MINDFULNESS & GRIEF PODCAST EPISODE 27

Coping With Overdose Grief

Removing The Stigma, Remembering The Love

With Dave Roberts, LMSW

SHOW NOTES

Coping with grief after a loved one has died from an overdose has a unique set of challenges. All too often the focus is on the circumstances of the death, not the life, of a very special person who loved, lived, and most likely tried to overcome their addiction. Often exhausted by the worry, caregiving and anticipatory type of grief that precedes this type of loss, friends and family members of someone who died by overdose need compassion, self-care, and each other. In the 27th episode of the Mindfulness & Grief Podcast, grief counselor Dave Roberts shares ways that you can cope with overdose grief and refocus the lens through which this loss is viewed on the person, not the addiction.

About Dave Roberts, LMSW

David J. Roberts, LMSW, became a parent who experienced the death of a child, when his daughter Jeannine died of cancer on 3/1/03 at the age of 18. He is a retired addiction professional and an adjunct professor in the psychology and psychology child-life departments at Utica College in Utica, New York. Dave is a featured speaker, workshop facilitator and coach for Aspire Place, LLC. He is also the chapter leader for The Compassionate Friends of the Mohawk Valley, whose mission is to support families who have experienced the death of a child.

Dave has also been a past national workshop facilitator for The Compassionate Friends and a past national workshop facilitator and keynote speaker for The Bereaved Parents of the USA. Dave also co-presented a workshop titled “Helping Faculty After Traumatic Loss” for the Parkland, Florida community in May of 2018,in the aftermath of the mass shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School. Dave was also a keynote speaker at The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Remembrance Weekend during in June of 2019 in Ponte Verda, Florida .Dave has also done numerous workshops at the local and regional levels related to transformation from grief and loss.

Dave has been a past HuffPost contributor and has also published articles with the Open to Hope Foundation, The Grief Toolbox, Recovering the Self Journal, Mindfulness and Grief, and Thrive Global. He is currently a regular contributor to Medium.

One of Dave's articles, My Daughter is Never Far Away, can also be found in Open to Hope: Inspirational Stories of Healing and Loss. Excerpts from Dave's article for The Open to Hope Foundation, called The Broken Places were featured in the Paraclete Press DVD video, Grieving the Sudden Death of a Loved One.

He has appeared on numerous radio and internet broadcasts and Open to Hope Television. Dave was also part of a panel in 2016 for the BBC Podcast, World Have Your Say, with other grief experts, discussing the death of Carrie Fisher.

If you are interested in having Dave speak to your organization, please contact Aspire Place.