Catherine's Gift

October 26, 2016
Hosted by Cheryl Jones

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Guest Information

Episode Description

How can grief be a road to freedom? When Kaye Cleave's 18 year old daughter died, she felt imprisoned by her loss, unable to even connect to any reason to live. Desperate, willing to try anything to find a way through the agony, she began to practice mindfulness meditation and ultimately, found her way through each and every feeling and thought. So when she met a Nepalese man trying to support a school in a remote part of Nepal, and learned he had lost both parents at just 16, she found a calling. She applied all her considerable skill to the work, honoring her daughter, a lover of education, with her new mission. Her campaign, which she called Catherine's Gift, is now ready to launch, giving a purpose and a meaning to her profound loss.

Good Grief with Cheryl Jones

Wednesday at 2 PM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel

On Good Grief we explore the losses that define our lives. Each week, we talk with people who have transformed themselves through the profound act of grieving. Why settle for surviving? Say yes to the many experiences that embody loss! Grief can teach you where your strengths are, and ignite your courage. It can heighten your awareness of what is important to you and help you let go of what is not.

On Good Grief, we are inspired by people who have made something miraculous out of their deepest heartaches! We listen as they share how they have walked through their own exquisite pain and what they have gained as a result. We come away ready to follow our own dreams to a deeper, more meaningful time on this beautiful earth! Listen for Good Grief, broadcast live every Wednesday at 2 PM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel.

Cheryl Jones

Cheryl Jones is a grief counselor. During her education as a Marriage and Family Therapist, her first wife was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, which was at the time a uniformly terminal illness with a six month to one year prognosis. In the eight years that followed, Cheryl engaged daily in the work of preparing for her death. She received training during this period from Stephen and Ondrea Levine (Who Dies and Grieving Into Life and Death) and Richard Olney (founder of Self-Acceptance Training). After her wife’s death, Cheryl immersed herself in her own multifaceted grief, surprised by frequent moments of joy.

Cheryl is a consultant and group leader at the Free Therapy Program of the Women’s Cancer Resource Center. She has trained extensively with Erving Polster, leader in the field of gestalt therapy and author of Everybody’s Life is worth a Novel. She was Clinical Director at the Alternative Family Project, which served the therapeutic needs of LGBTQ families in San Francisco. She also wrote a column called Motherlines for the San Francisco Bay Times and ran Considering Parenthood groups for the LGBT community.

Before becoming a therapist, Cheryl enjoyed careers as a musician, a restaurant owner and a carpenter. She still enjoys singing with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, eating food in outstanding Bay Area locations and remodeling her Craftsman. She lives with her wife in Oakland, California and especially savors time with her family and friends.

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