It's our annual holiday episode, this time with Dougy Center Executive Director and TEDx speaker Brennan Wood. Brennan first encountered Dougy Center after her mom, Doris, died of breast cancer three days after Brennan's 12th birthday. She has since navigated almost four decades of holiday seasons with grief along for the ride. She shares about the early years that were awful; the young-adult years she spent volunteering away from family; and how, as an adult, she's learned to hold both grief and joy while creating new traditions for her own family. Whether this is your first or 41st holiday season with grief, this conversation offers validation, tangible suggestions, and new ways to think about this time of year.  

We discuss: 

• How attending a peer grief support group as a teen introduced Brennan to the idea that grief is to feel, not fix.

• Accepting that not everything has to be bright and shiny, especially during the holidays.  

• Recalling the first Christmas after her mom died and why it felt awful. 

• New traditions she's created as an adult with her own family. 

• Grounding rituals Brennan uses, especially during the holidays.  

• Why it's okay to be mad at holiday traditions you used to love. 

Need additional tips and suggestions for this time of year?

Check out our past episodes and our Holiday Grief Tip Sheet & Worksheet 

It's Okay That It's Not the Same: Grief at the Holidays 

It Can Be So Awkward: Holidays & Grief 

The Not- Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Holidays & Grief 

Grief And The Holidays  

Under Pressure – Grief & December Holidays 

Watch Brennan's TEDxPortland Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN4zP5baJrg
Read her A Kid's Book About Grief - https://dougybookstore.org/products/a-kids-book-about-grief
Learn more about Brennan - https://www.dougy.org/about/team-dougy/executive-director