Honoring Your Grief During the Holidays with Vanessa Fierstadt, MS, MFT

The Yes Collective Podcast with Justin Wilford, PhD

EPISODE #61 - Grief is often an unseen and unacknowledged companion for many of us throughout the holiday season, whether we feel the loss of a loved one or feel the sorrow of another's loss. In this very special holiday episode of the Yes Collective Podcast, Jenny and Justin talk with grief expert and licensed therapist, Vanessa Fierstadt, LMFT. We dove into the definition of grief, how we come to acknowledge and process grief, the importance of rituals around grief, and the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness to access grief more fully.

Vanessa became a young widow at the same time she was coming to work in mental health. As a wife in her 20s, deep in the throes of loss, she struggled to find a place as a young griever. Inspired by the daringness of the way in which her partner lived in the face of adversity, Vanessa enveloped herself in a process of mending. She began to connect to her own broken pieces with light and meaning by specializing in grief work for those in more complex grief. Today, she channels her lived experiences and specialized training to create containers for courage, support, and community in the face of despair. In 2023, she'll be doing this work at her newly opened Kintsugi Grief Center.

Yes Collective is co-hosted by Justin Wilford, PhD and Jenny Walters, LMFT.

Justin Wilford, PhD, is a co-founder of Yes Collective, an educator, a writer, and an emotional health coach. He earned doctorates from UCLA (cultural geography) and UC Irvine (public health), and specializes in translating complex, scientific ideas into actionable programs for mental and emotional health.

Jenny Walters, LMFT, is a licensed marriage family therapist and senior expert contributor to the Yes Collective. She is a graduate of the Pacifica Graduate Institute and is the founder and director of Highland Park Holistic Psychotherapy in Los Angeles, California.