In this deeply human episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with writer and award-winning memoirist Casey Mulligan Walsh for a conversation that does not flinch from life’s hardest chapters. Casey shares her layered journey with grief: being orphaned at 12, losing her brother, navigating a painful divorce, and the devastating death of her son, Eric, in a car accident.

Together, Blair and Casey explore what it means to live inside uncertainty, why resilience is not about fixing pain, and how community and belonging can quietly save us. The conversation weaves personal story with wisdom, including Casey’s reflections on the “neutral zone” and the teachings of Pema Chödrön. If you have ever wondered how to keep going when the ground disappears beneath you, this episode is for you.

Casey opens up about being orphaned at age 12, the death of her brother, and the resilience required to survive constant upheaval. These early losses planted the seeds for her deep understanding of grief, belonging, and adaptation. Shae shares the heartbreak of losing her son, Eric, during the same period as a long and contentious divorce. She speaks candidly about the shock, disorientation, and strength it took to survive that season, and the role community played in holding her up.

One of the episode’s most powerful moments centers on uncertainty. Casey introduces the idea of the neutral zone: the uncomfortable, in-between space where the old life is gone, and the new one has not yet formed. Rather than rushing through it, she invites listeners to stay, breathe, and trust the process.

If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who is living in the in-between. Leave a review. And remember: resilience does not mean having answers. Sometimes it simply means staying present long enough for the next breath.

Listen now to this episode of RESILIENT A.F. and join the conversation on grief, uncertainty, and what it means to keep going.

Gift from Casey: The Full Catastrophe Bonus Content, including 5 Ways to Support Those Who Grieve/Resource List, Spotify Playlist, Excerpt, and Reading Guide - https://linktr.ee/caseymulliganwalsh

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

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About the Guest:

Casey Mulligan Walsh writes about life at the intersection of grief and joy, embracing uncertainty, and the nature of true belonging. Her award-winning memoir, The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared, was released from Motina Books in February 2025. She has written for The New York Times, HuffPost, Next Avenue, Modern Loss, The Manifest-Station, Hippocampus, Barren Magazine, and numerous other literary magazines; her essay, “Still,” published in Split Lip, was nominated for Best of the Net. She is a founding editor of In a Flash literary magazine and serves as an ambassador and Board member for the Family Heart Foundation. Casey lives in upstate New York with her husband, Kevin, and too many books to count. When not traveling, they enjoy visits from their four children and ten grandchildren—the very definition of “the full catastrophe.”

Links:

In this deeply honest episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with Dr. Jason Newell, a licensed clinical social worker, researcher, and single father, to explore what resilience really looks like when life hits hard on multiple fronts.

Jason shares his personal journey through co-parenting after his wife’s affair, raising his daughter with intention and compassion, and navigating the recent loss of his father to cancer. What makes this conversation especially powerful is how Jason bridges his academic research on resilience with his lived experience, revealing what happens when theory meets real life grief.

Together, Blair and Jason unpack the quiet, often overlooked truth about resilience: it is not built through grand gestures, but through small, consistent acts of self-care and self-compassion, especially for those in helping professions.

This episode is a must-listen for therapists, coaches, caregivers, single parents, and anyone learning how to hold grief while still showing up for work, family, and themselves.

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who is quietly holding too much. And remember: resilience is not about doing more. Sometimes, it starts with a glass of water and a deep breath.

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guest:

Dr. Jason Newell received his B.A. in Psychology from Auburn University and an M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Alabama. Dr. Newell is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) and a private individual practitioner (PIP) with an endorsement in clinical and social casework. Dr. Newell has been in the fields of social work practice, research, and education for over nineteen years. His research and specialty areas include clinical social work practice with the mentally ill; treatment of anxiety, trauma-related, and mood disorders; self-care and professional resilience, practice with veterans and military families, and child welfare.

Links:

https://jasonmnewell.com/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jason-m-newell-pelham-al/717094

https://titles.cognella.com/doing-men-s-work-9798823333030

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/cultivating-professional-resilience-in-direct-practice/9780231176583/

⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.

About the Hosts:

Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been...

In this deeply moving and unexpectedly warm conversation, Blair and Alana sit down with Emmy-nominated television producer and ghostwriter Samantha Rose to talk about grief, suicide loss, creativity, and the complicated ways we stay connected to the people we love after they die.

Samantha opens up about writing her award-winning memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, which chronicles the loss of her mother to suicide and the surreal, tender experience of channeling her mother’s voice while writing the book. What started as a way to survive grief became a path to reclaiming her own voice after years of helping others tell their stories.

