Grieving Out Loud: A Mother Coping with Loss in the Opioid Epidemic

It’s often said there’s no greater pain than losing a child. Today’s guest on Grieving Out Loud, Kym Hinchey, knows that devastation all too well. After helping her son through recovery from substance use disorder, she lost him to a sudden overdose.Just a few months after finding her 27-year-old son, Adrian, dead, Kym returned home to another unimaginable loss-her husband, also found dead on their bedroom floor.In the span of just a few months, Kym lost both her son and her husband. The grief was overwhelming. She says there was a time when the pain felt constant, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep going.But instead, Kym decided to devote herself to understanding grief and learning how to live through it. Today, she’s found meaning and purpose again, and she uses her experience to help others who are navigating loss.In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Kym shares her story with honesty and courage—the lessons grief has taught her, and how she’s found a way to keep moving forward.Download Kym's Free PDF "Five Things I Wish I’d Known at Ground Zero Grief" here. Find Kym’s book, Then and Now: The Evolution of Grief, here. Related episodes:Broken Heart Syndrome: 4 Ways We GrieveHow to Live With Grief, Not Be Defined By ItWhen Men Don’t Cry: Confronting the Culture of Silent GriefSend us Fan MailBehind every number is a story of a life cut short, a family shattered, and a community devastated.They were...daughterssonsmothersfathersfriendswiveshusbandscousinsboyfriendsgirlfriends.They were More Than Just A Number. Support the showConnect with AngelaFollow Grieving Out LoudFollow Emily's HopeRead Angela’s BlogSubscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope UpdatesSuggest a GuestFor more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charityWishing you faith, hope and courage!Podcast producers:Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

When you grow up in a home where alcohol and drugs are part of everyday life, it can be difficult to avoid being pulled into a generational cycle of addiction. It becomes your normal, what you know, what surrounds you. And too often, it’s intertwined with mental health struggles and abuse, making substances feel like a way to numb or escape the pain.That was the reality for today’s guest on Grieving Out Loud, Toni Handboy. Her childhood was shaped by trauma and loss. She experienced abuse, and her parents were often absent because of addiction. She was eventually taken from her grandparents and separated from her Lakota roots, moving between foster homes before later ending up in a juvenile detention center.During that time, Toni says she battled depression and suicidal thoughts. In an effort to cope, she turned to substances, continuing the very cycle she grew up around, as her addiction began to impact her own children.But Toni’s story doesn’t end there. While many struggle to break free, she has overcome that generational cycle and has now been in recovery for nearly two decades. Today, she’s not only rebuilding her life; she’s helping others who are facing the same battle.In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Toni shares her difficult but powerful story, what finally led her to seek help, and the message she hopes reaches those who feel trapped in addiction.Related episodes: Growing up in the shadow of addictionShe Promised It Would End With Her—Then It Didn’tDr. Sophie Two Hawk on Healing Native Communities from Addiction and TraumaSend us Fan MailBehind every number is a story of a life cut short, a family shattered, and a community devastated.They were...daughterssonsmothersfathersfriendswiveshusbandscousinsboyfriendsgirlfriends.They were More Than Just A Number. Support the showConnect with AngelaFollow Grieving Out LoudFollow Emily's HopeRead Angela’s BlogSubscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope UpdatesSuggest a GuestFor more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charityWishing you faith, hope and courage!Podcast producers:Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

With the number of drug overdose deaths dropping, some are celebrating. But is there a risk in declaring victory too early and cutting funding for prevention? Today’s guest on Grieving Out Loud, an addiction researcher at Stanford, says not so fast. About 72,000 overdose deaths a year still exceeds the total number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War.Dr. Wayne Kepner says not only are far too many people still dying, but celebrating too early could cost more lives. He recently wrote an article titled, “America must not learn to live with 72,000 overdose deaths a year.”In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Dr. Kepner shares what history has taught us about past drug epidemics, and how those lessons can guide the path forward while preventing as many deaths as possible.Related episodes:A Drug Historian on What America Keeps Getting Wrong About the Fentanyl CrisisCan We Save Lives While Cutting Funding? A Tough Conversation at the TopHow Do We End the Fentanyl Epidemic? A Candid Conversation with a Former DEA ChiefSend us Fan MailBehind every number is a story of a life cut short, a family shattered, and a community devastated.They were...daughterssonsmothersfathersfriendswiveshusbandscousinsboyfriendsgirlfriends.They were More Than Just A Number. Support the showConnect with AngelaFollow Grieving Out LoudFollow Emily's HopeRead Angela’s BlogSubscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope UpdatesSuggest a GuestFor more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charityWishing you faith, hope and courage!Podcast producers:Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

Originally released on May 23, 2021Jessica Lahey is a mother, teacher, and author of The New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. Jessica, who has been sober for eight years, says her new book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence, came out of concern for her own children following that same path. The book delves into genetics, psychology, and the science of addiction and offers practical things parents can do to keep their kids from suffering from addiction.Read Jessica's blog on her website here.Send us Fan MailSupport the showConnect with AngelaFollow Grieving Out LoudFollow Emily's HopeRead Angela’s BlogSubscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily’s Hope UpdatesSuggest a GuestFor more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charityWishing you faith, hope and courage!Podcast producers:Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz