Episodes

  • How to Survive Compound Grief After Losing Multiple Family Members with Brooke Carlock | 072

    How to Survive Compound Grief After Losing Multiple Family Members with Brooke Carlock | 072
    Mar 24 2026

    What happens when grief doesn’t come in waves—but in avalanches?

    In this deeply moving episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair sits down with Brooke to explore complex compound grief—the kind that unfolds when multiple devastating losses happen within a short period of time, leaving little room to breathe, let alone heal.

    Brooke shares her unimaginable journey of losing her father, stepmother, mother, and daughter within 18 months, while also supporting her son through a traumatic head injury and navigating the pressures of returning to work as a teacher. This conversation is raw, honest, and filled with practical insight for anyone living through layered loss.

    This conversation is for anyone who has ever thought, “It’s too much. I don’t even know where to start.” It offers validation, practical tools, and permission to grieve in your own way—especially when life keeps asking you to function through the unthinkable.

    If you’re navigating layered loss, caregiving, workplace pressure, or the quiet loneliness of grief, this episode will make you feel less alone.

    Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

    Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

    Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

    About the Guest:

    Brooke Carlock is the author of Grief Sucks (But Your Life Doesn’t Have To), host of The Mourning Coffee Podcast, and a YouTube creator known for honest, no-BS conversations about grief and loss.

    Links:

    https://brookecarlock.org

    https://www.youtube.com/@brookecarlock

    https://www.facebook.com/BrookeACarlock

    https://www.instagram.com/brookeacarlock/
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    31 mins
  • How to Build Financial Resilience Early with Genicca Whitney: Lessons From a 19-Year-Old Homebuyer | 071

    How to Build Financial Resilience Early with Genicca Whitney: Lessons From a 19-Year-Old Homebuyer | 071
    Mar 17 2026
    What does financial resilience actually look like?In this episode, Blair sits down with entrepreneur and investor Genicca, whose journey from financial hardship to financial independence began earlier than most. As an immigrant growing up in Toronto, Genicca experienced firsthand the stress and instability that can come from money struggles.Instead of letting those experiences define her future, she used them as motivation.At just 19 years old, Genicca purchased her first home to support her family after learning she was about to become an aunt. Guided by mentors she met while working in sales at 18, she began learning about investing, financial discipline, and long-term wealth building.Over the years, she has expanded into real estate, online business, and multiple income streams, while raising a family and continuing to grow financially.In this conversation, Blair and Genicca explore how financial trauma can become fuel for financial resilience, and why it’s never too late to start rebuilding your relationship with money.Financial resilience isn’t about having perfect knowledge or perfect timing. It’s about learning, adapting, and making better decisions as you grow. As Genicca reminds us in this episode: You are never too late to start building a different financial future.Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Genicca Whitney is a Holistic Financial Strategist and Independent Financial Planner dedicated to transforming the financial culture of families and communities by helping high-performing individuals and entrepreneurs optimize, protect, and multiply their wealth. With nearly two decades of entrepreneurial experience — beginning with purchasing her first real estate investment at 19 for her parents and growing into a six-property portfolio — she combines lived experience with strategic precision. Independent of financial institutions, Genicca designs cohesive wealth strategies that integrate tax-efficiency coordination, risk management, wealth automation, and legacy planning, ensuring her clients build wealth that is protected, positioned, and built to endure.Links: https://www.instagram.com/geniccadotcomhttps://linktr.ee/geniccadotcom⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles. Links:https://www.blairkaplan.ca/https://theglobalresilienceproject.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunityhttps://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project blair@blairkaplan.ca Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.Thanks for listening!Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media...
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    29 mins
  • Losing Both Parents Young, Breathwork, and Finding Purpose After Grief with Leslie Hacker

