Judy Lipson is the sole survivor of three sisters, losing her sister Jane in 1981 at age twenty-two in an automobile accident, and nine years later her sister Margie at age thirty- five after a twenty-year battle with anorexia and bulimia.

For thirty years Judy suppressed her grief and in 2011 founded Celebration of Sisters, an annual ice-skating fundraiser to commemorate the lives and memories of her beloved sisters Margie and Jane to benefit Massachusetts General Hospital.

Skating is a sport the Lipson sisters shared and brought Judy full circle back to her sisters.

Judy Lipson published articles for The Open to Hope Foundation, The Centering Organization, Grief Healing, and Love and Loss. Massachusetts General Hospital and SKATING Magazine featured pieces on Judy’s philanthropic work. Judy has appeared as a guest on The Open To Hope, The Morning Glory, Surviving Sibling Loss, Where’s The Grief, Good Grief and U.S. Figure Skating Voices From The Ice Podcasts. She presented at The Compassionate Friends National Conference and will be a keynote speaker at The Bereaved Parents USA Conference in 2023.

Her passion for figure skating secured the recipient of U.S. Figure Skating Association 2020 Get Up Award.

Judy’s memoir, Celebration of Sisters: It Is Never Too Late To Grieve, was released November 2021 by WriteLife Publishing.

Mark is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband, dad, published author, writer, artist, warrior, mountain biker, and a cowboy. He was born, raised and still lives in the Pacific Northwest. He feels most at home exploring the wild and wide-open places. He currently offers support and coaching to others who are struggling with grief. He is the founder of the Job 2:13 Project. Its mission is to come alongside others who are grieving and sit in silence before helping them to stand again. He enjoys horses, mountain biking, the outdoors, and spending time with his family.

His memoir 𝐂𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐫𝐲 was published in August. In the book he tells the story of his grief during the illness and following the death of his young wife in 1993 after 5 ½ years of marriage. He has appeared on several podcasts and has poems published in various anthologies under the pen name Mark Wayne.

He is currently focused on several writing projects and creating resources about faith, love, healing, grief, and life after painful experiences. He believes in the ripple effect– touch one life and you may touch the world– for to share the journey, however brief, is a wonderful gift. His wish is to share the joys, the sorrows, the hope, and healing to inspire others to live fully despite the grief we all carry because there is a life after…

Website: https://www.markschutter.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grief.to.greatness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.schutter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkWayneAuthor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwayneauthor/

On the Share Your Story podcast today I have with me Victoria Noe, an award-winning author, speaker and activist. Her Friend Grief series - the result of a promise she made to a dying friend - recognizes the importance of friendships in shaping our lives. Noe’s long-time HIV/AIDS activism led her to write Fag Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, the groundbreaking book that honors the women who changed the course of the epidemic.

An accomplished public speaker, she has presented at organizations such as ACT UP/London, Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Muse and the Marketplace, BookExpo America, and Open Hand/San Francisco as well as libraries and bookstores in New York and the Midwest. During the pandemic she has led workshops and online writing groups focusing on friend grief. Noe’s newest book, What Our Friends Left Behind: Grief and Laughter in a Pandemic about people who have lost a friend during the pandemic, was recently published in June, 2023.

Her website is the best place to find her: victorianoe.com. You will find her books are all there, as well as social media links - Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn - and you can sign up for her monthly newsletter as well to keep up to date.

Have you ever wondered if anything good can come from a major loss or grief? In this episode host Jenny Dilts shares that positive things can come from our grief experiences.

In fact, she takes us on a journey showing us how she has used her professional process of converting grief into growth in her own personal walk with grief.

Everyone at some point in their lives experiences grief. No one is exempt. And even though we are all touched by grief, our experiences with grief are as individual as we are. A loss that seems life-shattering for some, may not even phase another.

Similarly, events that seem congratulatory for most may be some of the hardest for others. Converting Grief into Growth: The Journey of a Lifetime delves into one such event. Tune in to learn where Jenny has been for so long, what happened to Share Your Story: Exploring humanity one heart at a time, and why Jenny even needed to tap into her professional expertise for her personal transformation.

Topics that we discuss include the definition of grief, how Jenny even got started in grief work, and her process for converting grief into growth. Make sure you listen to the end of the show to hear the 3 pillars of the process she uses not only with her own grief, but also with her clients.

If you are struggling with grief, check out these 2 Survival Steps to help you breathe a little easier today. And if you’re curious what it might look like to work with Jenny, head to grievingcoach.com to book a 1:1 call with her.

Related episodes:

• Becoming a Mother and the Grief of Identity Loss | Jillian Bright
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Today I have with me an amazing woman, Christi Byerly, who is the founder and CEO of Awaken Coach Institute.

At Awaken, Christi’s coaching process motivates you to build a community of empathy and grace around you — and to live your mission as part of something bigger than you are.

Christi has trained hundreds of new coaches in French and English since 2014 and has mentored dozens of coaches-in-training. She maintains a thriving coaching practice and has been coaching professionally since 2009, after graduating from the International Coach Academy.

