David Ferrugio: Dead Talks Podcast Host

Jonathan Fleece: President and CEO of Empath Health

Jonathan Fleece is the president and CEO of Empath Health

Empath Health is one of the country’s largest not-for-profit health systems delivering non-acute care and services through its skilled, medical and holistic programs to individuals with chronic, advanced and terminal illnesses and those experiencing grief. The Empath Health integrated network of care provides expert medical, counseling and support services including hospice; home health; palliative care; grief services; all-inclusive elder care; HIV/STI prevention services and support; primary care; physician services; and full-service pharmacy and durable medical equipment (DME). Empath Health is honored to have approximately 26,000 people enrolled in our Full Life Care services in north central, west central and southwest Florida. We have nearly 130 combined years of experience serving individuals during some of their most vulnerable times. Our wide variety of community-based programs reflects our commitment to the preservation of our charitable mission.

Lindsey Kane Leaverton

Brutally Honest. Achingly Authentic. In her author debut, Lindsey Kane Leaverton, has written the book she wished she had as she navigated countless trips through despair. She shares her heart and healing journey to help you raise your awareness, add tools to your toolkit, and find a way to laugh while you cry your way through a messy life. https://www.notanotherselfhelpbook.com/shes-a-lot-interview-series

David Ferrugio: Dead Talks Podcast Host

Host of one of the most popular podcasts on death, grief and loss, David Ferrugio comes into the work with a deep personal understanding of loss. His father (also David) died in the world Trade Center on 9/11 when David was only twelve years old. In this episode David shares some of his life philosophies, his appreciation for gallows humor and how critical supports helped him to process his loss. The subject matter may be heavy, but this conversation isn't. David's joy and love of life is infectious.

J.S. Park: As Long as You Need: Permission to Grieve

What a Day in the Life of a Hospital Chaplain who Sits with the Dying Teaches Us About GRIEF

J.S. Park is a hospital chaplain, author, and online educator. For eight years he has been an interfaith chaplain at a thousand-plus-bed hospital that is designated a Level 1 Trauma Center. His role includes grief counseling, attending every death, every trauma and Code Blue, staff care, and supporting end-of-life care. He also served for three years as a chaplain at one of the largest nonprofit charities for the homeless on the east coast. J.S. has a MDiv completed in 2010 and a BA in Psychology. He also has a sixth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. J.S. currently lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife, a nurse practitioner, and his three-year-old daughter, newborn son, and their adopted dog.

https://www.instagram.com/jspark3000/?hl=en

X: https://twitter.com/jsparkblog?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNc6TwqBwxM

Rhaina Cohen: Author of The Other Significant Others: Reimaging Life with Friendship at the Center

NPR’s Rhaina Cohen is the The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center,

The Other Significant Others invites us into the lives of people who have defied convention by choosing a friend as a life partner—from friends raising a child together to best friends of 50 years who live together in their retiree years. Based on years of original reporting and striking social science research, Cohen argues that we undermine romantic relationships by expecting too much of them while we diminish friendships by expecting too little of them. At a time when many Americans are spending large stretches of their lives single, widowed or divorced, or feeling the effects of the "loneliness epidemic," Cohen insists that we recognize the many forms of profound connection that can anchor our lives. A groundbreaking book, The Other Significant Others challenges us to ask what we want from our relationships—not just what we’re supposed to want—and transforms how we define a fulfilling life

The book looks at how friendship is woefully undervalued, and we do ourselves a societal disservice by believing that a lifelong romantic relationship is essential for having a full, meaningful adulthood. Cohen makes this case through the stories of people who've built a life with a friend—raising children together, buying homes together, and taking care of each other in old age. Amid a loneliness epidemic, declining marriage rates and changing family forms, she argues that we'd benefit from recognizing the variety of relationships that ground people's lives

“Rhaina Cohen’s moving, intimate portraits of people in unusually devoted friendships upend our cultural narratives about which relationships matter. A perceptive and vivid reporter, she reveals that there are far more pathways to deep connection and fulfillment than we’ve been made to believe. The Other Significant Others is an arresting work of compassion and insight.”

—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and co-host of Dear Therapists podcast

“In her lovingly written The Other Significant Others, Rhaina Cohen does crucial work by questioning easy social categorization and the hierarchies of recognition and privilege that too often put romantically coupled pairs at the top. The Other Significant Others is energetic, open, considered, and beautifully reported. It thrums with a passion for the subject, and is powered by a historically rich, intellectually serious curiosity about the relationships that provide backbone and ballast to so many of our lives, but which have only recently begun to receive the consideration they are due.”

—Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of All the Single Ladies and Good and Mad

https://www.rhainacohen.com