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In this edition of the Living with loss podcast, I'm joined by my good mate and medical Student Scott Leigh.
Scott lost his brother Oli to suicide, and an initial coping mechanism was to get lost in his books and work hard to avoid the emotions of Grief. Scott explains how his grief journey follows the path of the 5 stages of Grief, at times there has been anger other times denial. We also look at Scott's mental health journey, the difficulties he has faced, and we share stories over the weird world of panic attacks.

Scott and his Mum Michelle have founded the Oli Leigh Trust which is an organisation that fundaraises to give grants to small charities that focus on suicide prevention and well being training. The trust has done some wonderful things, including an event at Downing Street which I was lucky enough to attend. The work they do is stupendous and if you'd like to learn more, here is their link to the website : https://www.theolileightrust.org/#/

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In this week's episode, I joined up with my friend and slightly terrible poker player Louis Salem. Louis and I spoke about the podcast on a drunken night out once, and from that moment I knew it would be a great episode.

Louis lost his dad when he was 12 years old. He takes us back to the moment he found out, the conversation he heard. And how the passing didn't feel real.

Louis had to navigate his school years without Dad at his side and explains how "playing Sunday league football" without dad cheering on was some of the hardest of moments.

Despite the inevitable grief, Louis has developed a sense of 'resilience" and it's the trauma that he faced that drives him to succeed.

Living with loss is all about breaking down those barriers and having a conversation that we sometimes choose to run away from. But ultimately loss doesn't always need to be a point of sadness, it can be a time to remember and a time to share, and I'm grateful that I can share this platform with so many amazing people.

Thanks, Louis for joining me on this episode!

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In this episode of the Living with loss podcast I connected with Rhiannon Amery to discuss the passing of her father.

Rhiannon lost her father to suicide and ever she has discovered a lot about the confusion of loss.

The word suicide carries a lot of weight and Rhiannon has found people tend to avoid the conversation at all costs. But as Rhiannon explains when you lose someone "talking about it is so much more healthy. " When she talks about the passing of her father, she isn't looking for advice or guidance, she just wants someone to listen.

Rhiannon shares how it's important to not just "assume the story" but instead "breath into the "uncomfortableness" and be an ear to listen.

Rhiannon has a podcast called The Gen- Z tea and you should all give it a listen.