In honor of suicide prevention month, Amanda brings you an incredibly courageous guest who lost her son to suicide in 2020. A woman who embodies an extraordinary amount of bravery, taking to stages nationwide with a mission to elevate the conversation around mental illness, grief and loss, and to break the stigma of death by suicide. Erin Blechman is an author, speaker, and Certified Grief Educator, with a striking ability to speak openly and honestly about her experience as a mother with a mentally ill child who ultimately took his own life.

In this unflinchingly candid conversation, the ladies discuss:

🔥The challenge of staying compassionate and understanding while watching someone you love struggle with mental illness

🔥The relief a parent may feel that their child is no longer suffering, and because they themselves are now unburdened by the pain, but feel shameful speaking that out loud

🔥It’s okay to feel whatever you’re feeling while coping with your child's mental illness as well as grief around their passing

🔥The importance of healing in community; sharing your pain and how you feel with people who "get it" helps to normalize it

🔥The mentality and struggles of a person who dies by suicide

🔥The common feeling of dying with our loved ones, and moving forward as a way to honor them

🔥The "both/and" concept

🔥Turning "What if's?" into "Even if’s"

About Erin

 In addition to Erin's valiant mission to elevate the conversation about mental illness, suicide, loss, and grief, she also aims to increase education, awareness, and compassion for those who suffer as well as help people become comfortable talking about suicide openly in an attempt to end the stigma. She offers grief support to bereaved parents through online groups and community talks that seek to build greater understanding of mental illness, suicide, loss, and grief. Her book, My Unexpected Journey: Reflections After Losing My Son to Suicide, chronicles the eighteen months following the devastating loss of her beloved son, Max after his long battle with mental illness. Erin lives part-time in both Pennsylvania and Florida with her husband, Bill and Max’s former dog, Emmylou. Their son, Sam, and his wife, Julia, reside in Pennsylvania.

My Unexpected Journey is her first book. Get it here.

Follow Erin on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn and on her website.

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

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Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Why is our society so afraid of death? How does facing the reality of the inevitable help us to live happier right now? And how can embracing change without resistance lessen the anxiety, fear, and stress most of us feel on a daily basis?

Join Amanda and her ultra pragmatic guest, David Ferrugio of DEAD Talks Podcast for a down-to-earth conversation about the benefit of facing and dealing with grief, death (others and our own), and trauma, and moving forward in a way that sets you free to trust your intuition and live a better life.

Listen for:

🔥David's story of losing his father in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 when he was just 12 years old and how he processed this trauma as a boy

🔥The unpredictable nature of life—expecting the unexpected removes the fear, allowing you to roll with the punches more easily

🔥Why the risk of happiness feels so scary

🔥How loss automatically creates a new identify for a griever, and how you have the power to redefine the new you

🔥Motivation to get started on something without needing to know what's going to happen, and the freedom you have to change course whenever you feel moved to

🔥Permission to feel it all and trusting you won't feel devastated forever

🔥An incredible "nod" from David's father in a divinely timed experience at the 9/11 memorial

About David

David Ferrugio is the host of DEAD Talks, a podcast exploring grief, death, and the afterlife through raw, honest conversations with guests ranging from Tony Hawk to Neil deGrasse Tyson. Inspired by losing his father on 9/11 at age 12, David blends humor, heart, and curiosity to normalize talking about life’s only guarantee.

Keep an eye out for David's book to be published September 2026!!

Learn what David's up to here. Visit his website and follow DEAD Talks on Instagram.

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*Please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Have you lost someone you love to addiction? Do you carry shame around the way they died? Are you generally perplexed about how an intelligent, kindhearted person—someone with a bright future ahead—falls prey to the disease of addiction, and dies? You're not alone.

Join Amanda and Lauren Sisler, award-winning ESPN broadcaster, author of the new book Shatterproof: How I Overcame the Shame of Losing My Parents to Opioid Addiction (and Found My Sideline Shimmy), and overall extraordinarily resilient human, for a hard look at the shame that accompanies death by substances.

In 2003, Lauren lost both of her parents to the disease of addiction within 5 hours of each other. Amidst profound grief and despair that could have halted her dreams, Lauren discovered an incredible courage that propelled her forward, turning pain and shame into a pathway for success.

