Episode #86
Episode 86: Don't Be Afraid of Grief: Susan Shaw
This podcast revisited the topic of child loss. Many people experience this, and it is a topic that too many of us don’t want to approach. Grief is something that affects us profoundly if we choose to invite it into our space and have a conversation with it. My friend Susan Shaw, also known as the Bereavement Mom, has not shied away from her grief from the loss of her son and is making it a point to help other families heal who have experienced the same loss. . Susie Shaw is the Founder and Executive Director of William’s Be Yourself Challenge (WBYC), a nonprofit she created in honor of her son William after his death in 2019. Through WBYC, Susie works to support grieving families and build more grief-aware communities through programs, partnerships, and its flagship initiative, The Green House—a planned retreat home in Falmouth, Massachusetts, offering cost-free, restorative stays for families navigating profound loss. Susie’s work is rooted in lived experience and informed by training. She is certified in Claire Bidwell Smith’s Conscious Grieving Training and has completed Meghan Riordan Jarvis’s Grief Mentor Method. For more than six years, she has sat in support circles listening to hundreds of bereaved parents and children—experiences that shape her compassionate, peer-led approach to grief support. In addition to leading WBYC, Susie writes the Substack newsletter Dear William, where she pens intimate letters to her son reflecting on grief, memory, and continuing bonds. She has spoken about grief on podcasts and in lectures and wrote the preface to her husband Nick Shaw’s book, My Teacher, My Son. Through her writing, speaking, and leadership, Susie offers a raw yet hopeful vision of how life can be lived—and meaning rebuilt—after loss, honoring the many different ways people grieve. Susan through her work was recently interviewed in People’s magazine, NPR, New York Times, Boston Globe, Cape Cod Times, and Falmouth Enterprise. https://www.bereavementmom.com/
