Ep. 37 Talal Hattar | Shining Light on Shadows: Grief and Mourning Take Many Forms
- Neil Parekh
- Sep 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 2
Grief can take many forms. The most familiar is when we are faced with the loss of a loved one. There are rituals of mourning, familiar ways of providing comfort and an accepted and understood common language that we use to show our support. What about when we grieve the loss of an Identity? Or the loss of a Relationship? A Job? A Dream? Although the emotions might be similar, there are often no rituals, no common language.
We’ll explore these issues and more on Ep. 37 of “Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health” Talal Hattar will be our guest. I have known Talal for twenty years, from his days as a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington. (He and Pam were in the same program.) He has a lot to share about grief. In all its forms.
My co-host is Dawn Helmrich Neuburg. She and I both have several experiences with grief that we will be sharing as well.
Our show will be live Thursday, October 2 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 this page or on the links below.
Scheduling conflicts have thrown us off our usual Second and Fourth Thursday routine, but we’re looking forward to another great show.
Watch the live show or recording on this page or watch and comment on social media: Facebook | Twitter* | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram
*We won't know the exact links for Twitter and Instagram until we go live. For now, these links go to my Twitter and Dawn's Instagram.
Programming Notes
Ep. 36 (September 11) featured Paige Goble, a senior at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, talking about her own challenges with Mental Health and her advocacy work at the high school level.
Episode Details
There are several aspects of grief that I will touch on. I’ll start with the traditional. October 1 is the 16th anniversary of my father’s passing away at age 65. I have also had several high school classmates pass away in the past few years. Most recently, Jon Lasser just about ten days ago. He was two years younger than me.
There are also other ways in which I grieve. With my ADHD, I do very well with creative ideation. I am always thinking of new projects, new blog posts, new ideas for social media. The hard part is setting them aside because I don’t have the time / capacity. There is a certain amount of grief when you have to admit that something is beyond your reach. Letting go is hard.
Dawn has also dealt with tremendous grief in its many forms. She will talk about losing her mother during Covid, which hit her very hard. She will also talk about the grief of losing her sense of self after she was violently attacked and raped 31 years ago. A few months ago, Dawn lost her job after twenty years.
(I left my job at United Way five years ago during the pandemic. I still mourn that loss. Some things are just not easy to move past.)
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.
Click here for previous episodes and blog posts.
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
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