Topics / Grief & Loss
Grief & Loss Podcasts
125 shows and 15,264 episodes sit under Grief & Loss.
A curated guide to grief and loss podcasts: shows covering widowhood, pregnancy loss, grief after suicide or overdose, anticipatory grief
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Before you press play
What Grief & Loss podcasts actually cover
The best grief podcasts give a bereaved person something ordinary company rarely does: time to keep talking. A father recounts the 57 and a half hours his son lived. A woman returns to the question of how many siblings she has, which once felt impossible to answer. Nobody hurries them toward a lesson, and a listener carrying the same weight hears what patient attention sounds like.
The arguments now are about how much a show should ask of grief. Some people find meaning in loss. Others hear talk of growth as a demand that suffering pay a dividend. Some listeners want recognition, and others want company that isn't about their loss at all. The five stages keep resurfacing, as in a September 2026 episode that challenged standardized accounts of grieving. The field is widening, too. A February 2026 launch was aimed at men grieving their fathers, and in August 2026 a celebrity-led grief show placed No. 6 on Apple's U.S. Top New Shows chart. Below, shows are sorted by whom they serve and how they work.
When a child has died
Losing a Child: Always Andy's Mom is hosted by Marcy Larson, a pediatrician whose 14-year-old son, Andy, was killed in a car accident in 2018. In Episode 344: Even Though, We Will - Noah's Dad, Matthew, whose son Noah lived 57 and a half hours, cites a chapter of his book: "Empathy is a tool I didn't, didn't want." He then explains how easily empathy slides into talking about yourself. Episode 343: Not Alone - Gwen & Marcy is a livestream that turns to support groups. It separates the gut-wrenching pain of early grief from the longing that stays years later.
The Joyful Mourning - A Podcast for Women Who Have Experienced Pregnancy or Infant Loss is narrower in focus and openly Christian. Its four-part holiday series with Kristin Hernandez, whose son Ethan died shortly after birth, follows an Advent journal that listeners can order. The advice in 185. Hope When the Holidays Hurt [Part 01] with Kristin Hernandez is plain and permissive: "It is okay to be sad and it is okay for this to be hard."
Professionals who listen first
Grief Out Loud comes from the Dougy Center, the national grief center for children and families in Portland, Oregon. In What Remains: Rupert Callender on Grief, Rituals, and Redefining Funerals, host Jana DeCristofaro talks with an undertaker whose father died when he was seven. Their subject is letting children take part in funerals. The conversation likens grief to a blizzard, and the job with children to leaving "little flags" they can find their way back to.
Humor, Grace & Grief with Debra Joy Hart RN and Jill Johnson-Young LCSW is a Friday Facebook chat released as audio. It pairs Hart, a nurse and grief coach, with Johnson-Young, and its introduction says it is no substitute for therapy. In Episode 150: 12/8/2023 the hosts make a case for dark jokes: "Humor is a necessity when there's been loss at the holidays."
Female Voices: Life and Loss, with grief coach Teresa and grief counselor Wayna, leans hardest on explanation. Episode 61 ~ How to deal with grief when nothing seems to help? With Teresa and Wayna lists the five stages and insists they are not linear. It adds that they were "really written for people that were dying themselves." Episode 64 ~ Why Am I So Anxious After Loss? With Teresa & Wayna describes hyper-alertness after a sudden death as the brain learning that bad things happen. Hear these as the hosts' framing, not settled findings. The Anxiety & Stress page and the Trauma & Recovery page sit close by.
Faith, hope and the afterlife
Some shows take a frankly spiritual line and are best heard as company with a point of view. Grief & Happiness, hosted by Emily Thiroux Threatt, holds that grief and happiness can coexist. Its liveliest story comes in Gratitude When Going Through Grief with Brooke Brown and concerns a man's farewell week. There are FaceTime goodbyes and dance music. Despite a vegan diet, he asks for ribs, cornbread and collard greens, and a friend who barbecues obliges. Near the end comes a plug for the host's book.