Listen as these two powerhouse women uncover:

🔥The disease concept of addiction and how your person lost the power to choose you over drugs and/or alcohol

🔥How shame is lifted once we understand and believe that addiction is a disease, not a character defect

🔥The insidious nature of addiction and how/why a person crosses the line knowing they are heading down a slippery slope

🔥The power of grief to reveal parts of ourselves that need deep healing

🔥How our example of honestly seeking the truth of who we are, and taking the necessary steps to transform, helps others do the same

🔥Giving yourself grace during the push-pull process of becoming vulnerable enough to heal, and change

About Lauren

Lauren Sisler has been captivating audiences with her insightful coverage on ESPN since 2016. Not only is she a powerhouse in the broadcasting world, but she’s also the author of the compelling new book, Shatterproof. Lauren is passionate about sports, but even more passionate about telling the stories of the coaches, athletes, and fans who make it more than a game. Lauren is currently sharing her journey through grief with audiences nationwide, aiming to shed light on crucial issues and dismantle the obstacles that prevent us from embracing our fullest potential.

Check out Lauren’s website to learn where she is speaking next!

Buy her book, Shatterproof: How I Overcame the Shame of Losing My Parents to Opioid Addiction (and Found My Sideline Shimmy)

Follow Lauren on Instagram

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

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Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.

Where do our loved ones go when they die? Do you have a deep yearning to connect with your person and aren't sure where to start? Are you seeking tools to awaken your connection with the divine, the intangible but very palpable energy that you can't see or touch, but is calling to you? Then this episode is for you!

Join Amanda and her guest Rachel Stewart, an intuitive guide, energy healer, and co-founder of For 11—a heart-led online sanctuary designed to support others navigating grief, spiritual awakening, and soul realignment for a heartfelt and revealing conversation about Rachel's otherworldly spiritual experience following the death of her daughter, Kenadie, who passed from cancer at age 10.

The ladies powerful conversation includes:

🔥How the unimaginable loss of her daughter led Rachel to the gift of communicating with the other side.

🔥Normalizing connection with spirit through signs and direct communication for both women and men.

🔥Acknowledging your spirit team and helpers and how to connect with them to experience peace after loss.

🔥The concept of soul splitting: how source splits your one into different human forms, spread out among more than just the human body you inhabit, to ultimately aid the higher self and the collective in spiritual ascension

🔥Exploring the idea of a multiverse and why we chose to come to Earth, the hardest planet to inhabit.

🔥Shifting perspective around the reason for tragedy and why we must experience certain hardships in this particular life.

🔥How Kenadie is guiding Rachel in her For 11 online community to help fellow grievers connect with their loved ones.

🔥Amazing stories of some of Rachel’s followers and their undeniable connection with their loved ones on the other side.

In 2018, Rachel’s life changed forever with the sudden passing of her daughter, Kenadie. Feeling that traditional grief support systems couldn’t fully reach the soul’s depth of sorrow, she turned inward. What followed was a profound journey into energy healing, angelic communication, and working closely with what she now calls her “Spirit Team.” Rachel and her husband Shane are in the process of creating the For 11 Community which will offer a unique blend of live monthly energy healing sessions, intuitive readings, courses, and a content library rich with meditations, channelings, and metaphysical tools. An incredible soul, Rachel’s ability to transmute grief into light, and to guide others in rediscovering their own divine connection, has made her a trusted presence for anyone feeling disconnected, heartbroken, or spiritually lost.

Follow Rachel and For 11 on Instagram

Visit for11together.com to join the waitlist for the For 11 Community: A Sacred Space for Healing, Connection, and Hope.

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*Please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Sign up for Amanda's monthly newsletter to receive your free guide, 5 Pillars for an Empowered Life After Loss on her website.

Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.

How you livin’? Have you considered you might be roaming the earth having a “near life” experience, existing kind of right outside of your being…not living fully now? Are you slightly adjacent to your life — watching it happen — and not really engaging?

Join Amanda and her super charismatic guest Karen Salmansohn, bestselling author and behavioral change expert, for a light-hearted yet weighty conversation about embracing the reality of your own death and how to make the most of life now!

Their intriguing and interesting discussion covers the following:

🔥"Bridge habits" and how to create them — the process of linking a core value of your identity to a desired outcome to propel you into action to create inner change

🔥How to conduct a "life audit" — the activity of looking at what needs to be cleared out or changed...where are you wasting time in life that instead can be spent on making meaning?

🔥Mortality awareness and how it creates urgency to prioritize what’s important and who you want to be in this life, as well as providing inspiration to take action to do and be those things

🔥Writing your own aspirational eulogy

🔥Aristotle’s philosophy that we have the wrong end goal in sight: We should be driven by soul growth and not material wealth, while simultaneously indulging in fun in moderation

🔥A breakdown of hedonism vs. eudaimonia: Enjoy a lot now (with no suffering) and pay later vs. suffer a bit now (plus enjoy some) and experience much more joy later

🔥Chronological mapping: A colorful drawing of the timeline of events in your life (the ones you welcomed and the one you could do without!) and recognizing the lessons as a way to shift narratives around certain life events

🔥A fun exercise Karen does every month to keep her mortality front and center and motivate her to fill every month with personal growth and purpose

Karen Salmansohn, bestselling author and behavioral change expert, whose books and courses have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. With 1.5 million social media followers, Karen has built a dedicated following by blending humor, research-backed insights, and practical strategies for creating a more meaningful life. In her upcoming book, Your To-Die For Life: How to Maximize Joy and Minimize Regret . . . Before Your Time Runs Out, she challenges readers to rethink their relationship with mortality—not as something to fear, but as the ultimate motivator for living boldly and authentically.

Follow Karen on Instagram

Visit her website to buy her book and learn more about how to work with Karen 1:1.

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*Please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Get Amanda's book, Trust Yourself to Be All In on Amazon or amandamckoyflanagan.com.

Sign up for Amanda's monthly newsletter to receive your free guide, 5 Pillars for an Empowered Life After Loss on her website.

Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.

Everyone will feel grief at some point in their life—loss is inevitable, but perpetual suffering is not; peace, freedom, and joy are a decision, one that you get to make. Will you make it? Will your grief spark personal growth, and make you better? Or will it make you bitter?

Join Amanda and her sister in grief, Tara Accardo, Grief, Soul Purpose, and Transformational Life Coach and host of the Life With Grief podcast for an honest conversation about the magic that grief holds to deliver us to our highest purpose and greatest selves. Listen to Tara’s personal story of losing both of her parents within 6 months, followed by a traumatic birthing experience, and how she was divinely led to turn her losses in gains.

More candid discussion centers around:

🔥How to incorporate grief into everyday life in a way that gives you meaning and purpose

🔥The ways in which both Amanda and Tara have gained from their loss—how they have changed for the better

🔥Redefining your relationship with loss to serve you instead of hurt you

🔥The interesting duality of losing both parents: the freedom of no one being “over” you but also intense isolation because the people you turned to for support and guidance are no longer there

🔥The common thread of loss of identity/identity crisis that Tara sees across the board in both grief and life coaching

🔥Time does not heal wounds—it’s what you do with that time that matters

🔥Micro moments of healing: small actions taken every day to help you move into a peaceful place

Tara Accardo is a Grief and Transformational Life Coach and host of the Life With Grief Podcast. After suffering multiple traumatic losses, her journey of grieving led her to create Losses Become Gains—a community for fellow grievers that serves tools, resources, inspiration, and guidance on how to navigate grief, loss, and moving forward in life with both in tow.

Through her podcast, one-on-one coaching and other modalities of support, Tara’s passion, calling, and commitment to uplifting and empowering fellow grievers runs deep.

Visit Tara's website to learn more about the great work she does!

Get your freebies here. Listen to her podcast Life With Grief.

Access Tara's 14-Day Relief in Your Grief Experience.

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*Please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.

Do you feel like in order to achieve success you must make sacrifices in other areas of life? Do these sacrifices create an uncomfortable imbalance, pushing you to hustle to the point of burnout? Are you struggling to step into your full power and purpose in your career? What's holding you back?

Join Amanda and her guest Amanda Riffee, best-selling author, internationally certified expansion and empowerment coach, speaker, and thought leader for a lively conversation about how you can truly have it all--without burning the candle at both ends!

Get inspired by listening to the ladies explore:

🔥Amanda's journey from corporate America to coaching and what inspired her to follow her passion and make the switch that changed everything for her

🔥The 3 tools Amanda uses to empower her clients to realize their dreams: intuition, fast action, and shift in mindset

🔥What tapping into your intuition feels like: the feeling of "Heck Yes!" vs. "Heck No!"

