Ep. 29 Amanda Kranz | Shining Light on Shadows: A Mother's Love—An Unbreakable Bond Through Life or Death

Mother’s Day can be challenging for a lot of people, for many different reasons. The Sunday before Mother’s Day is International Bereaved Mother’s Day, a day to acknowledge and honor mothers who have lost a child, regardless of the circumstances. 

Amanda Kranz is our guest on Episode 29 of “Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health.” Amanda will share how she has coped with the loss of her daughter, just three months after being born. 

Dawn will share how the bonds of motherhood remain strong, even after your children grow up and move out. I will share my own thoughts as a husband, father and friend. We’ve known people who have lost their children, but thankfully, we have not had to navigate those emotions ourselves.

We will be live Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT. If you can’t watch the live show feel free to watch the recording on the same links.

Programming Notes

We are live the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. Our next show will be Thursday, May 22. Aisha Sultan, a nationally syndicated columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, recently launched a podcast focused on Mental Health, “Things We Don’t Talk About.”

Last week, I shared my recent diagnosis of Adult ADHD and evolution as a Mental Health advocate.

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Watch the recording on this page or watch and comment on social media: Facebook | Twitter* | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram*

*We wont' know the exact urls for Twitter and Instagram until we go live on Thursday. For now, these links go to my Twitter account and Dawn's Instagram.

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"A Mother's Heartache, A Mother's Resilience"

As Amanda writes in her blog post, A Mother’s Heartache, A Mother’s Resilience, “Navigating through the trauma, anxiety, and depression of losing a child, while trying to rediscover myself and being a mother to my other children, has been an incredibly challenging journey—one that’s difficult to put into words.”

"Redefining Motherhood as Your Kids Become More Independent"

Dawn focuses on a different sense of loss in her blog post. The transition you go through when your kids are growing up on living on their own. When they don’t need you as much as they once did. 

In, Redefining Motherhood as Your Kids Become More Independent, Dawn writes about how discovering a sense of self after so many years of focusing on someone else is not easy.

Background

Dawn and I launched this twice a month show (the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month) in order to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Thank you for being part of our community.

We are proud to be in Year 2 of the show. If you are interested in being a guest on the show or know someone who might be interested, please let us know. We’re looking for people who would be willing to share their story, advocates and people who work in the field of mental health.

We hope you can watch the show and share your own thoughts in the comments.

“Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health” is produced by Digimentors on a pro bono basis.

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Resources / Relevant Links

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline 800-950-6264 Or text "HelpLine" to 6264; nami.org

Mental Health America Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org; mhanational.org Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE (4673); rainn.org