Grief and Rebirth: Finding the Joy in Life, hosted by Irene Weinberg, counts mediums and energy healers among its guests. In From Plane Crash to Widowhood, Jenny's husband Mark was burned over 80% of his body. She defines hope as "not about expectation, but it's holding a belief in possibilities." She credits a 45-day journaling protocol with easing her migraines and vertigo. That is her own experience, offered as testimony. Near the end, Weinberg promotes an Audible offer and a curated product list.
Losses that rarely get their own show
Particular relationships produce some of the sharpest listening. On Grief and Rebirth: Finding the Joy in Life, in The Grief No One Prepares You For When a Friend Dies, Hannah Rumsey recalls doing the math on 42 days of summer camp. She wanted proof of how close she and her friend Lauren had been. Grief Out Loud's How Many Siblings Do You Have? Navigating Sibling Loss with Judy Lipson makes an innocent social question its subject. Coming Back: Conversations on life after loss, hosted by Shelby Forsythia, covers divorce and diagnosis as well as death. E93: Motherless Daughters with Hope Edelman recalls the wreaths that once marked a house in mourning, and notes that the burden now falls on the mourner to explain. On Grief Circle with Sammy, Tears Can Be Delayed finds the host, whose father died when he was 12, remembering that he wanted to pretend nothing had changed. For the wider field, turn to the Mental Health guide and the Health & Fitness category guide.
Where to start
- If your child has died: Losing a Child: Always Andy's Mom, Episode 344: Even Though, We Will - Noah's Dad.
- For a gentle, clear first listen: Grief Out Loud, How Many Siblings Do You Have? Navigating Sibling Loss with Judy Lipson, 30 minutes on one hard question.
- If anxiety arrived with the loss: Female Voices: Life and Loss, Episode 64 ~ Why Am I So Anxious After Loss? With Teresa & Wayna.
- When laughter feels allowed again: Humor, Grace & Grief with Debra Joy Hart RN and Jill Johnson-Young LCSW, Episode 150: 12/8/2023.
Start with one episode, and let the next choice wait until you've heard it.
Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.
Featured shows
7 shows, described rather than listed
A short write-up for each, plus the job it does in this guide.
Wide-ranging grief support with episodes on anticipatory grief, suicide loss, overdose loss, and child loss.
Systematic series on grief typology — existential, invisible, vicarious, stigmatized — plus collective trauma.
Practical, current support for widowed parents: brain fog, anniversary dread, dating after loss, and more.
Interrogates grief frameworks — debunks the five-stage model, explores nonfinite grief and grief anger.
Literary and cultural lens on loss, including the 'Art of Losing' series and grief-after-addiction narratives.
Focused on pregnancy and infant loss: stillbirth, IVF loss, and parenting through perinatal bereavement.
Explores how grief and a functioning life coexist — widowhood, guilt around re-partnering, and small recoveries.
Where to start
5 routes in, one per reader
Honest about what grief actually looks like; debunks the staged-grief model that leaves people feeling like they're doing it wrong.
Most current and practically grounded show for parents navigating loss — new episodes through April 2026.
Episode 155 addresses suicide and overdose loss directly; the show returns to stigmatized grief more than once.
The 'Art of Losing' series brings memoirists and writers into the grief conversation — literary without being precious.
The summer 2025 language series defines existential, invisible, vicarious, and stigmatized grief with care.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing before you listen
Mourning that begins before a death that is expected — when a terminal diagnosis has been given and loss is approaching. Addressed in 'Life With Grief Podcast' episode 210.
Grief that is not publicly acknowledged or socially supported — after a pet death, an estrangement, a miscarriage, or a death complicated by addiction or stigma.
Ongoing mourning for a life, future, or identity that was expected but did not materialise — not the death of a person, but the loss of a version of one's life. Explored in 'What's Your Grief Podcast'.
A model of grief that frames ongoing internal connection with the deceased as healthy rather than pathological — in contrast to the 'moving on' narrative. Appears in 'Life With Grief Podcast' episode 206.
Grief experienced by those who witness or support others through loss — caregivers, grief counsellors, first responders. Covered in 'How To Deal With Grief and Trauma' episode 130.
Also called prolonged grief disorder: grief that is unusually intense, persistent, or that significantly impairs functioning beyond typical bereavement timelines.