In this solo episode of The Widow Podcast, I explore what it really means when our relationships change after the loss of a life partner.

I recorded this in the middle of Awakening Hope, my free week-long online event for people grieving the loss of a life partner, and the same questions kept coming up all week. Why have my friends disappeared. Why have people stopped checking in. Why do the people who love me most not understand. And underneath all of it, what do I say when somebody rings and asks if there's anything I need.

I'm honest about both sides of this. I talk about my very good friend from junior school. Her mum died and it put a real strain on our relationship. I did keep showing up, but everything I was doing wasn't hitting the mark, but my God, I was trying. I talk about the fortieth birthday trip I wasn't invited on after Simon died, and the conversation months later when my friend told me they just hadn't thought I'd want to come. I talk about the mask we get so good at wearing, and why the people around us take what they can see as the truth.

I talk about:

• Why "if there's anything you need, let me know" so often leaves the griever with nothing to say
• The anger, resentment and jealousy we can feel towards the people we love, and the shame that comes with it
• Why it is not easy to show up for somebody who is grieving
• Why no one person can meet every practical and emotional need we have
• Debbie's Wonder Woman pants, and giving people a way to ask how you are
• Checking in on a scale of one to ten instead of saying "I'm fine"
• Being left off the invite list for a friend's fortieth after Simon died
• Asking for one thing, even when you don't know what you need
• Building new community when the people around you aren't your people

You don't have to know everything you need. You only have to know one thing, and ask for that.

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

In this episode of The Widow Podcast, I'm joined by Rosie Moss, host of the Widowed AF podcast and author of Widowed AF: A Guidebook for Grieving Your Partner.

Rosie's husband Ben died in a diving accident in 2018, when she was 37 and their three children were very young. His body was never found. Rosie talks about the day he went out to dive, the knock at the door that evening, and the decision she made that first night to tell her children he had died, rather than that he was missing.

What followed was a grief with no body and no certainty: a funeral without a coffin, the practical fallout of a sudden death, and the long process of having Ben legally declared dead.

We discuss:

• Choosing the word died from the very beginning, and why it mattered for her children

• What it is to grieve without a body or any answers

• Keeping Ben present in family life in small, everyday ways

• Finding love again in early grief, and what losing that stirred up

• What changed when she got sober, and the grief that was still waiting

• What she has learned from nearly 200 conversations about loss

Rosie tells a very hard story with enormous warmth and honesty. If your person died without warning, I think this one will steady you.

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

It's just me again, following on from my last episode where I shared what I've learnt about grief. There was so much that I tried to cram it all into that one episode, and realised that I couldn't. And as I tried to separate it out, what came to me was that a lot of it wasn't about grief at all. It was about life.

Some of the things I want to share with you might feel a little bit uncomfortable, especially if you are in the very early raw days of your grief, and I say that with so much love. You don't have to think the way I think. My way is not the right way, this is just my way, this is just where I've got to, and if yours is different, I love that for you.

I talk about:

• Simon died and it was horrendous. I did not. I was still alive, and I didn't want two people's lives to end because one person died

• Believing at 39 that I was too old to start a new career or make anything of myself, and why I'm determined to make my 50s the best decade of my life

• Nobody is coming to save us, and there is no white shining knight on a horse who is going to make everything magically better

• Why having to do it for yourself does not mean that you have to do it by yourself

• You have so much more within you than you could ever dream possible

• Our lives will be as good as we allow them to be, and the ceiling we put on them without realising

• Love is not finite, and your heart will expand to the depth that you allow it to expand

• Don't compare the life that you have now with an imaginary future

• The thing I find most difficult to say out loud: that I have stopped wishing my life were different

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

I'm so excited to be back. It has been nearly a year since I recorded an episode of The Widow Podcast and I've really missed it.

This one goes out in the week of Simon's tenth anniversary. So I wanted to share what I've come to believe. Not because I have all the answers, not because I've figured it all out, not because my life is perfect. My mission has always been about helping people feel less alone in their grief, and helping people to find hope.

I talk about:

• Why what I believe is that love lasts forever, rather than grief lasts forever

• Why the depth and the length of your pain are not a reflection of the depth and the length of your love

• Stop trying to get grief right, because there is no right way of doing this

• Befriending your grief, when grief has this reputation of being an enemy

• Why time alone does not heal your grief and your wounds: it creates space and distance, but you will not heal with time alone

• Please don't mistake growth for betrayal

• Learning that not every hard feeling belongs in the grief bucket

• There is a life out there that you cannot see, that you cannot imagine, but is absolutely available to you

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

In this final episode of season four, I take some time to reflect on the journey we’ve been on together and what this season has taught me about healing after loss.

Over the past few months I’ve spoken to so many incredible people who’ve shared their stories with such honesty and courage. I’ve also had my own moments of reflection, especially as I reach ten years since Simon died. My connection with him continues to evolve in beautiful ways, and I’ve come to understand that healing isn’t about moving on but about going deeper into ourselves, into life, and into love.

I talk about what I’ve learned through this year’s grief retreats at Tofte Manor, the extraordinary women I’ve met, and a powerful moment of truth that reminded me how gratitude and growth can exist within grief. I share why I believe that life after loss can hold meaning, joy and purpose again, and how the gifts that come from our pain can become the foundation for a new and peaceful chapter.

We explore:

• What it really means to go deeper into healing
• How community and shared stories help us feel less alone
• The evolving connection we have with the people we’ve lost
• Why transformation and gratitude are key to long-term healing
• The lessons from Toft Manor and the courage to speak our truth
• How joy, love and grief can all coexist

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

In this episode of The Widow Podcast, I'm joined by Debbie Dawson, mentor, retreat supporter and treasured community member, to talk about life beyond loss and what it truly means to live fully again after grief.

Debbie shares her widow journey from joining the community in 2020, two and a half years after losing her husband suddenly in 2018, to where she is now, seven years on and living with a sense of freedom, purpose and excitement about the future she never thought possible. We explore how the shift from grief work to life work happened through Vibrant Living and the transformative Rise and Renew retreat, and why discovering hidden parts of yourself after loss can be both surprising and liberating.

We discuss:

• The transition from surviving to thriving and living fully after widowhood
• How Vibrant Living and Rise and Renew created profound shifts in healing
• Discovering that it's a new connection with yourself, not just reconnection
• Moving from "second best life" to "my best life" as a widow
• Living with conscious intent and presence after losing your partner
• Why grief and life journeys become intertwined rather than separate
• The power of widow community, energy and being under one roof
• Finding permission to live without fear of the future
• Building trust in your inner compass after loss
• Creating a legacy you're proud of

It's an uplifting conversation about transformation, self-discovery, rebuilding after loss, and the beautiful truth that anything is possible when you're ready to do the work.

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

In this episode of The Widow Podcast, I talk with Orla Blackburn, holistic widow guide, yoga teacher and mother, about what it really means to invest in yourself after loss.

Orla shares how, seven years on from losing her husband, she’s found strength and self-belief through journaling, movement and meditation. We explore how yoga helped her reconnect with her body and emotions, how she’s learned to regulate her nervous system while parenting a neurodivergent child, and why small, consistent steps can lead to deep transformation.

We discuss:

• How grief and identity evolve over time

• Why investing in yourself is an essential part of healing

• The role of movement, journaling and mindfulness in recovery

• Parenting and self-regulation through grief

• The power of community and accountability

• Rebuilding confidence, purpose and peace after loss

It’s a grounded, compassionate conversation about healing and rediscovering who you are when life changes forever.

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

In this episode of The Widow Podcast, I speak to Sam Southern, suicide prevention and bereavement manager at Solace at Empowerment Charity in Blackpool. Sam shares her personal story of losing her husband Glen to suicide in June 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic. He was 46 years old, and together they had six children, the youngest just two and five at the time.

Sam talks about the shock and trauma of losing a partner to suicide, the complex grief that followed, and the stigma that still surrounds suicide loss. She also explains how blogging her experiences online became an unexpected lifeline, connecting her with others who truly understood. Today, that same community spirit drives her professional work supporting people bereaved by suicide.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• The unique challenges of grieving a partner lost to suicide, including guilt, anger, and unanswered questions

• How stigma and silence around suicide complicate grief and isolate families

• Why asking directly about suicidal thoughts can be a powerful step in prevention

• The importance of peer support and online communities in surviving loss

• How language matters – why saying “died by suicide” helps reduce stigma

• Suicide statistics in the UK, and why more awareness and training are urgently needed

Sam’s openness helps break the silence around suicide bereavement and offers comfort to those facing similar heartbreak. Her story is a reminder that connection and conversation can save lives.

For More Support:

The Widows Membership: karensutton.co.uk/the-widow-membership

Coaching and retreats: karensutton.co.uk

Solace at Empowerment Charity: empowermentcharity.org.uk

Follow Sam on Instagram: @sammysuns