Grief 2 Growth cover art

Grief 2 Growth

Grief 2 Growth

Written by: Brian D. Smith
Listen for free

"Transform your grief into growth with Brian Smith, an empathetic life coach, certified grief educator, public speaker, and author who has walked the treacherous path of profound loss. Grief 2 Growth unravels the intricacies of life, death, and the spaces in between, offering listeners a new perspective on what it means to be 'Planted. Not Buried.'

Join Brian and his compelling guests—bereaved parents, life coaches, mediums, healers, near death experiencers, and experts in various fields—as they discuss topics like survival guilt, synchronicities, and the scientific evidence supporting the existence of the afterlife. You'll come away with actionable advice, renewed hope, and the comforting knowledge that love and life are eternal.

One of the most powerful ways we know what awaits us and where we came from is Near Death Experiences. Much of Brian's knowledge is derived from extensive study of this phenomenon, along with interviewing dozens of near death experience experiencers.

Brian knows the soul-crushing weight of loss; his journey began with the sudden passing of his fifteen-year-old daughter, Shayna. It's not an odyssey he would have chosen, but it has been an odyssey that has chosen him to guide others.

Grief 2 Growth is a sanctuary for those grieving, those curious about the beyond, and anyone eager to explore the fuller dimensions of life and death. Each episode delves into topics that matter most—how to cope, grow, and connect with loved ones in the afterlife. If you ask: “Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?” this podcast is for you.

This isn't about forgetting your loss or simply 'moving on'; it's about growing in a new direction that honors your loved ones and your spirit. It’s about finding joy and purpose again.

Grief 2 Growth is more than a podcast; it's a community of souls committed to supporting one another through the darkest valleys and highest peaks of human existence. Listen today and start planting seeds for a brighter, more spiritually connected tomorrow."


© 2026 Grief 2 Growth Philosophy Self-Help Social Sciences Spirituality Success
Episodes
  • Medium Barbra Banner: The Signs From Loved You're Already Missing | EP

    Medium Barbra Banner: The Signs From Loved You're Already Missing | EP
    Jul 14 2026
    Barbra Banner didn't set out to become a medium. It found her — through flying clocks, flickering lights, and orbs that showed up in her audition tapes, all within the span of a few days. What she didn't know then was that she was stepping into a gift that had quietly run through her family for generations.But before any of that, Barbra spent 35 years showing up for people in the worst moments of their lives — on crisis hotlines, in hospital emergency rooms, and with the LA Crisis Response Team, supporting grieving families at the scene of a loved one's passing. Looking back, it was all training for the work she does now.In this conversation, we talk about the signs from loved ones who passed that most people miss (and how to actually recognize them), what trance mediumship really feels like, why grief and laughter aren't opposites, and what it's really like on the other side. We also get into the guilt and blame that quietly break families apart after a loss — and why it doesn't have to be that way.About Barbra BannerBarbra is a certified medium whose gift emerged during the pandemic after a string of unmistakable paranormal experiences. Before mediumship, she spent decades in advertising, and volunteered for 14 years on crisis hotlines, in hospital ERs, and with the LA Crisis Response Team. Connect with Barbra:🔗 Website & bookings: https://www.bannermedium.com🔗 Social links (Instagram, TikTok, and more): available directly on her website**Key Topics Covered**✨ How Barbra's mediumship gift emerged almost overnight✨ Her 35 years in crisis intervention and how it prepared her for this work✨ What trance mediumship is and what it feels like✨ How to recognize the signs your loved ones are already sending you✨ The rigorous, blind-testing process behind medium certification✨ Soul contracts, free will, and why we choose our life lessons✨ Guilt, blame, and why they hold back the grieving process✨ What loved ones are actually doing on the other side💜 What resonated with you most in this episode? Have you had a sign from a loved one that you brushed off before realizing what it was? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.If you want to keep the conversation going, head over to grief2growth.substack.com for the full article on this episode.You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.https://grief2g The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.Support the show🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me 👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)📰 Get A Free Gift📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call📈 Leave A ReviewThanks so much for your support
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Remembering PMH Atwater: The Near-Death Experience Pioneer Who Died Three Times | EP 496