Together, the three explore the strange overlaps between grief and creativity, the pressure to “do grief correctly” (spoiler: there is no correct), and the quiet magic that shows up when we give ourselves permission to listen.

Yes, they also talk about signs from beyond, vivid dreams, spiritual tattoos, ghostwriting secrets, and that unforgettable moment they all met at a grief conference involving a sound bath and a choking incident. Because grief is heavy, but laughter still finds a way in.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

1. What it’s like to write a memoir after losing a parent to suicide
2. How channeling a loved one’s voice can be healing, grounding, and terrifying
3. The complicated identity shift that happens when your parent dies
4. The emotional intimacy of ghostwriting and why it mirrors grief work
5. Vivid dreams, spiritual experiences, and staying connected after loss
6. Gentle, honest advice for anyone grieving a parent lost to suicide

This episode holds space for the complexity of suicide grief with care, honesty, and compassion. If this topic feels tender for you, please listen gently and take breaks as needed.

If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs permission to grieve out loud, write it out, or trust the voice that’s been quietly waiting inside them.

Grief changes us. Stories help us survive it. And sometimes, giving up the ghost is exactly how we find ourselves again.

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guest:

Samantha Rose is an Emmy award-winning television producer and a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling ghostwriter of nearly twenty titles, some that have been selected as Reese’s Book Club and Target Bookmarked Picks and featured in the Wall Street Journal, Oprah.com and Harper’s Bazaar. She is the principal of Yellow Sky Media, an editorial agency in Petaluma, California, where she lives with her son. Her newest release, Giving Up the Ghost, was awarded “Best Memoir” at the 2025 San Francisco Book Festival, and is her first book written under her own name.

Links:

In this deeply human and refreshingly unfiltered episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair and Jessica sit down for a conversation that refuses to whisper about grief. They talk openly about miscarriage, mental health, entrepreneurship, and the quiet weight women are expected to carry without complaint.

This episode is not about tidy healing arcs or silver linings. It is about naming what hurts, breaking cycles of silence, and learning how resilience actually looks in real life, messy, nonlinear, and deeply embodied.

Jessica shares her background as an author and reproductive health advocate, including her work with the I Had a Miscarriage campaign, which aims to dismantle shame and stigma around pregnancy loss. Blair reflects on her own layered grief journey, including miscarriage, multiple family losses, caregiving, and navigating ongoing medical uncertainty with her husband.

Together, they explore how grief intersects with ambition, identity, hormones, partnership, and purpose, and why these conversations belong in the mainstream, not the margins.

Blair and Jessica discuss their shared experiences with miscarriage and the emotional aftermath that so often goes unspoken. They explore why silence compounds grief and how storytelling can interrupt shame, stigma, and isolation, especially for women navigating loss while running businesses or leading teams.

The conversation dives into how personal loss collided with professional pressure during the pandemic. Jessica reflects on how unresolved grief shows up in leadership, creativity, and burnout, and why acknowledging pain is not a weakness, it is a survival skill.

Blair opens up about perimenopause, deciding not to have children, and how grief reshapes identity in ways no one prepares you for. Both women discuss how these deeply personal decisions are often judged, misunderstood, or minimized, and why honesty matters.

Blair talks about losing both parents, experimenting with traditional therapy and alternative healing modalities, and developing the Navigating Grief Framework grounded in neuroscience. She also discusses the emotional complexity of supporting her husband Shane after a recent stroke, while living with the very real awareness of mortality.

If you have ever felt like your grief was “too much,” too inconvenient, or too uncomfortable for polite conversation, this episode is for you. It validates the complexity of loss, especially when it overlaps with leadership, caregiving, health challenges, and ambition.

This is a conversation about resilience that does not rush healing, minimize pain, or demand optimism. It meets grief where it actually lives.

If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs permission to speak honestly about their grief. Subscribe to RESILIENT A.F. with Blair and Alana for more conversations that tell the truth about loss, resilience, and what it actually takes to keep going.

And if you are walking through grief right now: you are not behind, broken, or failing. You are human.

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guest:

Jessica Zucker is a Los Angeles-based psychologist specializing in reproductive health and

In this deeply grounding episode, Blair Kaplan Venables sits down with Alexis Hart, a seasoned death care professional with over a decade of experience walking This conversation moves fluidly between the practical and the sacred, touching on death literacy, professional burnout, cultural rituals, and the surprising ways redwoods, coastal air, and honest conversations can regulate the nervous system.

