Supporting Student Athletes After Suicide Loss with Chris Warren (Part 2)

In this episode of Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z, Dr. Christina Zampitella continues her conversation with Chris Warren, exploring the ongoing impact of losing student athletes to suicide.

This part of the conversation focuses on what happens after the initial loss and how grief is processed in groups, the role of community in healing, and the lasting effects of navigating tragedy both within and outside of that support system.

Chris shares his experience of losing a second student athlete while being physically removed from his team, highlighting the isolation, guilt, and coping challenges that followed. Together, they discuss the importance of connection, the impact of stigma, and why avoiding conversations about suicide can make healing more difficult.

This episode also explores:

• The role of group support in traumatic grief
• The impact of stigma and silence around suicide
• The difference between grieving with support vs. alone
• And the importance of self-care for those in helping roles

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If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. Support is available. You can call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for chat support. If you are outside the U.S., please reach out to local emergency services or a trusted support resource in your area.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Group Grief and Shared Experience 02:00 – The Power of “Me Too” in Healing 03:15 – Team Dynamics and Collective Grief 04:30 – How Students Supported Each Other 05:30 – School Response and Gaps in Support 06:45 – Memorialization and Controversy 08:00 – Stigma and Fear Around Suicide 09:15 – Changes After a Second Loss 10:30 – Losing a Second Student Athlete 11:45 – Grieving Without a Support System 13:00 – Isolation and Distance from the Team 13:45 – Coping Alone and Turning to Numbing 15:00 – The Importance of Community in Grief 16:15 – Guilt and Feeling Like You Left 17:30 – Helping Others While Running on Empty 18:30 – The Challenge of Self-Care in Caretaking Roles 19:45 – When Self-Care Feels Selfish 20:45 – Reconnecting with Personal Identity 22:00 – Finding Regulation and Stability 23:15 – Why Group Support Matters 24:30 – The Impact of Stigma on Healing 25:30 – Why We Avoid Talking About Suicide 26:30 – The Importance of Open Conversations 27:30 – Suicide Prevention and Awareness 28:30 – Final Reflections on Grief and Healing

Supporting Student Athletes After Suicide Loss with Chris Warren (Part 1)

In this episode of Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z, Dr. Christina Zampitella sits down with Chris Warren, LPCMH (Licensed Professional Counselor at the Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy) to talk about the loss of student athletes to suicide and the impact of that loss from the perspective of a coach and mentor.

Chris shares his experience working closely with two high school athletes who died by suicide, and what it was like to receive that news, support other students through the loss, and navigate his own grief at the same time.

This conversation explores the complexity of grief in leadership roles, including:

• Supporting adolescents after a peer’s death

• The pressure to “hold it together” while grieving

• The loss of control that comes with suicide

• And the weight of “what if” and “if only” thoughts that can follow This episode offers an honest look at grief, responsibility, and the lasting impact of loss — both personally and professionally.

This is part 1 of a two-part series. Tune in next week for part 2. **********

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. Support is available. You can call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for chat support. If you are outside the U.S., please reach out to local emergency services or a trusted support resource in your area.

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

00:40 – Meet Chris Warren

01:30 – Coaching and Mentorship Background

02:30 – First Loss: Gabby’s Story 03:30 – Learning About the Loss

05:30 – Receiving the News

07:00 – Shock, Disbelief, and Emotional Response

08:30 – Immediate Reactions and Coping

10:00 – Problem-Solving Mode vs. Grief

11:30 – Navigating Uncertainty and Lack of Protocol

12:45 – Supporting Student Athletes

13:45 – Creating Space for Grief in a Team Setting

15:00 – The Role of Choice and Autonomy

16:30 – Coaching Skills in Crisis

18:00 – Individual vs. Group Grief

19:30 – Identity and Loss in Adolescence

21:00 – Impact on Teammates

22:30 – Difficulty Talking About Suicide

23:30 – Loss of Control

24:30 – Prior Conversations About Mental Health

25:30 – “I Missed Something”

26:30 – Guilt and Responsibility

27:30 – Navigating “If Only” Thoughts

28:30 – Self-Forgiveness and Reflection

29:30 – Understanding Grief Over Time

The Impact of Loss on Couples and Families | Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z ft. Perlyn Severe

Dr. Christina Zampitella hosts Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z and welcomes Perlyn Severe, a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy with advanced substance abuse certification, to discuss how grief and trauma impact couples and family systems. Sever shares her background and explains how loss can intensify existing relationship patterns, from closeness that becomes insular and ruminative to distance, imbalance, resentment, and conflict, including how codependency and enabling can emerge when substances are involved. They describe signs that outside support may be needed when problems surface through work, children’s behavior, or worsening functioning. The conversation also highlights healthy grieving in families—open communication, flexibility, and tolerance for each other’s pain—and notes differences in grieving styles, including intuitive versus instrumental grieving, and how expanding emotional vocabulary and coping skills can help couples adapt.

00:00 Welcome to Phoenix Rising

00:41 Meet the Guest Therapist

01:33 Why Grief Hits Couples

03:36 Training in Family Therapy

04:35 Family Trauma and Attachment

06:05 Career Shift to Addiction Work

07:41 Personal Path to Grief Work

09:56 How Loss Exposes Patterns

12:11 Cocooning and Rumination

15:01 Secure Team vs Us Against World

15:54 Codependency After Trauma

16:56 Couple Culture and Systems

17:48 What Enabling Provides

18:37 Gendered Protection Patterns

20:26 Grief Creates Imbalance

22:12 Resentment and Distancing

23:30 Healthy Family Grieving

23:57 Flexibility and Tolerance

25:28 Building Resilience in Therapy

27:53 Different Grieving Styles

29:16 Expanding Coping Repertoire

Healing Through Grief, Trauma & Chronic Illness: Support Systems, Agency, and Finding Meaning | Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z Dr. Christina Zampitella hosts a Phoenix Rising conversation focused on healing from grief, trauma, and chronic or life-threatening illness. The discussion emphasizes the necessity of healthy social support and the harm of “problematic” support that minimizes illness, and suggests alternatives such as therapy, peer support groups (including diagnosis- or loss-specific groups), social workers, and online resources that are often free and more accessible. They describe how peer communities can provide practical patient-to-patient guidance and reduce isolation, and stress advocating for oneself in the medical system by seeking specialists and teaching hospitals, getting second opinions, and finding providers who are trustworthy and able to pivot care. The speakers acknowledge systemic barriers and inequities, including the impact of race, privilege, socioeconomic factors, language, distrust of medical systems, and misogyny in healthcare and research. Personal experiences are shared involving leukemia treatment and maintenance therapy, epilepsy, and multiple sudden losses (a son, father, mother, and a dog), including the trauma and logistical strain of traveling for infusions and caregiving, and the concept of anticipatory grief for caregivers. The conversation explores coping traits like optimism, catastrophizing, and resiliency; the role of information and agency; accommodations and boundaries; identity shifts and secondary losses; and the importance of basics such as sleep, mental health, nutrition, and manageable movement. They also critically examine the concept of post-traumatic growth, cautioning against placing a burden on survivors to find a silver lining or transformation. The episode closes with an invitation for viewer comments and a reminder that challenge can awaken the power to heal.

00:00 Phoenix Rising Intro: Healing Through Grief & Trauma

00:28 Must-Dos vs Wanna-Dos: Making Accommodations for Illness

00:46 The Power (and Pitfalls) of Social Support During Treatment

02:21 When Support Is Missing: Therapy as a Lifeline

03:19 Peer Support That Fits: Finding the Right Grief/Illness Community

06:21 Resources, Online Groups & the Financial Reality of Chronic Illness

07:04 Specialists, Trust & Hard Medical Decisions (Leukemia Care)

07:40 Double Loss While in Treatment: Dad’s Death, Then Mom’s

17:25 Caretakers’ Burden: Partners, Parents & Anticipatory Grief

19:31 Resilience Toolkit: Optimism, Information, Agency & Self-Advocacy

25:40 Hunting for Help: Providers, Social Workers, and Not Taking No

28:45 When to Pivot: Trust Your Gut & Find the Right Doctor 30:04 Privilege, Race, and Access: Who Gets Heard in Healthcare

30:55 Women’s Pain, Misogyny, and the Gender Data Gap in Medicine

33:26 Go to the Specialists: Why Teaching Hospitals Can Change Everything

35:55 The Weird Spotlight of Illness: Attention, Validation, and Need

37:44 Making Meaning & Identity Shifts After Diagnosis and Loss

39:52 Coping Tools: Self-Compassion, Joy, and the “And” Mindset

43:13 The Four Pillars: Sleep, Movement, Food, and Mental Health

45:07 Secondary Losses & Grief Beyond Death (and the Possibility of Growth)

47:12 Challenging “Post-Traumatic Growth”: Pressure, Disenfranchisement, and Change

