She Lost Her Son, and Grief Became Her Life’s Work / Helping Childern Grieve

In this episode of Grieve with Christa, Christa sits down with Mary Lou Kidd, one of GLADD’s grief coaches, whose life and work have been shaped by grief from a very young age. Mary Lou shares how she first encountered loss after losing two close friends in separate tragic accidents as a young woman. Those experiences eventually led her into nursing, community mental health, grief and loss work, children’s bereavement programs, hospice care, and decades of helping others navigate pain. She also opens up about the loss of her son Brooke, who lived with hemophilia and later passed away from complications connected to the disease. Mary Lou reflects on what helped her survive that grief, the importance of having people who can listen without trying to fix, and why support matters so deeply after loss. This conversation also explores how children grieve, why they need safe and creative ways to talk about death, the beauty of peer support, why grief does not move neatly through “stages,” and how pet loss can be a deeply misunderstood form of grief. Mary Lou also shares the heart behind GLADD’s children’s grief group, Bravehearts Club, named by her granddaughter, who said: “You have to be brave to grieve.” Learn more about GLADD: https://gladdcommunity.com Learn more about Christa McDonald: https://christamcdonald.com Subscribe for more conversations about grief, healing, loss, love, and what it means to keep living with the people we carry.