In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with teacher and young widow Amy Brunt, whose life changed overnight when her husband Max died suddenly from meningococcal septicemia in December 2023. Amy shares their story with candour and affection, beginning with the playful first date where they unknowingly arrived in matching outfits, through marriage, motherhood, and the everyday quirks that made Max unforgettable.
She recounts the joy of their life together, home renovation chaos, and a sunrise proposal, before guiding us through the unbearable shock of Max’s rapid illness. Amy describes navigating emergency care while holding their newborn son, the guilt, the fear, and the moment she held Max’s hand through his final hours. She takes us into the early days of grief with a baby in her arms and a toddler beside her, naming the numbness, the survival, and the night time ritual she still keeps for Lane: “Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you. Daddy is always watching.”
This is an episode about sudden loss, but also about endurance, ritual and community. Amy reflects on solo parenting, loneliness, the unlikely friendships that have buoyed her, and the brutal tension of Christmas after bereavement. It sits with the pain while honouring the love that remains.
• Meeting Max after giving up on online dating
• Their first date, matching outfits and immediate connection
• Eccentric quirks and everyday love
• A wedding, pregnancy and a dream trip to Australia
• Max’s sudden illness and rapid decline
• Amy’s caregiving experience and his final hours
• Parenting young children through loss
• Rituals that keep Max close
• New friendships, support and surviving Christmas
#youngwidow #suddenloss #meningococcalsepticemia #soloparenting #widowedmothers #AmyBrunt #MaxBrunt #bereavement #lifeafterloss #WidowedAF #RosieMoss #griefandmotherhood #healingthroughcommunity #Christmasgrief #widowsupport #griefrituals
In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with Derek Tweedie about the kind of love that spans continents and decades, and the kind of loss that reshapes what it means to live well.
Derek shares the story of meeting his wife Judy in Edinburgh by chance, falling in love across cassette tapes and long distance phone calls, and building a full life between Scotland and Australia. Their partnership carried them through parenthood, careers and intimate quiet moments before a sudden glioblastoma diagnosis changed everything.
Derek speaks with quiet honesty about Judy’s decline, the eighteen weeks he cared for her at home, and why he sees those days as his greatest achievement. He recalls the community effort that completed Judy’s PhD in her name while she was still able to hear the news, and the beauty threaded through unbearable days.
This is not an episode that offers answers, but presence. Derek reflects on loneliness, the shock of grief, the tentative world of dating again, signs and symbolism, and how literature and landscape help him keep Judy close. Together, he and Rosie explore what it means to give someone a good death, and then to try to live fully afterwards.
Episode Highlights / Show Notes
• A chance meeting in Edinburgh becomes a life partnership
• Long distance love before technology made it easy
• Judy’s abrupt glioblastoma diagnosis and decline
• Derek’s caregiving journey at home
• Community effort to complete Judy’s PhD
• Parenting adult grief and navigating holidays
• Dating again and seeking connection
• Quiet reflections on death, memory and meaning
#widowhood #caregiving #glioblastoma #griefjourney #bereavementpodcast #widowedpartner #lovestory #endoflifecare #gooddeath #parentingthroughloss #lifeaftercaregiving #DerekTweedie #JudyTweedie #RosieMoss #WidowedAF #healingstories #meaningafterloss #findingconnectionagain
In this special episode, Rosie Moss sits down with entrepreneur, widow and community builder Nicky Wake to explore the power of widow led spaces. Nicky is best known for founding Chapter Two Dating and Widows Fire, two platforms that reshape how widows re enter intimacy and connection. Her newest venture, The Widow Collective, goes even deeper, creating a free, grassroots home for widowed people to meet, talk and feel understood.
Together, Rosie and Nicky unpack why widowhood needs its own spaces, how unmet needs sparked these projects, and what happens when grief meets humour, friendship and real world support. Nicky talks candidly about her own loss, parenting and recovery, and why she believes solidarity is life saving.
This episode is an invitation to join the conversation and a glimpse into what The Widow Collective is building next.
