Quote · On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Emilie Kiser EXCLUSIVE: The Loss That Changed Her Forever
Where this was said
Learning to Live With Grief
At 22:01 · chapter starts 21:45
Emilie delivers what may be the episode's most resonant insight: grief is not a finish line. It does not go away; it becomes something you carry alongside every other emotion, permanently. She credits this understanding to Dr. Joanne Cacciatori, a grief specialist who runs a care farm retreat for bereaved parents and who plainly told Emilie that the 'stages of grief' model was designed for elderly people accepting their own mortality — not for parents outliving their children. Hearing that her grief would never end felt impossible at the time. But the flip side was liberation: everything coexists. Joy and sadness, guilt and gratitude, love and loss — they all live together. That's the frame she now uses to navigate every day.
Health professionals told Emilie that grief from child loss never disappears — it becomes something you carry and learn to coexist with forever.
Grief expert Dr. Joanne Cacciatori told Emilie that the popular 'stages of grief' model was not designed for parents who have lost a child.