Alexis shares how an early fascination with death, fueled by Forensic Files and a family discovery that her great-grandmother was a mortician, led her into mortuary school and beyond. Her career spans hospice volunteering, medical examiner cases, forensic pathology, and holistic grief care, giving her a rare, full-spectrum view of the end-of-life process.

Blair and Alexis also discuss how death and grief conversations are slowly becoming more normalized in culture, similar to the shift we’ve seen around mental health, yet still deeply underserved.

A recurring theme in this episode is the role of community. Alexis emphasizes that grief was never meant to be carried privately and that conversation and ritual are essential tools for integration, not indulgences.

She shares a powerful story of being present for someone’s final moments and how those experiences forever change how you see time, relationships, and what actually matters.

Blair and Alexis bond over their shared love of nature, from hiking and birdwatching to living near redwoods. Alexis explains the science behind time in green spaces, including reduced cortisol, improved immune function, and nervous system regulation, while also honoring the ineffable, spiritual healing that happens when humans remember they are part of the natural world.

This is grief support without fluorescent lighting or folding chairs.

This episode is a reminder that grief is not a problem to solve, but a process to be witnessed. It invites listeners to rethink how we approach death, how we support one another, and how healing often begins when we slow down enough to listen, to nature, to our bodies, and to each other.

If this episode resonated, share it with someone navigating loss or working in a helping profession. Grief grows lighter when it’s carried together.

And yes, if you’re ever offered a drive through the redwoods after a hard conversation about mortality, say yes. Always say yes.

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

Buy our books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guest:

Alexis Hart, a Los Angeles native, is a seasoned death care professional with over a decade of experience across various facets of end-of-life and death care. Her extensive background spans mortuary and cemetery services, medical examiner, hospice, and forensic pathology, establishing her as a guiding light during families' darkest moments. She is currently the Chief Healing Officer at Prism Memorial.

Passionate about nature, Alexis seamlessly integrates its healing power into her work, enhancing the support she provides to those in need. She blends ritual, creativity, and compassion to craft meaningful, inclusive spaces where grief is honored as both personal and collective, sacred and transformative.

With a deep commitment to inclusivity and healing justice, she helps shape spaces where all stories are honored, and grief becomes a...

What happens when grief doesn’t come one loss at a time, but hits you in waves, back-to-back, with no recovery window?

In this deeply honest episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair sits down with Amanda McKoy Flanagan to talk about compound grief, sobriety, marriage, and what it really takes to keep going when life keeps taking. Amanda shares her experience of losing five close family members in just three years, how those losses nearly unraveled her marriage, and why facing grief sober changed everything.

This conversation is raw, grounding, and surprisingly hopeful. It’s about grief that doesn’t fit neatly into timelines, the quiet strength of supportive partners, and the courage it takes to look inward instead of numbing out.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “doing grief right” (spoiler: there’s no such thing), this episode will feel like a long exhale.

After moving from New York to Colorado, Amanda experienced an overwhelming series of losses, including the deaths of her brother, cousin, and former partner. She opens up about how grief stacked on top of grief impacted her emotional health, identity, and marriage.

Blair reflects on her own experience with compound loss and speaks candidly about navigating grief while sober, a path that removes the numbing but amplifies the truth.

Amanda and Blair explore the difference between grieving in active addiction versus grieving with full emotional presence. Together, they unpack what it means to sit with pain instead of escaping it, and why sobriety can be both brutal and deeply healing when loss hits.

Amanda shares a pivotal moment when her husband, Jim, recognized that something wasn’t right and suggested marriage counselling. What followed was resistance, realization, and ultimately repair.

If this episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear they’re not broken, they’re grieving. And if you’re ready to go deeper into these conversations, make sure you’re subscribed so you never miss an episode that tells the truth out loud.

Sponsorship opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oZsxAigvb6e4wbAmvW_El_1_laeyK4shMY1md6zVWI/edit?usp=sharing

Subscribe to our Substack: https://theglobalresilienceproject.substack.com/

Buy our Books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guest:

A native New Yorker turned Coloradan, Amanda McKoy Flanagan masterfully combines urban insights with a nature-inspired philosophy in her approach to love and loss. Certified intuitive loss + empowerment coach, writing coach, energy healer, and retreat leader, Amanda is the author of the award-winning inspirational memoir Trust Yourself to Be All In: Safe to Love and Let Go and host of the Sol Rising podcast. Empowering individuals to navigate life's toughest transitions with clarity, healing, and creative expression, Amanda focuses on holistic wellness, guiding clients toward emotional and spiritual recovery by releasing trauma and regaining balance. Offering a transformative approach to living fully, Amanda provides actionable insights for overcoming challenges by embracing the power of one’s own inner wisdom, natural resilience, and capacity for change.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/amandamckoyflanagan

https://www.instagram.com/solrisingpodcast

https://www.facebook.com/amandamckoyflanagan

https://m.youtube.com/@thesolrisingpodcast

https://www.amandamckoyflanagan.com/

⚠️ Content Note:...

