed over the years.

    39 min

  6. 04/25/2025

    Episode 3: If We Don’t Laugh, We’ll Cry

    After a horrible experience at the doctor’s office, hosts Emely and Max unload their feelings about uncomfortable situations young grievers face. They bond over ridiculous assumptions made, unfair expectations held, and the sadness felt in the absence of their deceased loved ones. Get ready for a cathartic release that will hopefully make you laugh in 3, 2, 1…

    49 min

  7. 02/10/2025

    Episode 2: Coping with Grief

    Every person’s journey with grief is different, yet many of the ways in which we process our grief can be similar. In this episode, hosts Emely and Max share how they struggled to cope with loss as young adults, navigating a new life without parental guidance. While many mistakes were made, many lessons were also learned and are shared in this episode as a beacon of hope for those that find themselves facing similar situations.

    40 min

  8. 12/22/2024

    Episode 1: Happy Holidays?

    In this inaugural episode, hosts Emely and Max talk about the range of emotions grievers face during the holiday season. They swap horror stories of celebrations gone wrong from years past, learnings from mistakes previously made, provide tips on how to best support someone struggling during this time of year, and remind grievers themselves that you don’t always have to grin and bear it.

    35 min

  9. 12/21/2024

    Episode 0: Introduction

    In this introduction, hosts Emely and Max share who they are, how they met, their feelings about joining a grief group, and how it impacted their journeys, eventually leading them to create this very podcast.

    12 min
  • 9 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

The start of every great friendship begins with… grief group? Having both experienced parental loss in their early twenties, hosts Emely and Max share their personal experiences with confronting grief as young adults. Challenging the notion that time heals all wounds, the pair offer listeners advice on how to navigate life after loss, as well as shed light on how you can show up and support a grieving friend. There is laughing, there is crying, but mostly there are brutally honest conversations about what happens when life throws you a curveball.

Information

  • Creator
    Emely Melendez and Max Hoffmann
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    9
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Emely Melendez and Max Hoffmann
  • Show Website
    Young Grief