Finding Hope

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Co-Authors, Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief.” Season 4 of Finding Hope is meant to serve as a companion to the book by offering episodes that focus on the book’s content, bringing it to life with engaging conversations and stories from people who have used the 7-steps as a guide in their grief journey. Y...

Counselor Mandy and Chris Saade are thrilled to be sharing about their new book “Tears are the Source of Your Passion: The Power of Authenticity and Grief” launching later this summer. This book encourages the honoring of grief, and giving voice to it, so that its gifts can be offered to the world. “The good news is that grief is a portal for our authenticity and to discovering the fire that burns in us! Grief opens our heart and t...

In this episode of Finding Hope Counselor Mandy talks with Dr. John Cox, a professor of Global Studies at UNC Charlotte and director of the Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Studies. John shares that his two greatest losses were the recent passing of his Dad, and his trip to Bosnia two years ago where he felt profound trauma, sorrow and rage. Throughout his career he has been educating people about what has REALLY h...

Counselor Mandy and her guest, Barry Sherman, have known each other for over 25 years. In that time, they have been fighting the good fight championing authenticity and solidarity. Mandy loved it when Barry jumped right in with this bold statement: “There is no sustainable way forward without deeply embracing authenticity.” For over three decades Barry, as a school Social Worker and currently the Coordinator for Social-Emotional Le...

Dr. Linda Bender, an internationally renowned animal advocate, speaker, and author joins Counselor Mandy for this episode of Finding Hope. From a young age Dr. Bender had the super-power of communicating with animals and knew she HAD to help them. She felt the grief from the ignorance and cruelty to animals by humans, and has made it her life’s work to advocate for them. The wisdom she has learned from animals is having uncondition...

Counselor Mandy is thrilled to have social change instigator/facilitator/coach Evangeline Weiss joining Finding Hope to talk about her work in educating white women around becoming more self-aware and responsible as a white person. “What I found, from an experience at a very young age, is that we are unprepared in a multi-racial world, and that breaking the silence to talk about these issues is key to the change that needs to happe...

In this episode of Finding Hope we are changing things up a bit! We’ve heard from many listeners that want to know more about our host Mandy Bird’s story and grief journey. So instead of Mandy interviewing a guest…SHE will be the “guest” being interviewed. Our special host is Mandy’s long-time friend and former business partner Tammy Starling.

Mandy reveals that when she was 8 years old her parents divorced. She remembers feeling v...

Author Chris Saade joins Counselor Mandy once again to offer hope and tools for those suffering with migraines and/or chronic pain. After battling with acute chronic migraines for 10 years now, Chris knows first-hand how debilitating they can be. In addition to using various integrative medicine approaches, he and Mandy talk about three tools that have been life-saving in dealing with this pain: Authenticity and Stress, Pleasure, a...

We are starting Season 3 of Finding Hope with a budding heart-centered mystic poet, Chelan Harkin. I was captured by Chelan’s poetry because she reminds me of a modern day feminine Hafiz and Rumi. In my interview with Chelan she revealed that growing up and in her early 20s she suffered from acute loneliness and an eating disorder. When this became too painful she sought out ways to become more authentic and to feel good again. Poe...

In our final episode of Season 2 of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with author/coach and mother Elizabeth Catignani about how she used her grief tools and self-care during the pandemic. After several unexpected losses at the age of 27, Elizabeth passionately dedicated her life to helping others experience healing, joy, and purpose after loss. During the pandemic she, like many others, have been isolated at home with children (...

In this episode of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with spiritual director and interfaith chaplain Nicholas Collura about the importance of coming back home into our authentic nature. As a young child, Nicholas had a sense that he wanted to help people and asked a lot of big questions…that, sometimes, weren’t met with enthusiasm. He now sees that asking those “life” questions led him to his current profession. He also talks abo...

By popular demand I’ve decided to re-post the Finding Hope episode where I spoke with internationally known author Andrew Harvey! 

Internationally renowned religious scholar, writer, teacher, and the author of more than 40 books, Andrew Harvey, joins Counselor Mandy in this episode of Finding Hope. Andrew shares what’s on his heart as we are in the midst of this “global dark night of the soul” saying that this is an opportunit...

In this episode of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with counselor and interfaith chaplain Neil Beresin about how the loss of his parents, just five weeks apart, led him to shift his career path to becoming a Chaplain and discovering how poetry can be an integral piece in the grief process. Neil shared “When I would visit patients in the hospital, after I got to know them, I would select a poem from the collection I had put toge...