Episode Highlights / Talking Points
• Why Nicky created Chapter Two Dating and Widows Fire
• The launch of The Widow Collective and how it already serves thousands
• Peer led support through Zoom chats, forums and local meetups
• Tackling taboo topics openly
• Why grief literacy matters for society
• Nicky’s personal journey, motherhood and recovery
#widowhood #griefsupport #bereavementcommunity #widoweddating #ChapterTwoDating #WidowsFire #TheWidowCollective #RosieMoss #NickyWake #WidowedAF #peersupport #lifeafterloss #griefliteracy #widowsintheUK #healingincommunity
In this deeply honest episode, Rosie Moss sits down with author, coach and mental health advocate Tabby Kerwin to talk about the kind of love that shifts you, the kind of loss that breaks you, and the slow, unexpected freedom that can grow from grief.
Tabby takes us inside her story with Simon, her late husband. First they were musicians side by side, then partners wrapped in intimacy, humour and shared purpose. They weathered an untypical cancer journey together, marked by delayed diagnosis, brutal treatment, remission, and a devastating infection that cut their time short.
This is a conversation about love, but it is equally about survival. Tabby opens up about parenting through bereavement, allowing her son Ollie autonomy in his grief, and the hidden pain of carrying the truth alone until she finally let family in before goodbye.
We talk about mental health, inherited expectations, and the teenage grief that shaped her early adulthood. Tabby reflects on the moment widowhood became permission rather than punishment, letting her live truthfully, speak publicly, and refuse shame.
She shares the solace she found in tiny rituals, prawn dumplings, Grey’s Anatomy, community, and fierce honesty. And she names the bittersweet peace of being content in her own company post loss, no longer running but coming home to herself.
If you have ever loved deeply, lost painfully, or rebuilt quietly, this episode will meet you where you are.
Episode Highlights / Show Notes
• Love and connection through music
• A complex cancer journey and sudden loss
• Parenting and autonomy in grief
• Mental health, teenage bereavement and identity
• Choosing authenticity and advocacy over silence
• Widowhood as a turning point into selfhood
• Finding peace in singleness, community and purpose
#widowhood #griefsupport #bereavementpodcast #widowedparents #griefjourney #mentalhealth #cancerloss #lifeafterloss #singleparenting #identityaftergrief #TabbyKerwin #SimonKerwin #lovestory #resilience #healingafterloss #womensstories #RosieMoss #WidowedAF #griefcommunity
In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with Becky Shepherd, a mother of two and the widow of Paul, her husband of more than twenty years. What begins as a warm and funny look back at their early romance in Birmingham unfolds into a raw, deeply human account of sudden loss and the impossible steps that follow.
Becky talks about meeting Paul in her early twenties and the ease of falling in love with someone who felt like home from the start. Together they built a loud, music-filled family life where their sons, Jake and Archie, grew up knowing a present and devoted dad. “We were his hobby,” Becky says, remembering nights spent dancing in the kitchen and the ordinary joy of being together.
Everything changed on a family holiday in Turkey when Paul, a healthy forty six year old, suffered a cardiac arrest in the hotel gym. Becky describes the desperate search for a defibrillator that did not exist, the kindness of strangers who stepped in to help her boys, and the moment in the hospital when her world shattered.
In the days that followed, she navigated repatriation, post-mortem paperwork, and the unbearable task of telling her sons that their dad had died. She also shares glimmers of light: the boys choosing Paul’s sunglasses and drumsticks for his coffin, music from their family life echoing through the funeral, and the quiet gratitude that life insurance allowed them to keep their home.
With honesty, humour, and a remarkable steadiness, Becky reflects on grief, anger, love, and rebuilding. Together, she and Rosie explore how widowhood reshapes a life and why remembering the good years matters just as much as surviving the hard ones.
#widowhood#grief #suddenloss #soloparenting #bereavement #cardiacarrest #familyholidaytragedy #rebuildingafterloss#widowedparents #griefpodcast #WidowedAF #loveandloss #parentingthroughgrief #youngwidowhood #survivingtheunimaginable
In this deeply human and beautifully raw episode, Rosie Moss sits down with Aimie Strachan, a widow and mother of two whose husband John died suddenly from an undiagnosed aortic dissection. What unfolds is a conversation full of love, shock, courage, and the fierce tenderness of solo parenting after loss.