    Losing Both Parents Young, Breathwork, and Finding Purpose After Grief with Leslie Hacker
    Mar 10 2026
    What happens when you lose both parents to cancer in your 20s while trying to build a business, stay functional, and survive emotionally? In this deeply moving episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with Leslie Hacker to talk about early loss, end-of-life caregiving, alternative healing, and what it really means to take care of yourself when everything around you is falling apart.Leslie shares her story of losing both of her parents to cancer, beginning at age 25, while simultaneously growing her marketing and communications business. She opens up about the emotional toll of caregiving, the impossible choices that come with terminal illness, and how grief reshaped her identity, priorities, and sense of purpose.This conversation explores grief without platitudes, healing without judgment, and resilience without pretending things are fine.Leslie reflects on losing her father after a six-month battle with cancer, followed by her mother’s diagnosis of glioblastoma. While her mother was initially given a short prognosis, surgery extended her life by five years. Leslie describes the emotional complexity of living in constant anticipatory grief and how it affected her relationships, work, and sense of self.While caring for two terminally ill parents, Leslie was also building her business. She speaks candidly about the pressure to “keep going,” the guilt that comes with choosing work or rest, and the reality that grief doesn’t pause just because you’re self-employed.This part of the conversation resonates deeply with anyone who has tried to function professionally while navigating personal devastation.After her mother’s death in 2020, Leslie made a powerful decision to use her PR skills to advocate for cancer research. She organized a fundraiser to raise awareness for her mother’s brain surgeon in Montreal, transforming grief into action and meaning.Leslie explains how traditional therapy eventually stopped meeting her needs, leading her to explore alternative healing practices such as EMDR, breathwork, and sound healing. A transformative retreat in Costa Rica, complete with jungle immersion and a rain-soaked breathwork session, marked a turning point in her healing journey.In one of the episode’s most powerful moments, Leslie describes a breathwork and sound healing experience where she felt connected to her mother’s spirit and found clarity around unanswered questions.This episode is a reminder that resilience isn’t about pushing through pain or having the right answers. It’s about listening to your body, honouring your grief, and allowing healing to take forms you may never have expected.Leslie’s story is raw, generous, and deeply human. It’s an invitation to slow down, breathe, and remember that caring for yourself is not optional, especially when you are caring for others.Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Leslie Hacker is a PR, social media, and marketing strategist with 15+ years of experience helping brands break through noise with meaningful, emotionally intelligent storytelling. She is the founder of Hacker Communications, a collective agency that partners with purpose-driven brands across hospitality, tourism, lifestyle, tech, and consumer goods. She also serves as Vice President of the Canadian Public Relations Society of Vancouver, where she helps shape the future of ethical, innovative communications in Canada.Leslie’s path to building her agency is rooted in resilience. In 2015, both of her parents were diagnosed with cancer in the same week. Overnight, she became a caregiver, and freelancing became her lifeline, and the only way to support her family while keeping her career alive. What began as survival slowly evolved into something meaningful. After losing both parents by 2020, Leslie made the decision to build a business with purpose at its core: work that connects people, tells the truth, and moves audiences to act.Today, Hacker Communications is trusted by brands across Canada for PR, influencer strategy, and experiential marketing. Leslie has led campaigns for national brands and emerging startups alike, delivering measurable impact through storytelling that resonates.She is currently writing her first book; a candid, powerful memoir about the five years she spent caring for her parents, how she survived the emotional and practical realities of illness and loss, and how she rebuilt her life and career with intention, creativity, and heart.Leslie’s story is one of grit, reinvention, and the strength it takes to transform pain into purpose. Through her work, her leadership, and her voice, she reminds others that resilience isn’t just something you endure, it’s something you build.Links:https://www.hackercommunications.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-hacker/https://www.linkedin.com/company/hacker-communications/?viewAsMember=truehttps://www.instagram.com/hacker_communications/https://...
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    31 mins
  • Grief Week 2026: A Real-Time Lesson in Resilience | 069