Christi holds a Master NLP certificate, as well as certifications in spiritual direction, group coaching, depth coaching, Enneagram work and mentor coaching. She is a Certified Daring GreatlyTM Facilitator.

Married to Ben, she is the mom of three young people and lives in Alsace on the French, Swiss, and German borders.

Website: https://www.awakencoachinstitute.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christi.byerly

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christibyerly/

Email: christi@awakencoaching.com

For some, loss happens as singular experiences. For others like Tony Lynch, it seems to last a lifetime. From witnessing traumatic death at an early age, to living the life of the gangs, homelessness, and death of loved ones, Tony shares how he has been shaped by all of his experiences and now uses them to help others. In this episode he sums up his experiences when he says, “I can tell people now, the journey was worth it…and what I mean by that, it gave me the opportunity to serve.”

Bio

Tony Lynch is the founder of the non-profit Memories of Us ltd...grief support for men, Global grief Network, and host of the Grief Let's Talk About It podcast. He started Memories of us in 2019 after experiencing some significant losses: his son in 2016 and his mother in 2018.

Leaving him with almost no family and no one to help navigate this experience, Tony's grief became heavy and conflicting. On one hand he was taught to suppress not express, and on the other his heart was torn into a million pieces. Eventually with the choices he was making, he lost everything and planned out his suicide. He did finally seek help only to find there's was little or no support for men. He soon realized the importance of having a place where men can express their feelings, talk openly, but most importantly be supported by other men who have had similar experiences. As we all know, grief is a lonely personal walk, and just because it is personal Tony feels it's a reason to not do it alone.

Connect with Tony

Website...www.memorieofus.org

Website...https://globalgriefnetwork.com/

Email... tolynch46@gmail.com

Facebook...memories of us..ltd..grief support for men

Instagram... mensgriefsupport

LinkedIn...tony lynch

In this episode, we have not one, but two fantastic guests to share their story, Hope Reger and Candace Sims. Both of whom are mothers to sons who were murdered. In our conversation we hear how they have found both determination and purpose in and from their experiences. These amazing women now support others in their grief and living life more fully.

Bios

Hope Reger

Hope Reger lives in Xenia, Ohio with her husband Mike, she has two sons Brian, 33 and Justin, forever 19 and three amazing granddaughters, Haylynn, Addi, and Brilie. Hope's "day job" is a talent coordinator with a major financial institution for the past 26 years. Hope believes her purpose in life was given to her after the traumatic loss of her son to murder. That purpose is to provide positivity, inspiration, and hope to others through her Grief 2 Hope program she created in honor of her son. Grief 2 Hope is a virtual peer grief support group that allows grievers a safe space to be their authentic self with support of others who understand and know exactly what they are going through. One of Hope's quotes she likes to end each session with is " Grief changes your entire world, it can also inspire you to change the world".

Hope can be found at www.grief2hopesupport.com

You can also check out Hope’s memoir, Grief 2 Hope: A mother's memoir of devastation to determination on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7K12G4V.

Candace Sims

Candace Sims is more than just a bereaved mother. She parented a son for 22 years as a single mother. Marcus Reid was killed April 8, 2007. Since that day life has never been the same. The first year of coping with grief and loss was an eye-opening, self-reflecting experience. She felt pitiful for herself and thought she would always be pitied. But due to the spiritual foundation she was building up to that point, the faith inside of her went to work.

She is now (at 15 years of grieving my son's death) a Certified End of life Coach, Court Appointed Advocate in the State of Georgia, Community Advocate, Small Business Bereavement Coordinator, wife and Grandmother! Death has taught her how to live better purposefully! Her life's work is to help others talk more freely, and candidly about death without falling apart.

Candace can be found at www.concepts-power.com

What would it be like to accept life as it comes, including all the ups and downs, vistas and valleys, triumphs and trials?

Join me and guest Camille Ellis, a life and grief coach, as we discuss what it's like to embrace all aspects of life, and death. In our time together Camille shares what it's been like to navigate the loss of a relationship with a step-daughter, a son's death by suicide, and the murder of a childhood friend. These experiences have helped her gain an appreciation for all parts of life and shown her how she can use them to help and support others through their challenges with grief and loss.

Bio

Camille Ellis

Camille is a Certified Life Coach whose niche is in grief coaching. She loves helping people embrace the whole journey of life including death. No stranger to trauma and grief, some of Camille’s personal experiences include a difficult childhood, surviving domestic violence, raising 2 sons on her own, one of them who had many mental health challenges. Camille married a great man who brought a 12 year old daughter into the family. During her step-daughter’s first year at college she experienced a bacteria in her brain stem which left her as an incomplete quadriplegic. Through this experience, Camille learned how to accept and still love, no matter what. This lesson would come into play again a few years later when her younger son Wes died by suicide. In the midst of her deepest misery, she heard a very strong and clear message that has become her purpose and her profession. The message was, “You will be the best mother, wife and woman because of Wes’s death. You will be stronger, wiser and able because of his whole journey and help others too.”

Connect with Camille at www.yourcoachcamille.com.