Episode #25
#25 Love Untethered, Navigating Devastating Loss and Continuing Bonds with Vanessa May
In this podcast we chat with Vanessa May, a bereaved parent, author, grief and spiritualist life coach about supporting bereaved parents and her books 'Love Untethered: How to Live When Your Child Dies' and 'When Grief Takes Everything: A Survival Guide to Devastating Loss’. We discuss her son Harry, the shock of his death, and how writing became a way for Vanessa to process her grief. We also talk about the physical effects of grief and trauma, including sleep, digestion, anxiety, and nervous system dysregulation, as well as the value of self-care, breathwork, journaling, nature, and support from other bereaved parents. Vanessa reflects on continuing bonds, spiritual beliefs, signs, and the comfort she found in research about mothers carrying cells from their children. Finally, we discuss Vanessa’s later losses, including her husband of 30 years and her father, and how these experiences shaped her understanding of complex grief and trauma and how she wrote her third book during this time. Vanessa speaks about taking things one day at a time, finding small pleasures, and accepting that grief changes rather than ends. Vanessa May, bereaved mother, grief coach, grief educator, grief, bereaved parents, Love Untethered, When Grief Takes Everything, trauma recovery, continuing bonds