54:05 Closing Thoughts, Thanks, and How to Join the Conversation

Chronic Illness in Limbo: Autoimmune Disease, Lymphoma, and Finding Control

Dr. Christina Zampitella hosts Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z, a podcast focused on healing through grief and trauma, and introduces an episode on chronic and life-threatening illness featuring guest Annika. Annika shares a broad overview of her medical history, starting with Graves disease diagnosed at 17 after her dentist urged a thyroid check, followed by surgery that helped for 15 years and later radioiodine treatment in graduate school, leaving her without a thyroid and managed on Synthroid. About 20 years later, she developed multiple autoimmune diagnoses, which she lists as Graves disease, Raynaud’s, MGUS (a precursor condition that can precede multiple myeloma), and Sjögren’s disease (described as an attack on moisture-producing organs causing severe dry eyes, no saliva, chronic dehydration, loss of taste and smell, and significant dental problems). She also describes an incidental lung nodule discovered during a COVID-era ER visit for severe gastrointestinal illness and fainting; after seeking second opinions and care at Sloan Kettering, a needle biopsy confirmed low-grade B-cell lymphoma currently managed with watch-and-wait, though a later growth of the nodule shifted concern. Annika discusses the practical and emotional burdens of chronic illness—fatigue, exercise intolerance, unpredictable symptoms, and repeated insurance barriers (including $12,000 scleral lenses for dry eyes). She emphasizes the necessity of self-advocacy, tracking medical information, building a responsive care team, and traveling to specialty centers like Johns Hopkins and Sloan Kettering, while acknowledging the privilege required to do so. Annika describes participating in longitudinal research studies (including NIH and a CP3 cancer study) as empowering and meaningful, tying this to benefit-finding and meaning-making. Dr. Z and Annika explore how chronic illness and traumatic grief both involve loss of control, and how control and advocacy can support later meaning-making. Annika connects her illness experience to prior traumatic loss—the overdose death of her son—and describes waking daily to an unchanging reality of loss, while illness adds uncertainty and limbo. They discuss anger, “why me,” feelings of betrayal by the body, invisible illness, and relationship strain, alongside resilience and coping through pragmatic adaptation, boundaries, and oscillating between emotion and daily responsibilities. The conversation closes on adapting to limitations to preserve quality of life, with examples like modifying exercise and food choices to prevent symptom flares and choking.

00:00 Welcome to Phoenix Rising: Healing Through Grief & Trauma

00:30 Today’s Topic: Chronic & Life-Threatening Illness + Meet Annika

02:02 Annika’s First Diagnosis: Graves Disease at 17 (and the Early Warning Signs)

03:23 Autoimmune Conditions ‘Travel in Clumps’: Listing the Diagnoses

05:40 Daily Impact: Fatigue, Exercise Intolerance, Dry Eyes/Teeth & the Cost of Care

06:24 Becoming Your Own Advocate: Specialists, Travel, and Building a Care Team

07:40 Giving Back Through Research: Clinical Trials, Longitudinal Studies & Meaning-Making

09:52 Control vs. Chaos: Coping with Chronic Illness and the Loss of Control

10:54 Timeline Deep-Dive: Thyroid Surgery, Grad School Stress, and the Long Gap to the Next Diagnosis

14:58 Menopause, Overlapping Symptoms & When ‘Manageable’ Becomes Life-Altering

19:54 COVID-Era ER Visit to Lung Nodules: Second Opinions and a Lymphoma Diagnosis

23:05 Watch-and-Wait to Treatment: Rituximab and the Immune System Trade-Off

24:37 Rituximab’s Uncertainty: Help, Harm, and Infection Risk

25:02 “Why Me?” Anger, Trauma, and Finding Resilience Anyway

27:52 Invisible Illness & Being Misread: Looking “Fine” While Struggling

30:37 Body Betrayal & Life Restrictions: Travel Triggers, Chemo Days, and Self-Compassion

35:20 The Hidden Losses: Losing Taste & Smell—and the Joy of Brief Breakthroughs

39:43 Adapting to Limits: Boundaries, Pragmatism, and Building Quality of Life

43:40 When People Don’t Adapt: Fear Spirals, Closed Worlds, and Choosing Quality of Life

Rising from Chronic Illness

In this episode of Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z, Dr. Christina Zampitella hosts an in-depth conversation with Samantha about overcoming the challenges of living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other chronic illnesses. The discussion covers their personal experiences, the emotional and physical impacts, as well as navigating the healthcare system and finding the right treatment. Samantha also shares her journey through different phases of her illness, the emotional struggles, and how it has reshaped her life and outlook. This episode provides valuable insights and resources for anyone dealing with chronic illness and highlights the importance of empathy and support.

00:00 Introduction to Phoenix Rising

00:28 Personal Experiences with Medical Diagnosis

02:02 Navigating Treatment Options

02:57 Challenges with Insurance and Healthcare

04:41 Understanding MS and Its Impact

09:30 Coping Mechanisms and Support Systems

15:28 Medication and Lifestyle Adjustments

18:20 Experiencing Intrusive Thoughts and Panic

19:55 Misdiagnosis and Discovery of Migraines

23:37 The Emotional Impact of Chronic Illness

31:00 Grieving and Acceptance

33:48 Living with Intention and Seeking Help

35:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts