From Loss to Legacy: Kimberly Stevens on Turning Grief into Purpose

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Content Warning ⚠️ - This episode discusses child loss, hospitalisation, grief and end-of-life decisions. Please listen with care and have support available and take breaks as needed.

In this deeply moving conversation, Dr Nat Green speaks with psychologist and grieving mum Kimberly Stevens, who lost her 13-year-old son Ethan to T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in 2021. Six months later, back at work and searching for what was missing between therapy sessions, Kimberly set out to solve a critical gap for bereaved parents—local, lived-experience connection.

After three years of development, she launched Kids Connecting Parents (April 2025), a geolocation app helping grieving parents find and message one another nearby, build real-world support, and feel less alone.

Key Highlights / Takeaways

• Ethan’s story: from misdiagnosed “asthma” to ICU, and the family’s final days filled with love.
• The truth about grief: why integration (not “moving on”) is the most compassionate path.
• The basket of tools: how Kimberly used her clinical wisdom and lived experience to feel everything and re-engage with life.
• The connection gap: why many parents lose support—and how local, face-to-face community transforms healing.
• Building the app: funding hurdles, unexpected allies, and a “dating-app-style” interface (without the dating!).
• Boundaries & return to work: practical ways professionals can pace capacity after loss.
• Hope in action: 2,200+ messages exchanged since launch, connecting parents across Australia, NZ, Canada, the US & Germany.
• Tiny steps matter: water, sleep, a walk, a text—each builds capacity to hold what hurts.
• It truly “takes a village to grieve a child.” Creating and joining that village is healing.

About our guest — Kimberly Stevens
Registered Psychologist, founder of Kids Connecting Parents, and devoted mum to Ethan and Jett. Kimberly blends professional training with lived experience to create safer, closer, local support for parents navigating life after child loss.

Resources & how to help

• Kids Connecting Parents App — Available on Apple & Android
• Website: www.kidsconnectingparents.com
• Financial accessibility: 99¢ AUD/month helps cover hosting and security. If cost is a barrier, email [e-mail]
  for 5 years free—no questions asked.
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Thank you to Mining Skills Australia who made the App possible

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Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.