Aimie traces their story from meeting as young teachers in Dubai to the ease and joy of their marriage, and then to the night everything changed. With heartbreaking clarity she describes the medical crisis that unfolded, the impossible decisions she faced, and the moment she had to tell her children that their dad had died.
Rosie and Aimie explore the messy truth of grief. The anger. The bitterness. The lonely practicalities. The way it lands differently on children. And the exhaustion of trying to access the right support. Amid the devastation there is also movement. Aimie talks about how community, creativity, the outdoors, and connection with other widows helped her find her footing again. She has since launched a Whitley Bay brand in John’s honour and is determined to live with more urgency and intention. Life is so short. Just do the thing.
This conversation offers space for heartbreak, softness, rage, growth, and the small quiet moments of hope that show up when you least expect them.
Show Notes
In this episode Rosie and Aimie talk about
• How Aimie met her husband John in Dubai and how quickly and naturally their relationship grew
• Building a life together, marrying, and welcoming their two children
• The sudden onset of John’s symptoms and the unfolding of a rare aortic dissection
• The confusion, urgency and helplessness of those final hours in hospital
• The emotional and practical reality of end of life decisions
• The moment Aimie told her children their dad had died and the ongoing impact on them
• How grief shows up in children in unexpected ways and why childhood bereavement needs more awareness and support
• The anger, bitterness and sheer exhaustion of grieving inside a broken mental health system
• Finding comfort in nature, forest school sessions and small grounding routines
• The power of community and widowed friendship in the early stages of loss
• Launching a heartfelt Whitley Bay brand in John’s honour and rediscovering purpose
• Why Aimie now leans into life’s brevity and pushes herself to do the things she once hesitated over
• Navigating difficult seasons like Christmas with honesty and gentleness
In this episode, host Rosie Moss sits down with writer and solo parent Emma Charlesworth, whose husband Charlie died of COVID-19 during the first UK lockdown. Emma’s memoir, Daddy Going to Be Okay?, grew from voice notes and late night blog posts into a powerful account of grief, parenting through trauma, and finding connection in the darkest days.
Emma shares the story of Charlie’s final days in hospital, the painful reality of ICU restrictions, and the moment she had to answer her daughter’s impossible question about whether Daddy would come home. Together, Rosie and Emma talk about the invisible work of widowhood, the small moments that keep you going, and the way grief shifts and reshapes your life long after the world expects you to be fine.
This is a raw and hopeful conversation about love, honesty, resilience, and the courage it takes to tell your story.
Key themes from the episode include:
• Emma’s account of losing her husband Charlie during the earliest days of COVID-19 and the emotional toll of ICU restrictions and isolation.
• Parenting her daughter Rebekah through grief and choosing honesty over false reassurance when asked, “Is Daddy going to be okay?”
• How social media became a lifeline that humanised the statistics dominating the headlines.
• Writing as survival, beginning with private notes and blog posts that grew into an award-winning blog and eventually a book.
• The invisible labour of widowhood, from solo parenting and finances to the fear that appearing “fine” will make your pain invisible.
• The way grief shows up years later in unexpected moments and the role of symbols, like tattoos and travel, in marking resilience.
• Emma’s belief that grief never ends, but it does change. “Grief is a book on the shelf. It is still there, but surrounded by other stories now.”
The episode closes with a conversation about the meaning behind her book’s title and the small joys, like a bouncing Tigger, that sit beside heartbreak in the story of love, loss, and carrying on.
#widowhood #grief #soloparenting #covidgrief #bereavement #parentingafterloss #widowedmum #memoir #loss #resilience #mentalhealth #trauma #storytelling #widowcommunity #griefsupport #WidowedAF #RosieMoss #EmmaCharlesworth
In this episode the host Rosie Moss speaks with Karen Sutton. Karen is the UK’s first widow coach and a leading voice in the grief community, known for her deeply personal approach to navigating widowhood, parenting after loss, and reclaiming life after tragedy.
Together, Rosie and Karen delve into the raw terrain of life after the sudden death of a spouse. Karen shares the moment she learned of her husband Simon’s fatal cycling accident, the difficult task of telling her young daughters, and the silent years of muddling through grief while shepherding her family forward. The conversation balances the brutal truth of early widowhood with flashes of humour, love, and resilience, from the chaos of partying and drinking to the quiet breakthrough when her children helped her face herself. Karen illuminates how she moved from survival into purpose, transforming her experience into support for others, and why she now sees herself as a grief sherpa. With candid reflections and gentle insight, this episode explores what it means to parent, thrive, and feel joy again after unimaginable loss. “I did not want this to define my life in a negative way,” Karen says. “I want to find a way to live.”
The moment loss arrived: Karen recounts the trauma of learning about Simon’s sudden death and the instinctive scramble to protect her children from the truth, all before her own grief had time to land.
Parenting through pain: Both daughters responded to grief differently, one silent and one explosive, and Karen shares how she navigated their emotional and academic setbacks with compassion and determination.
Facing the mirror: After spiralling into denial and exhaustion, a quiet nudge from her children catalysed Karen’s transformation from survival to healing, fuelled by self-inquiry and self-kindness.
Living proof of growth: Karen challenges the idea that moving on means forgetting, instead modelling a life where grief and joy can coexist. “It is okay not to be okay, but it is also okay to be okay.”
Grief as choice and agency: Rather than feeling shaped by loss, Karen reclaimed agency, choosing from millions of different directions the one where she lives fully while honouring Simon’s memory.
The grief sherpa approach: Karen discusses the coaching work she now offers, from vibrant retreats to community support, blending grief care with personal development and authentic connection.
Letting go of perfection: The discussion unpacks how modelling self-compassion teaches children resilience. “You are not perfect, but you do not need to be, and you are doing your best.”
#widowhood #grief #griefsupport #parentingafterloss #suddenloss #childbereavement #KarenSutton #widowcoach #griefjourney #healingafterloss #widowedmum #resilience #findingpurpose #lifeafterloss #WidowedAFPodcast
When Mat Owen lost his wife Nic to breast cancer in 2023, his world was turned upside down. Left to raise their two young children, he faced the unimaginable: grieving the love of his life while trying to stay present as a father.
In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Rosie and Mat explore what it means to parent through loss, love someone through illness, and rebuild life when the person who anchored you is gone. Mat speaks with raw honesty about emotional shutdown, male grief, and the isolation that often comes with being a widowed dad. He shares the highs and heartbreak of his life with Nic, from meeting in their teens to defying medical odds to become parents, and the quiet strength she showed throughout her cancer journey.
Together, they reflect on the small, everyday moments that carry enormous weight: bedtime routines, school WhatsApp threads, a child’s comment about a photo, and the instant you realise your daughter looks just like her mum. The episode also delves into coping after loss, from alcohol use to dating apps, and the difficult but hopeful path toward self-compassion and sobriety.
This is a conversation about love that refuses to fade, the legacy of a mother’s strength, and the courage it takes to keep showing up. Mat’s story is a reminder that even in the depths of grief, we can find purpose, connection, and hope.
Episode highlights:
• Mat reflects on meeting Nic in his early twenties and how her strength and clarity brought purpose and love into his life.
• They navigate the shock of a cancer diagnosis in 2011, a relationship tested through treatment, and their fierce determination to become parents against medical predictions.
• Mat discusses the return of Nic’s cancer after the birth of their second child, the emotional strain it brought, and Nic’s unwavering resilience through her final years.
• Together, they confront male emotional reticence in grief and the unexpected difficulty of building support networks as a widowed father.
• Mat shares how he and Nic co-created child-friendly bereavement tools, “cancer flashcards,” and how he now carries that legacy forward. https://www.littlecclub.com/shop
• The conversation explores coping mechanisms after loss, from alcohol use to dating apps, and the difficult but hopeful path toward sobriety and reconnection.
• Parenting after loss is shown in touching detail, from school run routines to gently helping children navigate insensitive playground remarks.
• They close on how grief reshapes identity, the quiet pride Mat finds in being “the school mum,” and the presence of Nic in the children she left behind.
