Your Healing Playground - Dr. Tina Koopersmith Healing is not one-size-fits-all. It never has been. Your Healing Playground exists to remind us that healing comes in many forms, through many paths, and often in ways we never would have chosen—but must learn to walk. This is a YES-AND world, not an either/or one. Western medicine has its place, but healing is bigger than any single modality. And sometimes… healing begins after unimaginable loss. No one plans to lose a loved one to suicide. And grief after suicide carries its own unique weight—shock, confusion, guilt, anger, unanswered questions, and a kind of silence that can feel isolating and overwhelming. In this deeply human episode, Dr. Tina is joined by Dorothy Goulah, a life coach, grief educator, mentor, and bridge-builder who helps others navigate life after suicide loss. Dorothy is herself a survivor of a family member’s suicide—an experience that forever altered her life’s path. Years ago, when mental health conversations were far less open than they are today, Dorothy had to find her own way through grief. As an actress and model, she learned to inhabit many roles—perhaps part of her own healing journey. Later in life, she returned to school, defying age-based expectations, becoming the first in her family to graduate college and earning advanced degrees after her children were grown. Dorothy teaches not just from textbooks—but from lived experience, wisdom earned through pain, resilience, and courage. In this conversation, we explore: The unique grief that follows suicide loss Why healing after suicide looks different for everyone How we make meaning when a life ends by choice How play, creativity, and embodiment can coexist with grief How someone becomes a bridge for others after walking through darkness What it means to keep choosing life after loss This episode does not offer easy answers—because there aren’t any. But it offers presence, compassion, permission, and hope. Because even after devastation, healing is possible. And sometimes, those who have suffered the most become the greatest guides. Dorothy Goulah, after a successful 35-year career as a model and actress, it was time for a change and Dorothy became the first person in her extended family to attend college. Dorothy’s academic career began in the field of Sociology at Valley College where she was inspired to continue her studies at California State University at Northridge earning her bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 2016. With the encouragement of supportive professors, Dorothy applied to and was accepted into the master’s degree program in sociology at CSUN. The graduate program challenged and broadened Dorothy’s interests and abilities fulfilling her lifelong desire to be an academic. Dorothy’s auto-ethnographic essay, titled “Suicide Years in the Making”, was published in peer-reviewed journal Qualitative Inquiry in 2020. Dorothy was awarded top honors in the Distinguished Thesis/Graduate Project Competition for her research titled, “Suicide Loss Survivors: Navigating Social Stigma”, which was published as “Suicide Loss Survivors: Navigating Social Stigma and Threats to Social Bonds” in peer-reviewed journal OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying, in 2021. Dorothy is a facilitator at Solace, a peer-led support group for survivors of suicide loss and is coordinator for greater Los Angeles and central California of Healing Conversations, a program providing one-on-one support to suicide loss survivors through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention where she is chair of the board for the Greater Los Angeles and Central Coast chapter. Dorothy is also a certified former crisis responder for the City of LA Mayor’s Office, responding to sudden and traumatic death scenes to support survivors, until recently was a certified mediator with the Centinela Youth Services restorative justice team, and is a certified grief educator and life coach. dorothygoulah.com What Am I – Children’s Book Author Dr. Tina Koopersmith https://tinakoopersmith.com/what-am-i-childrens-book/ ~ More About Your Healing Playground with Dr. Tina Koopersmith ~ Dr. Tina Koopersmith has practiced Western medicine for over 30 years. But she is so much more than a physician. An integrative medicine and fertility specialist, she is a transformational healer and coach who not only brings life to her patients but reminds them that it is their responsibility and, in their power, to bring themselves back to vibrancy and vitality. Root cause healing starts with energy, emotions, communication—between your cells and your soul. As a speaker-coach-author as well as mother, nonconformist, and recovering perfectionist, she is dedicated to modifying our health care system from one focused on illness and sickness to one devoted to prevention and wellness. She reminds us all that love, play, pleasure and purpose are the secret ingredients to wellness. She starts with the premise we all have the same parts and very simila