5 Grief Channel Talks on the Death of a Parent

As we count down the days to Good Grief Festival 2021, we thought we’d recap on some of the content currently available to watch on The Grief Channel. Today we’re focusing on our top 5 talks all about the death of a parent.

“Any young man or woman who has a parent who dies, that injury is always there. It’s not about fixing it because you can’t fix it. It’s about finding a way of accommodating it, finding a way of living that is meaningful and daring to love and trust again.”
– Julia Samuel, MBE.

We’ve had some brilliant talks covering this topic that touches so many people, from our recent Ask Julia series with Julia Samuel, to Cariad Lloyd leading the Dead Parent Club panel, to the ‘Growing up with Grief’ Grief Chat.

Find a snippet of each of these events below and to watch them in full, sign up to the Grief Channel for a £20 one off payment which will give you access to all of this and so much more including recordings of all Good Grief Festival events.

Ask Julia: Death of a Parent

Losing a parent, at any age, is a life changing event. In this session, Julia explored the grief we experience when a parent dies and the long-term impact that can have on the children who are left behind. This session was part of the Ask Julia series which will also cover Losing and Life Partner and Losing a Child in the coming month. Find out more here.

2. The Dead Parent Club with Cariad Lloyd

Cariad Lloyd is the genius and voice behind Griefcast, the podcast in which funny people talk about death. She joined us for Good Grief Festival 2020 to host this panel event with guests Nikesh Shukla and Olivia Potts, united by one thing, the death of a parent.

In this session, Cariad, Nikesh and Olivia delve deep into what it means to lose a parent, how such grief is processed at different stages of life and how it’s possible to find meaning or even turn the loss into something positive that drives you forward. Watch the full discussion here.

3. Grief Chat: Growing Up With Grief

In our Grief Chats series, we bring together two people who have experienced the same kind of grief. In this informal Chat, we talk to two women who both lost their fathers in sudden and traumatic incidents when they were very young children with even younger siblings.

Both women ‘s fathers died in crashes when they were three years old, watch this event to hear them discuss the lifelong impact of losing a parent suddenly and the unique nature of growing up with your grief. There’s a small clip below, but to watch the full event head over to the Grief Channel here.

4. Grief Chat: Podcasts – Talking About Grief

In another of our Grief Chats, we meet Amber Jeffrey and Kathryn Hooker.

Kathryn is behind the DPC Podcast: The Dead Parent Club. It’s designed to be the accessible friend for young people who have lost a parent prematurely. Up to 7% of children in the UK children will lose a parent before age 16, yet reliable support and resources can be limited and hard to find. Since losing her mum to cancer in 2015, Kathryn dedicates her time to supporting young adults struggling with their grief.

Amber is a podcaster and co-founder of The Grief Safe Space. Amber’s mum died of a heart attack when she was 19-years-old, and Amber went on to create The Grief Gang, a podcast whose strapline is, ‘Welcome to the gang…the one you never asked to be a part of.’

Watch a small part of their stories below, or head to The Grief Channel to watch the chat in full.

5. Robert Webb

Actor, comedian and author Robert Webb joined Good Grief to talk about his Sunday Times bestselling memoir, How Not To Be a Boy, and his first novel, Come Again, plus his personal experience of losing a parent.

In this clip he shares how the aftermath of losing his mum felt like Groundhog Day, noticing her presence in everything around the house. To watch the full conversation, head over to The Grief Channel.

Good Grief Festival offers free virtual events, exploring the human experience of grief, taking place from 27th – 28th March 2021. Find out more and register your place on our website now – Good Grief Festival.