In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Laura Plowman, who lost her partner Gavin to terminal cancer just months after the birth of their son. A former police officer, Laura shares her journey of love, loss and survival with breathtaking honesty and quiet strength.
Laura and Gavin met through work in 2018, their relationship moving quickly from first dates to buying a home and welcoming a baby in June 2020. But their new family life was abruptly upended when Gavin collapsed in their garden and was diagnosed with an aggressive spinal tumour. Just five weeks after symptoms began, doctors told them his cancer was incurable, with a prognosis of only 12 to 18 months.
Laura describes becoming both a new mother and a caregiver to her paralysed husband. She shares tender and painful memories: their backyard wedding, Gavin’s choice to stop chemotherapy in favour of quality time, his voice notes recorded for their son, and the mixture of dark humour and fragile intimacy that helped them endure. “It was beautiful, yet horrendous, yet unfair,” Laura reflects of Gavin’s final hours, a line that captures the raw and contradictory landscape of this conversation.
Now parenting their child alone, Laura speaks about helping him grieve a father he will never truly know, rediscovering moments of joy, and leaning on therapy, music and widow communities for strength. Her story is devastating and hopeful, full of love, loss and the small ways life carries on.
This conversation explores:
Laura’s whirlwind love story with Gavin, from awkward first impression to cohabitation, engagement and parenthood
The devastating collapse in the garden that led to a terminal diagnosis five weeks later
Balancing medical treatment with quality of life as Gavin chose to end chemotherapy
Fragile and intimate moments: a backyard wedding, shared hospital jokes and voice notes for their baby son
Facing death together, from syringe drivers to spirituality to Gavin’s final hours
Navigating solo parenting and helping a young child grieve a parent they will never fully know
Rediscovering life through therapy, music and widow support communities where grief and laughter coexist
Rosie speaks to Michelle Watson Rhodes, who shares the devastating story of losing her fiancé Mike to a sudden heart attack just six months before their planned wedding.
Michelle and Mike’s love story began during the stillness of lockdown, unfolding through long walks, shared breakfasts and the kind of everyday companionship that makes life feel steady. A quiet proposal by the river led to plans for a wedding in Jamaica until everything changed in a single night.
Michelle reflects on the night she lost Mike, the desperate attempt at CPR and the unimaginable aftermath of being treated as a suspect, facing hostility from an estranged family and fighting to be recognised in her grief.
She also shares how she holds onto Mike’s legacy, the man who once saved a stranger’s life and was honoured with an MBE, while slowly rebuilding her world with quiet courage and small rituals that help her keep going.
This conversation is about love interrupted, grief without recognition and the resilience it takes to keep moving forward when everything has changed.
In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Lisa Marshall, known online as @the_widowdiaries on Instagram and TikTok. Lisa has built a powerful community by sharing her journey of surviving the sudden suicide of her husband Alan and raising three young children in the aftermath.
Through raw honesty and reflection, Lisa opens up about the shock of widowhood, the silence that often surrounds suicide, and the everyday reality of parenting through unimaginable grief. From breaking the news to her children, to navigating their neurodivergent needs, to finding fleeting signs of comfort in ladybirds and flickering lights, she offers a candid and unflinching account of resilience, love, and survival.
This conversation explores:
The shock of suicide and the unanswered questions it leaves behind
Parenting as a widow compared with single parenting after separation
Explaining suicide to children with honesty and compassion
The weight of public expectations and private grief
Finding meaning in small signs, stories, and shared community
This episode is a moving reminder that grief lives in school runs, packed lunches, and the quiet work of staying present for those still here.
In this episode Rosie Moss is joined by Zoe Flory, who shares the story of her late partner Patrick from their whirlwind first meeting in a Brighton pub to navigating his terminal cancer diagnosis to raising their daughter Addie after his death.
With unflinching honesty and flashes of humour, Zoe speaks about the reality of becoming a full-time caregiver, the heartbreak of watching Patrick fade under the weight of cancer and Lynch syndrome, and the extraordinary tenderness that carried them through.
