When Addiction Steals a Child: Katie Rizzo on Grief, Shame, and Choosing Compassion
About this episode
Katie Rizzo shares her journey of grief and healing after losing her son to opioid addiction, emphasizing the importance of compassion and community support.
What happens when the unimaginable becomes your reality? In this deeply moving episode of Walk With Me – Conversations With Real People , Stephanie Bloom sits down with author, educator, and grieving mother Katie Rizzo to talk about surviving the loss of her oldest son, Nicholas, to opioid addiction. Katie shares the journey that led her from scientist and biology teacher to writer and advocate after tragedy forever changed her family's life. Together, Stephanie and Katie explore the devastating impact addiction has on families, the hidden shame so many parents carry, and why healing begins when we stop suffering in silence. Katie also introduces her powerful books, The Trimesters of Grief and None of Them Are You , born from journal entries and poetry she wrote while learning to live alongside unimaginable loss. This conversation is honest, vulnerable, and ultimately hopeful—a reminder that compassion is often the first step toward healing. In this episode we discuss: Katie's childhood and the people-pleasing patterns that shaped her life Losing her son Nicholas to opioid addiction Why addiction affects the entire family—not just the individual The role Al-Anon played in her…
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