🔥The art of journaling as an indispensable tool for this work

🔥The power of collaboration and community and how to leverage both to achieve ultimate success

🔥Fears role in helping you rise to your next level and the benefit of getting curious about those fears

🔥Practical tips you can use right now to avoid burnout

About Amanda

Amanda Riffee is a best-selling author, internationally certified expansion and empowerment coach, speaker, and thought leader dedicated to helping ambitious women turn their boldest dreams into reality. Drawing on 18 years of corporate experience, a deep passion for mindset mastery, and the lessons learned from scaling her own business, Amanda specializes in guiding women to create transformational events, write and launch their own books, make courageous career moves, and bring their visions to life- without burnout or sacrificing who they are.

Her debut book, Unleashing You, quickly became a best-seller and serves as a rallying cry for women ready to stop waiting for permission and start creating success on their own terms. Through her writing, coaching, and retreats, Amanda empowers women to trust their intuition, own their brilliance, and take bold, aligned action toward the lives they were meant to lead. She also hosts the Unleashing You with Amanda Riffee podcast, where she shares candid insights and inspiration for women stepping into their next level. A wife and mom of two based in Colorado, Amanda believes deeply in the power of community and collaboration. Her mission is simple: when women open doors for one another, there’s room for all of us at the top.

Follow Amanda on Instagram and LinkedIn

Visit her website to work with Amanda, learn about her upcoming events and retreats and buy her book.

Listen to the Unleashing You with Amanda Riffee podcast on Spotify

And on Apple

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*If you like this show, please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Sign up for Amanda's monthly newsletter to receive your free guide, 5 Pillars for an Empowered Life After Loss on her website.

Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.

Have you considered the amount of power you hold to choose your path during life's major transitions like giving birth, grieving, or dying? And do you exercise your right to tailor your experience to what feels right for you? Or do you go along with the prescribed conditioning without questioning what's available to you during these life-altering choice points?

Join Amanda and her guest Sundari Malcolm, Birth, Grief, and Death Doula, for a straightforward, candid conversation about the incredible power you have to choose what feels right for your soul while on your journey to living a full, authentic life free of other people's opinions and society's judgments and expectations.

They also discuss:

🔥"New age" is actually ancient and "woo woo" is how your ancestors lived for thousands of years

🔥The alchemy of grief: transmuting pain into power due to increased awareness of your limited bandwidth to stand for what no longer serves you and how to reach this place of peace

🔥Ancient practices hold the key to aligning with our highest self and an explanation of some of these modalities such as plant medicine, ritual, sound and song, movement and dance, among others

🔥Your cells hold the memory of ancient wisdom and are beckoning to be witnessed and activated as the path to healing body, mind, and spirit

🔥Your power to listen to your body's inner wisdom for which conditioned programs to listen to and which ones to ignore

🔥The empirical collapse that is happening all over the world (felt as collective grief) is not a collapse but a return to the simple solutions that have always worked and how this disintegration requires a deep surrender

🔥Sundari's fascinating story of being raised between in an ashram in Yogaville, VA and NYC how she translates her yoga practice as a connection point to grief

About Sundari

Sundari Malcolm is a Birth, Grief and Death Doula specializing in yoga, breathwork and meditation. She’s a teacher on a mission to equip people with the tools they need to manage life’s greatest transitions. In 2007, at 27 years old, and after seven years of being her caregiver, Sundari lost her mother to breast cancer. Four years later, her father died from the complications of brain cancer. Those experiences redirected her life and led her to the beautiful path she travels today. A contributor to Help Texts and a grief expert with the For Grief Speakers Bureau, she is the author of the book Grief Gems and the founder of A Healing Doula Academy, a virtual self-paced training academy for the spiritually led grief & death doula with a focus on ancient indigenous holistic wellness.

Follow Sundari on Instagram

Read Sundari's book Grief Gems

Work with Sundari at A Healing Doula

Join A Healing Doula Academy

*Email your thoughts about this show or if you have an idea for another show to solrisingpodcast@gmail.com.

*If you like this show, please follow, share, and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.

Sol Rising is now also on YouTube. Check it out!

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Sign up for Amanda's monthly newsletter to receive your free guide, 5 Pillars for an Empowered Life After Loss on her website.

Music credit: "Surfer James" by Tom Deis. Source: Premiumbeats.com.