Navigating Loss of a Child - Introduction

Parents who lose a child face one of the most traumatic experiences in life. The purpose of the podcast is to share with others who have lost a child that there is recovery hope.  

Critical Junctures will explore the choices that grieving parents have made to determine the course of their future life. The loss of a child can affect mental heath, relationships, marriage, children, friends, jobs, hobbies, future outlook. Loss can create emotional, physical and psychological effects that last a lifetime.

Critical Junctures is defined as a critical turning point or important moment in time, often marked by a confluence of circumstances, where a decision, choice or action can have significant impact on the future. 

My name is Rick Williams, and I am not recovered from the loss of my son and do not believe I ever will. He passed away almost 5 years ago and had many years prior to his passing to make peace with the inevitable death from a rare cancer. In no way am I saying that we have figured out a magic formula to minimize the grief and trauma of losing a child. What we have found is intentional ways to honor our Child’s memory while finding peace and joy in living in the present. 

Critical Junctures will be sharing and interviewing other parents who have time and space from the loss of their child. They will be sharing insights and lessons they have learned about ways to cope with loss. We still feel the sting of that loss and it will never leave, but you can live a life of peace and fulfillment, still morning your loss but learning to celebrate the life and time you had with your child.

We have realized how important the support people in our life have been through this journey. Family, friends, pastors, co-workers, care givers, and even pets - their support has had significant impact in our recovery journey. On this podcast we will talk about and interview some of these extraordinary people whose gift of time and acts of kindness have been so impactful.

Losses come in many forms. For us a rare cancer took our son, and we will explore his journey and how it changed our perspectives of life priorities. Others have lost their child in an instant. All our stories are unique but in the end we all have the same impacts of a child that no longer is with us. This podcast will focus on the recovery journey view through the lens of time and space. 

If you have lost a child our prayers are with you. 

Beyond the impact of the loss of the child there are other immediate impacts that parents deal with depending on the age of the child. My son was 29 when he passed and through his long bought with cancer, we were able, prior to his passing, financially plan for the impact of his passing, put a will together, and address many important topics. Even with our time to plan there were many items and expenses we had not contemplated. We are building a website critical-junctures.com that helps parents navigate these added challenges while dealing with the unimaginable grief. This will be a work in progress that we will continue to build as a resource for parents of all ages.  These types of stressors on top of grief can add to the mental health challenges of the loss and long-term recovery.

As we start this podcast, our hope is that your journey will be helped by the stories of others who have had to navigate this loss. All our stories are unique to us, but we all have experienced common threads that provide life lessons to lessen the recovery time.

Please share with anyone you believe would benefit from the messages of the Critical Junctures podcast. The official release date of Critical Junctures podcast will be June 1, 2025, with a regular schedule of episode releases to follow. Subscribing and sharing will help us connect with grieving parents that may benefit from other’s stories. Thank you for listening.