    Grief Week 2026: A Real-Time Lesson in Resilience | 069
    Mar 3 2026
    What happens when your annual Grief Week retreat turns into a shelter-in-place situation?In this deeply honest episode, Blair and Alana share what unfolded during their 2026 Grief Week in Puerto Vallarta. What was meant to be a restorative, reflective time honouring their parents’ death anniversaries became unexpectedly intense when cartel activity caused unrest in the area, beach evacuations, bowel evacuations and shelter-in-place orders.This is not a dramatic retelling for clicks. It is a real conversation about nervous system activation, privilege, perspective, and how resilience is practiced, not performed.They also share details about:The upcoming release of Resilient AF: Stories of Resilience Volume 3The Times Square billboard and New York launch brunchWhat Dead Mom Day looked like in the middle of chaosWhy what you eat during stress actually matters more than you thinkIf you have ever:Planned something meaningful and had it disruptedFelt the crash after high stressTried to honour someone you love in imperfect circumstancesOr wondered what resilience looks like in real timeThis episode is for you. And if this resonated, share it with someone navigating their own version of unexpected chaos.Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles. Links:https://www.blairkaplan.ca/https://theglobalresilienceproject.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunityhttps://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project blair@blairkaplan.ca Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.Thanks for listening!Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section belowSubscribe to the podcastIf you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on yourfavorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review.Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review.
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    28 mins
  • Navigating Grief and Uncertainty: Resilience Lessons After Profound Loss with Casey Mulligan Walsh | 068

    Navigating Grief and Uncertainty: Resilience Lessons After Profound Loss with Casey Mulligan Walsh | 068
    Feb 24 2026
    In this deeply human episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with writer and award-winning memoirist Casey Mulligan Walsh for a conversation that does not flinch from life’s hardest chapters. Casey shares her layered journey with grief: being orphaned at 12, losing her brother, navigating a painful divorce, and the devastating death of her son, Eric, in a car accident.Together, Blair and Casey explore what it means to live inside uncertainty, why resilience is not about fixing pain, and how community and belonging can quietly save us. The conversation weaves personal story with wisdom, including Casey’s reflections on the “neutral zone” and the teachings of Pema Chödrön. If you have ever wondered how to keep going when the ground disappears beneath you, this episode is for you.Casey opens up about being orphaned at age 12, the death of her brother, and the resilience required to survive constant upheaval. These early losses planted the seeds for her deep understanding of grief, belonging, and adaptation. Shae shares the heartbreak of losing her son, Eric, during the same period as a long and contentious divorce. She speaks candidly about the shock, disorientation, and strength it took to survive that season, and the role community played in holding her up.One of the episode’s most powerful moments centers on uncertainty. Casey introduces the idea of the neutral zone: the uncomfortable, in-between space where the old life is gone, and the new one has not yet formed. Rather than rushing through it, she invites listeners to stay, breathe, and trust the process.If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who is living in the in-between. Leave a review. And remember: resilience does not mean having answers. Sometimes it simply means staying present long enough for the next breath.Listen now to this episode of RESILIENT A.F. and join the conversation on grief, uncertainty, and what it means to keep going.Gift from Casey: The Full Catastrophe Bonus Content, including 5 Ways to Support Those Who Grieve/Resource List, Spotify Playlist, Excerpt, and Reading Guide - https://linktr.ee/caseymulliganwalshSponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharingSubscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Casey Mulligan Walsh writes about life at the intersection of grief and joy, embracing uncertainty, and the nature of true belonging. Her award-winning memoir, The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared, was released from Motina Books in February 2025. She has written for The New York Times, HuffPost, Next Avenue, Modern Loss, The Manifest-Station, Hippocampus, Barren Magazine, and numerous other literary magazines; her essay, “Still,” published in Split Lip, was nominated for Best of the Net. She is a founding editor of In a Flash literary magazine and serves as an ambassador and Board member for the Family Heart Foundation. Casey lives in upstate New York with her husband, Kevin, and too many books to count. When not traveling, they enjoy visits from their four children and ten grandchildren—the very definition of “the full catastrophe.”Links: https://caseymulliganwalsh.comhttps://www.facebook.com/casey.m.walsh.1/https://www.facebook.com/caseymulliganwalshwriter/https://www.instagram.com/caseymulliganwalsh/https://x.com/CMulliganWalshhttps://bsky.app/profile/caseymulliganwalsh.bsky.socialhttps://www.instagram.com/threads/ssohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/casey-mulligan-walsh-522ba231/⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, ...
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    34 mins
  • Navigating Grief, Single Parenting, and Professional Resilience with Dr. Jason Newell | 067

