Stolen Goodbyes Karen Rice

This episode is dedicated to the memory of the loveliest of men - my father Tom Rice. With the help of my cousin Samantha Hamshere, we take listeners on a journey through the extraordinary life of a man with humble beginnings in County Kerry (Ireland) who went on to realise his dreams in London where he transmitted love and laughter, leaving behind an enormous legacy.
This latest season of the Stolen Goodbyes podcast unpacks a troubling and as yet unexplored aspect of grief to Covid 19.  I’ve called the season ‘Distorted Grief’ as we explore the manifestations of how losing someone to Covid 19 seems dreamlike and surreal, almost like that special someone could walk through the door at any moment.  The Covid 19 bereaved are experiencing this derealisation of reality because they were denied the usual rituals that go with a death such as saying goodbye, seeing and dressing the body of a loved one, and having a funeral.  
My guests also join me in exploring the importance of sounds, voice recordings, and music associated with loved ones, the joy of making unexpected connections, and a loved one's legacy, as well as sharing coping mechanisms, gratitude, and resilience in the face of adversity.
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special and wide-ranging interview with four grief/trauma experts, we explore how the Covid 19 bereaved community is only beginning to deal with their loss now, three years after the event. This is because many bereaved people felt secure in a lockdown bubble where they didn't have to deal with reality, a reality that saw the catastrophic loss of a loved one without a goodbye, funeral, memorial, or support. Many bereaved people are experiencing what I've called 'distorted grief' because they sometimes feel that the loss is surreal, happened to someone else, or even that it never took place.
We discuss how while the world has moved on, Covid bereaved people are only now facing a grief they compartmentalised, a loss the mind didn't integrate, and how they are still struggling to find a place for a 'dangling remorse' that doesn't seem to make sense.
The experts impart their views on the importance of sharing our experiences, not feeling that sharing is a burden, creating meaning from loss, having our loss witnessed as well as being an observer of our own grief. We also discuss how traumatic grief impacts body and mind, the importance of living holistically, breathing work, and being in nature, and the importance of honoring the legacy of a loved one. In a fast-moving world, these experts highlight the importance of taking time to slow down and to feel and mark a momentous loss in our lives.
The expert speakers are:
Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell, founder of The Grief Clinic
@drchloe_psychologist
Liz Gleeson, host of the Shapes of Grief podcast 
@Shapesofgrief
Helen Smith, founder of the Lockdowngrief Instagram page
@lockdowngrief 
Edy Nathan, author of It’s Grief -The Dance of Self-Discovery Through Trauma and Loss
@edynathan1
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this inspirational interview, Stella Hill describes how she has gone from the depths of despair and shock after losing her beloved mother Sharon to Covid 19 on Christmas Day in 2020 to a more positive place where she is now focused on continuing things her mother was interested in such as tracing her ancestry. 
Stella has gone from being consumed by errors made, examining doctor’s notes, and questioning how her mum got Covid, to celebrating her mother’s legacy, her quirky ‘Sharonisms’, wicked sense of humor, and her fun, loving, steadfast, and non-judgemental presence in her life. 
As well as cherishing the last time of everything including photos and voice messages she has from her mother, Stella shares how she is comforted when visited in dreams by her mum. 
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an interview with Nikki Williams, a woman who lost her amazing mum Valerie and dad Hefin to Covid 19 within 11 days of each other in early 2020. Nikki was then diagnosed with incurable, secondary breast cancer. 
With great resilience, Nikki recounts the lovely whirlwind romance her parents enjoyed, how they loved to dance, her Welsh dad’s love of singing, their love of life and family, and their generosity to the many children they fostered, including Sarah who they adopted, and the big role they played in the community helping others. 
Despite experiencing a ‘living hell’ in losing her parents who were the centre of her world, battling guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder, Nikki is choosing to live as her parents did, emulating love and helping people in need in the Covid-19 bereaved and cancer communities. Her message is: "Be kind and love. My parents didn't have two pennies to rub together but they had each other, and us, the family."
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A singing prison officer, Rachael Lidgett finds solace in song following the loss of her role model dad Chris who she lost to Covid in December 2020. Growing up, her dad was her biggest singing champion, and she treats listeners to a soulful rendition of the songs that mean the most to her now, and how they help her to express her emotions.
From his legendary Sunday roast dinners with loads of gravy, Beangate, his work ethic, to him walking into Accident and Emergency in his navy blue dressing gown, to him being buried in his ubiquitous red loafer shoes on route "in his rocket to the stars," Rachael takes us on a memorable walk through life with her father and the surreality of his death to Covid 19.
Following his passing, Rachael petitioned the government to make the 23rd of March a bank holiday as a way to remember all the lives lost to Covid 19. In June 2021, the government responded by saying it was considering the most appropriate way to remember those who lost their lives to Covid but that it had no plans to create a bank holiday. Almost two years later, the government has offered nothing to mark the massive loss of life to Covid 19 in the UK.
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is a testament to Alastair MacVicar's strength of character, that he is alive and well in the world today, improving the lives of others.
In the space of just 14 days, he lost his mother Jean, father Keith, and eldest sister Jayne to Covid 19. Alastair also lost his mother-in-law soon after. Then it was his turn. Covid 19 left him unable to string a sentence together. Alastair feared death. Then came an AstraZeneca vaccination, which left him with blood clots on both lungs. He recovered slowly but will be on blood-thinning medication for the rest of his life.
Everybody knew the MacVicars of Branston where they ran the local newsagents for 45 years, selling liquorice Catherine Wheels, fireworks and second-hand goods among other things. Now they'll be known further afield with the publication of this inspirational interview, part of Alastair's mission to honour his parents and sister by promoting his family as much as he can and fulfilling his mother's dying wish to: share your love, be kind, and each day, do a good deed.
Alastair has the chance to fulfil his plans unlike his sister Jayne who despite selling her house in Lincolnshire, never got to fulfil her dream of moving to France to live by the sea, thanks to Covid 19. Like her parents, she never had a funeral. To add insult to injury, the crematorium failed to realise that Jayne had been cremated without her family's knowledge weeks earlier, something that devastated her two sons and family.
Alastair also relates how distorted grief has left him unable to cry despite his enormous loss and that the surreality of losing almost half his family in such a short time without any death rituals means he still goes to drive to his parent's house for a cuppa and a toasted teacake three years after their deaths before realising that the house now belongs to someone else.
Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.
Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!
If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg
You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.