Grief Through Two Lenses: Therapist and Survivor

Grief Through Two Lenses: Therapist and Survivor

From Bereaved But Still Me by Anna Jaworski

May 7, 2026 · 27 min · Season 10 · Episode 5

About this episode

The episode explores grief from the perspectives of a therapist and a survivor, emphasizing the importance of empathy and individual grieving processes.

(00:00:00) A Grounding Breath To Begin (00:01:29) Jesse’s Losses And Calling (00:03:26) What People Get Wrong About Grief (00:04:15) What People Get Wrong About Grief (00:09:00) Individual Timelines And Real Empathy (00:12:37) Grieving As A Therapist (00:14:05) Small Practices For Stuck Grief (00:17:04) Humor As Release And Connection (00:20:18) Supporting Grief That Looks Different (00:22:08) Supporting Grief That Looks Different (00:23:49) Live Better Course And Farewell The weirdest part of grief is how quickly we start judging it. Too much crying means you’re “not coping.” Not enough crying means you “didn’t love them enough.” And if you laugh for a moment, it can feel like betrayal. We sit with all of that honestly and gently, and we name what so many people are afraid to say out loud: grief doesn’t follow a script, and trying to force it into one can make the pain sharper. I’m joined by Jesse Rafeh, a licensed marriage and family therapist whose life has been shaped by profound loss, including multiple suicides in her family and the recent death of her father. Jesse brings a trauma-informed, emotional regulation-focused approach to bereavement that makes room for the full…

People in this episode

Host: Anna Jaworski

Guest: Jesse Rafeh

Topics covered

  • grief
  • therapy
  • empathy
  • mental health
  • bereavement
  • emotional regulation

Keywords

  • grief
  • therapy
  • empathy
  • bereavement
  • emotional regulation
  • mental health
  • support

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