Chad Griffin was just 20 years old when his brother was diagnosed with cancer and died within months. Years later, he would lose his sister to alcoholism and his mother as well — a succession of losses that reshaped his understanding of family, faith, anxiety, and what it means to live with grief over decades, not days.

In this conversation, Chad reflects on early numbness and escapism, the anxiety that followed his sister’s death, and the long road back through therapy, meditation, and deep introspection. He and Heather talk about compound grief, anticipatory grief, and the way loss evolves over a lifetime — shifting from raw pain to longing, from fear to acceptance. Chad shares how saved voicemails, AI-generated images, and simply saying their names have become acts of remembrance, and why honoring the full relationship — including the suffering — is part of healing. It’s a conversation about feeling the feels, facing what hurts, and discovering that on the other side of pain can be unexpected beauty.

Resources & Ways to Connect

• Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

• Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

• Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

• APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

• Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

• Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast