
Reimagining Grief: Turning Unimaginable Loss Into a Movement with Kate Doerge
From Duologue with Leslie Heaney by Leslie Heaney
June 10, 2026 · 1h 0m · Season 2 · Episode 29
About this episode
Kate Doerge shares her journey through profound loss and offers insights on managing grief.
At some point in all of our lives, we will experience Grief. Thanks to my next guest, we will now have the tools to manage it when it arrives. Kate Doerge — certified grief coach, founder of Penny's Flight Foundation, and author of Reimagining Grief (out June 16th) — has lost her father, her mother, and her daughter Penny at sixteen to neurofibromatosis-related glioblastoma. And in every case, she chose light over dark, faith over fear. She reached for signs, she moved her body, she turned her pain into a foundation that has raised over $6 million for neurofibromatosis research. This episode is about what grief can look like when you refuse to let it define you — and the five actions that can help you get there. 00:00:03 Introduction 00:04:20 Kate's Losses and Her Father's Advice 00:08:55 Losing Her Mother Five Days Before Christmas 00:11:14 Rejecting the Five Stages of Grief 00:13:34 Penny, Neurofibromatosis, and the Love Cocoon 00:27:29 The Five Actions for Moving Through Grief 00:29:50 Movement and the Neuroscience of Grief 00:34:18 Signs, Faith, and Sunshine People 00:45:38 Changing the Language Around Grief 00:48:02 Penny and the Prom 00:52:37 The Book Tour and Penny's…
People in this episode
Host: Leslie Heaney
Guest: Kate Doerge
Topics covered
- grief
- loss
- neurofibromatosis
- mental health
- resilience
- personal growth
Keywords
- grief coaching
- neurofibromatosis
- loss
- resilience
- mental health
- Penny's Flight Foundation
- Reimagining Grief
- five actions for grief
- neuroscience of grief
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Penny's Flight Foundation
Books & works: Reimagining Grief
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