In this episode of Resilient AF, hosts Blair and Alana interviewed Dr. Tasha Faruqui and her daughter, Soraya, about their experiences with Mr. Main, a beloved teacher who passed away from illness. Soraya shared her ability to communicate with spirits and her close relationship with Mr. Main, who provided her support during a difficult time at school. Tasha discussed Soraya's unique gifts and their family's approach to discussing spirituality. The conversation also touched on Soraya's current health challenges, living in Hospice, and her message of advice for other teens facing similar situations. This is their story and Tasha and Soraya are RESILIENT A.F.

Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/

About the Guests:

Dr. Tasha Faruqui is a pediatrician, speaker, advocate, and author of Keep Your Head Up: A Mother’s Story of Chasing Joy in the Face of Grief (Jossey-Bass, 2025). Inspired by her father, a doctor to an underserved rural community, Tasha joined the National Health Service Corps after medical school. However, her focus shifted when her daughter Soraya was born with a rare genetic disorder. Tasha is now a passionate advocate for parents of medically complex children and those experiencing anticipatory grief, regularly sharing her message of hope at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Make-A-Wish events, and on Instagram (@thefaruqui5). She was named a top doctor by Cincinnati Magazine in 2022, 2024, and 2025. Connect and learn more at www.tashafaruqui.com.

Soraya

Soraya is 13 years old, and she is a kind, trendy girlie who loves so many things it’s almost impossible to list them all. She loves makeup, nail designs, graphic novels, dolls, and games on my iPad/ Computer. Her favorite games are Toca Boca and SIMS. She also loves hanging out with her family and friends. Soraya was born with a rare genetic disease that impacts the TAOK1 gene. Little is known about the disease; however, for Soraya, it is progressive and is similar to ALS. She is currently in hospice and making the best out of every moment. Soraya is most proud of her job as a Youth Equity Ambassador, where she connects with other individuals with disabilities across the world and advocates for accessible spaces.

⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.

About the Hosts:

Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature,...

In this deeply honest and unexpectedly funny episode, sisters and co-founders Blair and Alana kick off 2026 by unpacking the emotional hangover of 2025. From grief anniversaries and health scares to TV obsessions, bowel updates (yes, really), and big audacious dreams, this conversation is a reminder that resilience is rarely tidy and never boring.

They talk about honouring their late mother, navigating the heaviness of the holidays, managing bodies that hold stress in strange places, and why it is okay to celebrate wins even when grief still sits at the table. The episode also pulls back the curtain on what is coming next for The Global Resilience Project, including books, billboards, a TV show in development, and a bold Q1 vision for 2026.

Equal parts reflective, irreverent, and forward-looking, this episode is for anyone who survived last year and is trying to move into the next one with presence, humour, and intention.

In This Episode, They Talk About:

1. Why December was emotionally and financially heavy and how that shaped the start of 2026
2. Honouring Sharon’s birthday with cake, Greek food, and ritual, even when life does not pause
3. How grief changes the holidays and why the absence of traditions can hit harder than expected
4. EMDR training, nervous system regulation, and doing healing work while still living real life
5. Somatized emotions, inflammation, and listening to what your body is trying to say
6. Canadian healthcare realities and the rise of health apps as a first line of reassurance
7. Alana’s very committed relationship with her bowel movements and her quest for answers
8. Survivor fandom, Season 50 dreams, and Blair offering to DM a former cast member
9. What Blair and Shayne are binge-watching and why streaming convenience is a blessing and a curse
10. TV shows that surprised us, including low-budget stories with global impact
11. Behind-the-scenes realities of TV production and what Anatomy of Lies revealed
12. The comedy series Blair and Alana have been developing for nearly a year, and what comes next
13. What it really means to turn grief into business without bypassing the pain
14. Blair’s Q1 2026 goal of signing a TV deal and how the pitch process works
15. The upcoming Substack that will share the real, messy, hilarious parts of building this work
16. A prescriptive memoir in progress rooted in the Navigating Grief Framework
17. Vision boards, chosen words for the year, and why presence beats pressure
18. What is launching next for The Global Resilience Project, including books, speaking, merch, and events