The Wellness Circle with LaTonya Demps, LCSW

When my mother died, I didn't just lose my best friend—I lost my compass. She gave me her only working car so I could go to college. She taught me about compassion and showed me how systems fail the most vulnerable. And when she was gone, I had no idea how to exist in a world without her. In this episode, my friend and I share our stories of losing our parents and the profound isolation that followed. We talk about church communities that meant well but offered spiritual bypassing instead of support, the complex emotions from family members grieving differently, learning to articulate what we needed when we didn't even know ourselves, and the slow journey from surviving grief to actually living with it. This isn't a conversation about "moving on" or "closure"—it's about how love continues, how grief transforms, and why healing happens in community, not isolation. We believe you deserve to grieve however you need to grieve, for however long you need. Your pain doesn't mean you're weak. It means you loved deeply. And that deserves witness.

When my mother died, I didn't just lose my best friend—I lost my compass. She gave me her only working car so I could go to college. She taught me about compassion and showed me how systems fail the most vulnerable. And when she was gone, I had no idea how to exist in a world without her. In this episode, my friend and I share our stories of losing our parents and the profound isolation that followed. We talk about church communities that meant well but offered spiritual bypassing instead of support, the complex emotions from family members grieving differently, learning to articulate what we needed when we didn't even know ourselves, and the slow journey from surviving grief to actually living with it. This isn't a conversation about "moving on" or "closure"—it's about how love continues, how grief transforms, and why healing happens in community, not isolation. We believe you deserve to grieve however you need to grieve, for however long you need. Your pain doesn't mean you're weak. It means you loved deeply. And that deserves witness.

Marriage can be medicine or poison for your mental health—the difference is in how you navigate it. LaTonya and her husband of 17 years get real about conflict resolution, understanding your partner deeply, and protecting your mental health inside a committed relationship. Real talk from a therapist and her spouse about what actually works when love gets hard. This is the honest conversation about marriage and mental health that most couples need but rarely hear.

In this episode of The Wellness Circle, LaTonya and her best friends share how they have maintained friendship over the past 30+ years. Hear their tips for growing in life and growing together, battling the loneliness epidemic, maximizing adult friendships for mental health support, and how to stop isolation.