    Remembering PMH Atwater: The Near-Death Experience Pioneer Who Died Three Times | EP 496
    Jul 11 2026
    This week, we lost one of the true pioneers of near-death research. PMH Atwater passed away, and as a tribute to her, I'm re-releasing the very first interview I ever recorded with her back in 2019 — before she knew who I was, before I knew what I was doing, and before I understood what a gift those three conversations would turn out to be.If you've ever wondered what death actually feels like, whether thoughts are things, or how a person survives dying not once but three times in a single year — this episode is for you.PMH interviewed nearly 5,000 near-death experiencers over more than four decades. In this conversation, she doesn't just tell you what she found in other people's stories. She tells you her own.In this episode, you'll hear:✨ How PMH's three near-death experiences in 1977 — January 2nd, January 4th, and March 29th — nearly destroyed her body while completely rebuilding her understanding of reality✨ The "litany against fear" she adapted from Dune and chanted by the hour to survive her recovery — and why she's sharing it with you✨ Her encounter with Elizabeth Kübler-Ross at O'Hare Airport that launched her research career — with no university, no funding, no roadmap✨ What she means when she says "thoughts are things," and how she came to that conclusion while dying✨ The voice that told her, "You are to do the research. One book for each death" — and what that meant for the rest of her life✨ Why she made the film As You Die, and why the Catholic Church stepped in to help distribute itA few lines that will stay with you:"Fear is the mind killer. It is the little death. I will pass through my fear. It will go around me and through me. And when it is gone, I will remain.""When you die, you don't become someone else than you were. You are.""Any death in a way is an opening to something else... And if we embrace that, then it can be joyful."About PMH AtwaterPMH Atwater began researching near-death experiences in 1978, becoming one of the founding figures in the field alongside Raymond Moody. Over more than 40 years, she interviewed close to 5,000 adult and child experiencers and authored nearly 20 books, including Coming Back to Life, Future Memory, Beyond the Light, and I Died Three Times in 1977 — The Complete Story. She lectured at the United Nations, appeared on Larry King Live and Geraldo, and remained a leading voice in near-death studies until her passing.Learn more about her work at pmhatwater.com.What resonated with you in this one? I'd love to hear which part of PMH's story stayed with you. Drop a comment below or reach out — I read every one.If this episode moved you, please share it. PMH spent her life making sure these stories didn't get lost. The least we can do is keep passing them on.You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.https://grief2g The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.Support the show🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me 👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)📰 Get A Free Gift📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call📈 Leave A ReviewThanks so much for your support
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Becoming a Grief Doula, with Dina Bell-Laroche | EP 495

    Becoming a Grief Doula, with Dina Bell-Laroche | EP 495
    Jul 7 2026
    What if the word "coach" isn't big enough for what grief actually needs?In this conversation, Dina Bell-Laroche walks me through the journey that took her from a devastated 29-year-old — grieving her younger sister Tracy, who passed from a rare cancer while pregnant with her first child — to becoming one of the clearest voices in grief and loss literacy today. We talk about why she moved away from calling herself a "grief coach," what a grief doula actually does, and how a disconnected rotary phone in a garden in Japan became the inspiration for a project she's now bringing to a hospice near Ottawa.This one will change the way you think about "getting over" a loss — and about ranking your grief against anyone else's.About Dina Bell-LarocheDina Bell-Laroche is a Certified Thanatologist, grief doula, death educator, keynote speaker, and the author of Grief Unleashed: Moving from the Hole in Our Hearts to Whole-Hearted. Since her sister Tracy's passing in 2001, Dina has built classrooms in Nicaragua and Northern Ontario in Tracy's name, hosted dozens of Grief Cafés, and helped launch Ottawa's first Wind Phone. She writes The Grieving Place on Substack and works with individuals, families, and organizations — including elite athletes and executives — navigating grief and life-altering loss.Connect with Dina: Website: https://www.griefunleashed.ca/ Substack — The Grieving Place: https://dinabelllaroche.substack.com/ Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn: @griefunleashed Book: Grief Unleashed: Moving from the Hole in Our Hearts to Whole-HeartedIn this episode, we cover:The difference between chronos time and kairos time — and what STUGS (sudden temporary upsurges in grief) really areWhy Dina moved from "grief coach" to "grief doula," and what that shift meansDisenfranchised grief, and why sibling loss so often goes unacknowledgedWhy our culture ranks losses against each other — and why that hierarchy needs to goTalking to children honestly about deathThe story behind the Wind Phone, and Dina's new Wind Phone project at a hospice in OttawaWhat the Grief Companion Program actually looks likeWhat resonated with you? Have you ever felt like your grief wasn't "bad enough" to talk about? Drop a comment and let's talk about it.You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.https://grief2g The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. Visit IANDS.org to register Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.Support the show🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me 👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)📰 Get A Free Gift📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call📈 Leave A ReviewThanks so much for your support
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 1 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet