About this episode

Wende Gaikema shares her journey of grief after the loss of her son to suicide and discusses her new book on navigating heartache to hope.

The death of a child by suicide leaves parents with heartbreaking questions, overwhelming emotions, and a complicated grief journey. In this first episode of a two-part conversation, I speak with author, speaker, and leadership coach Wende Gaikema about the loss of her 24-year-old son, Matt, who died by suicide in 2018. Wende first shares Matt's story and the day that changed her family's life forever. She then introduces the central theme of her new book, From Heartache to Hope: Navigating t...

People in this episode

Host: While We're Waiting® - Hope After Child Loss

Guest: Wende Gaikema

Topics covered

• child loss
• grief
• suicide
• hope
• parenting
• mental health

Keywords

• child loss
• grief journey
• suicide
• hope
• Wende Gaikema
• From Heartache to Hope
• parenting
• mental health

More episodes of While We're Waiting® - Hope After Child Loss

• 316 | When Scars Become Stories with Pat Elsberry · July 15, 2026 · 1h 5m
• 315 | From Heartache to Hope (Part Two) with Wende Gaikema · July 8, 2026 · 37 min
• 313 | Light Up the Dark (Part Two) with Heather Oden · June 24, 2026 · 30 min
• 312 | Light Up the Dark (Part One) with Heather Oden · June 17, 2026 · 28 min

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