Compound Grief - Susan

Maureen Pollard interviews Susan about her experience of compound grief after facing many significant losses such as her brother-in-law who was her best friend, her husband, her father, and two of her brothers. They discuss the lessons Susan learned throughout the first loss that carried her through the next, and how after losing her own husband she was able to give her mother that support she needed when her father died, having gone through the same thing herself. Susan talks about the finality of death that's hard to comprehend: "No matter how much you prepare, death is final, and that's something you just can't wrap your head around because even after someone dies you're still kind of looking for them to call you or to ask them a question. It's just a hard thing for us humans to really wrap our heads around." They also discuss how volunteering and actively searching for ways to use her life lessons to help others, imparting knowledge and building a support system for people going through grief has allowed Susan to channel her negative experiences in a positive way.