319: A Discussion on Grief & Loss - with Katie Pankonin, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Katie Pankonin is a mental health therapist out of Phoenix, Arizona specializing in grief and relationships. Katie is passionate about normalizing the grief experience and finding relatable ways to humanize the "grief club" we all inevitably join one day. Katie can be found on social media at @enkindle_mentalhealth where she enjoys creating community for those grieving and posting daily mental health content.

In this episode, we explore how grief can be more complex, personal, and nuanced than we're taught. We talk about the journey into grief therapy and importance of normalizing conversations around death and loss. 

We discuss what it can look like to grieve people who are still alive, mourning relationships that were complicated or harmful, exploring parasocial grief, and feeling unexpected emotions of confusion or relief around loss.

In the episode, we reflect on how to support someone who is grieving without unintentionally minimizing their experience, what helpful grief communication can look like, and how meaning can slowly emerge with grief (while not putting pressure for it to).

Whether you're navigating your own grief, supporting someone else through their experience, or simply wanting to understand the many forms grief can take, we hope this conversation can offer a compassionate and nuanced perspective.

FOLLOW KATIE:

INSTA: @enkindle_mentalhealth
TIKOK: @enkindle_mentalhealth
WEBSITE: www.enkindlementalhealth.org

STAY CONNECTED:

INSTA: @trustandthrive
TIKOK: @trustandthrive
THREADS: @trustandthrive
FACEBOOK: bit.ly/FBtaramont
EMAIL: trustandthrive@gmail.com