Zoe recalls the messy, magical, and devastating moments: draining fluid from Patrick’s lungs at home, creating “daddy magic” rituals for their toddler, and choosing a pub-style wake over the cremation she wasn’t ready for. She talks openly about preparing a young child for loss, using imaginative metaphors like “Daddy lives on the moon” to help Addie find comfort.
Now living in a platonic co-parenting arrangement with a close friend, Zoe reflects on parenting through grief, reclaiming her own identity, and the contradictions of widowhood where love, loss, exhaustion and laughter all collide.
This conversation is a reminder that grief is never simple, caregiving is never easy, and yet new forms of family and meaning can grow in the wake of heartbreak.
In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Julie Farrin, who lost her husband Andy to glioblastoma, an aggressive and fast moving brain cancer.
Julie shares the story of meeting Andy, falling for his quiet kindness, and marrying him just weeks before their world was turned upside down. She talks about the first seizure that led to his diagnosis, the challenges of treatment during lockdown, and the painful reality of watching his words, independence and dignity slip away.
Together we explore what it meant to become a full time carer so early in marriage, the mix of exhaustion and dark humour that carried her through, and the heartbreak of hospice and widowhood. Julie also reflects on life after Andy, returning to work too soon, panic attacks, health struggles of her own, and the slow work of building a life without him.
She is honest about the isolation, the decisions she never thought she would face, and the importance of keeping Andy’s memory alive. As Julie puts it, “We are the gatekeepers, the memory keepers.”
We talk about:
• Julie and Andy’s love story and the early signs of glioblastoma
• The impact of lockdown on treatment and caregiving
• Watching decline up close and making end of life decisions
• The burden of being the only caregiver and managing others’ denial
• Choosing not to pursue motherhood under impossible circumstances
• Returning to work, health struggles and the ongoing reality of grief
• Why storytelling matters and how memory keeping keeps loved ones close
In this episode, host Rosie Moss speaks with Ric Hart—a writer, speaker, and solo father who lost his wife Jade shortly after the birth of their son Hugo in 2018.
Ric shares the raw reality of grief colliding with fatherhood: bringing a newborn home alone, feeding Hugo through sleepless nights, and confronting what he believes were preventable hospital failures. From that devastation, he found purpose—writing children’s books that comfort his son, publishing an adult memoir, and creating a podcast and nonprofit work to support other grieving families.
He also opens up about how contrast therapy—a mix of sauna and ice baths—helped him regulate his nervous system and eventually became a practice he now shares with others.
Together, Rosie and Ric explore:
The trauma of losing Jade during childbirth and the isolating experience of widowed fatherhood.
How Ric broke time into “hour-by-hour” survival to keep going in those first months.
The role of writing, storytelling, and advocacy in transforming grief into purpose.
The social isolation of being a widowed dad in mother-centric parenting spaces.
Rebuilding identity through contrast therapy and creating a coaching practice.
Dating after profound loss and finding space for new love alongside eternal grief.
Practical advice for anyone grieving: take small steps, let yourself feel, and lean on the people who truly show up.
As Ric says, it’s about “just turning up”—for your children, for yourself, and for others walking the same path.
In this solo episode, host Rosie Moss shares her own story with unflinching honesty.
Seven and a half years after losing her husband, Rosie now faces a second upheaval: the end of her marriage. She reflects on how new heartbreak can reawaken old wounds, leaving her once again asking, how the f**k do I get back up?
Rosie talks candidly about raising three children, two with additional needs, while navigating school moves, GCSE pressure, and the relentlessness of being the only adult her kids can lean on. She admits to feeling exhausted, isolated, and often overwhelmed, but also determined to keep going.
Amid the chaos, she finds moments of light:
Finishing her first book on widowhood.
Hosting her debut Widowed AF retreat, a space for connection and healing.
Being named a finalist at the British Podcast Awards, a reminder that her work matters.
This is an episode about overlapping griefs, solo parenting, and starting again when you didn’t think you had the strength. With dark humour, humility, and fierce honesty, Rosie invites you into her world, proof that even in the wreckage, there can still be community, meaning, and hope.
In this episode, Rosie Moss sits down with Clare McCue, who faced one of the most difficult journeys imaginable: walking with her husband Mattie through ALS, and ultimately supporting his decision to die with dignity through Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law.