    Navigating Grief, Single Parenting, and Professional Resilience with Dr. Jason Newell | 067
    Feb 17 2026
    In this deeply honest episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with Dr. Jason Newell, a licensed clinical social worker, researcher, and single father, to explore what resilience really looks like when life hits hard on multiple fronts.Jason shares his personal journey through co-parenting after his wife’s affair, raising his daughter with intention and compassion, and navigating the recent loss of his father to cancer. What makes this conversation especially powerful is how Jason bridges his academic research on resilience with his lived experience, revealing what happens when theory meets real life grief.Together, Blair and Jason unpack the quiet, often overlooked truth about resilience: it is not built through grand gestures, but through small, consistent acts of self-care and self-compassion, especially for those in helping professions.This episode is a must-listen for therapists, coaches, caregivers, single parents, and anyone learning how to hold grief while still showing up for work, family, and themselves.If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who is quietly holding too much. And remember: resilience is not about doing more. Sometimes, it starts with a glass of water and a deep breath.Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharingSubscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Dr. Jason Newell received his B.A. in Psychology from Auburn University and an M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Alabama. Dr. Newell is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) and a private individual practitioner (PIP) with an endorsement in clinical and social casework. Dr. Newell has been in the fields of social work practice, research, and education for over nineteen years. His research and specialty areas include clinical social work practice with the mentally ill; treatment of anxiety, trauma-related, and mood disorders; self-care and professional resilience, practice with veterans and military families, and child welfare.Links: https://jasonmnewell.com/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jason-m-newell-pelham-al/717094https://titles.cognella.com/doing-men-s-work-9798823333030https://cup.columbia.edu/book/cultivating-professional-resilience-in-direct-practice/9780231176583/⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles. Links:https://www.blairkaplan.ca/https://theglobalresilienceproject.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunityhttps://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project blair@blairkaplan.ca Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a ...
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    43 mins
  • Giving Up the Ghost: Writing, Suicide Loss, and Finding Your Voice After Grief with Samantha Rose | 066

    Giving Up the Ghost: Writing, Suicide Loss, and Finding Your Voice After Grief with Samantha Rose | 066
    Feb 10 2026
    In this deeply moving and unexpectedly warm conversation, Blair and Alana sit down with Emmy-nominated television producer and ghostwriter Samantha Rose to talk about grief, suicide loss, creativity, and the complicated ways we stay connected to the people we love after they die.Samantha opens up about writing her award-winning memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, which chronicles the loss of her mother to suicide and the surreal, tender experience of channeling her mother’s voice while writing the book. What started as a way to survive grief became a path to reclaiming her own voice after years of helping others tell their stories.Together, the three explore the strange overlaps between grief and creativity, the pressure to “do grief correctly” (spoiler: there is no correct), and the quiet magic that shows up when we give ourselves permission to listen.Yes, they also talk about signs from beyond, vivid dreams, spiritual tattoos, ghostwriting secrets, and that unforgettable moment they all met at a grief conference involving a sound bath and a choking incident. Because grief is heavy, but laughter still finds a way in.What You’ll Hear in This EpisodeWhat it’s like to write a memoir after losing a parent to suicideHow channeling a loved one’s voice can be healing, grounding, and terrifyingThe complicated identity shift that happens when your parent diesThe emotional intimacy of ghostwriting and why it mirrors grief workVivid dreams, spiritual experiences, and staying connected after lossGentle, honest advice for anyone grieving a parent lost to suicideThis episode holds space for the complexity of suicide grief with care, honesty, and compassion. If this topic feels tender for you, please listen gently and take breaks as needed.If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs permission to grieve out loud, write it out, or trust the voice that’s been quietly waiting inside them.Grief changes us. Stories help us survive it. And sometimes, giving up the ghost is exactly how we find ourselves again.Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharingSubscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Samantha Rose is an Emmy award-winning television producer and a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling ghostwriter of nearly twenty titles, some that have been selected as Reese’s Book Club and Target Bookmarked Picks and featured in the Wall Street Journal, Oprah.com and Harper’s Bazaar. She is the principal of Yellow Sky Media, an editorial agency in Petaluma, California, where she lives with her son. Her newest release, Giving Up the Ghost, was awarded “Best Memoir” at the 2025 San Francisco Book Festival, and is her first book written under her own name.Links: https://www.yellowskymedia.com/⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles. Links:https://www.blairkaplan.ca/https://theglobalresilienceproject.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunityhttps://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project blair@blairkaplan.ca Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled...
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    51 mins
  • Breaking the Silence: Miscarriage, Grief, and Resilience in Real Life with Dr. Jessica Zucker | 065

