Claiming Your Story: Shanda McManus on Gun Violence, Compounding Grief, Narrative Medicine, and Why Writing Heals

In this episode of the Visible Voices Podcast, I am in conversation with Dr. Shanda McManus — family medicine physician, narrative medicine educator, and author of Brother Epistles (2026 by Split/Lip Press). In 1992, Shanda's brother Monir was killed in a drive-by shooting in North Philadelphia. He was 20 years old. Thirty years later, she began writing him letters — and what emerged is a memoir that is part grief, part social commentary, and entirely healing. We discuss what it means to carry compounding grief, how medical training can become a place to hide from loss, the systems that failed Monir long before that night in 1992, and what narrative medicine offers both patients and clinicians who have no place to take their pain.  Website: https://www.shandamcmanus.com/ ▶ Subscribe on YouTube @resaelewissmd  New Visible Voices episodes on Wednesdays. 🎙️ Search "The Visible Voices Podcast" on Spotify or Apple Podcasts