Clare shares candidly what it meant to prepare her young son Hudson for his father’s death — not by hiding it, but by weaving him into every stage of the process. From navigating a chaotic healthcare system during lockdown, to explaining assisted dying with honesty and compassion, Clare opens a window onto the realities few families ever speak of.
The conversation explores:
As Clare says, “Hope wasn’t that everything would be okay, but that there would be meaning in how it worked out.”
This is an extraordinary story of love, courage, and the controversial but profoundly human choice of assisted death.
At just 31, Karla Hawkins’ husband Dan was diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer. Overnight, life became a whirlwind of surgeries, drug trials, and caregiving — all while trying to hold onto hope.
In this moving episode, Karla shares:
• The shock of a rare diagnosis in young adulthood
• Becoming a full-time caregiver while balancing work and finances
• The phone call that told her Dan had just one week to live
• Their last-minute wedding in his father’s garden before hospice care
• The decision not to use Dan’s stored sperm after his death
• How she rebuilt her life while keeping Dan’s memory visible
This is a story about love, logistics, loss — and the impossible choices we make when time runs out.
In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with Rachel Powell, who lost her husband Andre to suicide after years of battling undiagnosed depression, sex addiction, and harmful church dynamics.
Rachel opens up about the reality of living in a marriage marked by broken boundaries, secrecy, and the crushing weight of spiritual control. She explains how her attempts to set a safety plan were met with resistance, and how guilt, silence, and church pressures compounded the crisis that ended in Andre’s death.
We talk about:
• The intersection of addiction, mental health & faith communities
• Surviving suicide loss while raising children and adopted relatives
• Leaving unsafe faith spaces to protect her daughters
• The judgement she faced from family and church members
• Her journey through suicidal thoughts, therapy, and rebuilding identity
• Founding Hope Speaker to support others affected by suicide and loss
Rachel’s story is one of unflinching honesty, deep pain, and incredible resilience. She shares how honesty with her children about their father’s death has opened a path toward healing, and how community, therapy, and a safer faith space have helped her reclaim her life.
This is an episode about truth-telling, survival, and the strength it takes to rebuild when the systems meant to support you instead cause harm.
More information about Rachel Powell can be found here www.hopespeaker.com/coaching
#WidowedAF #GriefSupport #SuicideLoss #SpiritualAbuse #FaithTrauma #ParentingThroughGrief #SoloParenting #MentalHealthAwareness #ReligiousTrauma #GriefJourney #HopeAfterLoss #Widowhood #LifeAfterSuicide #AddictionRecovery #SuicideBereavement #GriefPodcast
In this episode, Rosie Gill-Moss speaks with musician Sephine Llo (Josie) about love, loss, and the complicated road to motherhood after bereavement.Josie married fellow musician Rob just days after his stage-four cancer diagnosis. Over the next two years, they endured 30 rounds of chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, and the looming reality of terminal illness—all while clinging to hope and planning for a family. Before treatment began, they froze embryos, a decision that would shape Josie’s life long after Rob’s death.When Rob died in hospice care, Josie was carrying their son Laurie. Years later, she returned to those frozen embryos to conceive their daughter, Connie. Now a solo parent of two, she speaks with raw honesty about postpartum depression, the judgement she faced for using embryos after loss, and the daily work of raising children who will only ever know their dad through photographs and recordings.Music threads through it all. For years Josie couldn’t write a song, until she found Rob’s unfinished demos and turned them into Diamond Fall—a posthumous album released on what would have been their tenth anniversary. She describes it as a conversation with Rob, and a way to keep his voice alive for their children.This conversation touches on:Managing illness, work, and finances as cancer takes over a householdIVF after bereavement and the emotions of parenting children conceived with a late partnerThe silences of grief: “I didn’t laugh for years”Dating again after monumental lossContent warning: Includes discussion of terminal cancer, IVF after partner death, hospice care, suicidal thoughts, and solo parent grief.If you’re a solo parent, bereaved partner, or navigating medically complex grief, Josie’s story may resonate—and remind you you’re not alone.