    Breaking the Silence: Miscarriage, Grief, and Resilience in Real Life with Dr. Jessica Zucker | 065
    Feb 3 2026
    In this deeply human and refreshingly unfiltered episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair and Jessica sit down for a conversation that refuses to whisper about grief. They talk openly about miscarriage, mental health, entrepreneurship, and the quiet weight women are expected to carry without complaint.This episode is not about tidy healing arcs or silver linings. It is about naming what hurts, breaking cycles of silence, and learning how resilience actually looks in real life, messy, nonlinear, and deeply embodied.Jessica shares her background as an author and reproductive health advocate, including her work with the I Had a Miscarriage campaign, which aims to dismantle shame and stigma around pregnancy loss. Blair reflects on her own layered grief journey, including miscarriage, multiple family losses, caregiving, and navigating ongoing medical uncertainty with her husband.Together, they explore how grief intersects with ambition, identity, hormones, partnership, and purpose, and why these conversations belong in the mainstream, not the margins.Blair and Jessica discuss their shared experiences with miscarriage and the emotional aftermath that so often goes unspoken. They explore why silence compounds grief and how storytelling can interrupt shame, stigma, and isolation, especially for women navigating loss while running businesses or leading teams.The conversation dives into how personal loss collided with professional pressure during the pandemic. Jessica reflects on how unresolved grief shows up in leadership, creativity, and burnout, and why acknowledging pain is not a weakness, it is a survival skill.Blair opens up about perimenopause, deciding not to have children, and how grief reshapes identity in ways no one prepares you for. Both women discuss how these deeply personal decisions are often judged, misunderstood, or minimized, and why honesty matters.Blair talks about losing both parents, experimenting with traditional therapy and alternative healing modalities, and developing the Navigating Grief Framework grounded in neuroscience. She also discusses the emotional complexity of supporting her husband Shane after a recent stroke, while living with the very real awareness of mortality.If you have ever felt like your grief was “too much,” too inconvenient, or too uncomfortable for polite conversation, this episode is for you. It validates the complexity of loss, especially when it overlaps with leadership, caregiving, health challenges, and ambition.This is a conversation about resilience that does not rush healing, minimize pain, or demand optimism. It meets grief where it actually lives.If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs permission to speak honestly about their grief. Subscribe to RESILIENT A.F. with Blair and Alana for more conversations that tell the truth about loss, resilience, and what it actually takes to keep going.And if you are walking through grief right now: you are not behind, broken, or failing. You are human.Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharingSubscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/About the Guest:Jessica Zucker is a Los Angeles-based psychologist specializing in reproductive health and the author of the award-winning books NORMALIZE IT: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women’s Lives and I HAD A MISCARRIAGE: A Memoir, a Movement. Jessica is the creator of the viral #IHadaMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vogue, and Harvard Business Review, among others. She’s been featured on NPR, CNN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America and earned advanced degrees from New York University and Harvard University. She consults for various companies in the reproductive health space.Links: https://www.drjessicazucker.com/bookshttps://www.instagram.com/ihadamiscarriage/⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.About the Hosts: Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen ...
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    37 mins