Part 1: Diandra on Grief, Burnout, and the Mother Who Saved Her Life

2026-07-28

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Welcome to Season 19 of Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads. We’re opening the season with a powerful two-part conversation about grief, survival, workplace burnout, and what it takes to rebuild your life after everything changes without your permission. In Part 1, G-Rex and Dirty Skittles sit down with author Diandra Ford-Wing for a raw conversation about surviving a suicide attempt, losing her mother, stepping away from burnout, and learning that grief is love with nowhere to go. Trigger Notice + 988 Crisis Reminder This episode i...

Trigger Notice + 988 Crisis Reminder

This episode includes an open discussion of depression, suicide, hospitalization, grief, and the loss of a parent. Please listen with care.

If you or someone you know is struggling or experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 in the United States and Canada to connect with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You are not weak, broken, or alone, and you deserve support.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/
Global crisis resources: https://findahelpline.com/

Awards & Downloads

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

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Mental Health Quote

“Grief is just love with nowhere to go.” — Diandra Ford-Wing

Episode Description

Burnout does not always arrive with a dramatic breakdown. Sometimes, it looks like showing up, hitting your numbers, answering messages, and quietly disappearing inside yourself.

In Part 1 of our Season 19 opener, author Diandra Ford-Wing joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to share what happened when grief, depression, and workplace exhaustion became too heavy to carry. After the sudden death of her mother, Diandra stepped away from a successful career and gave herself something corporate life rarely offers: time to stop, feel, and heal.

Diandra also speaks openly about surviving a suicide attempt at 24. She remembers the depression she could not name, the friend who found her, and the mother who made the difficult decision to place her in professional care. That choice saved Diandra’s life and began a relationship with therapy that continues today.

The conversation explores what it means to lose the person who made you feel safe, why three to five bereavement days are nowhere near enough, and how support systems can keep us standing when grief knocks the air out of us. Diandra explains the therapy exercise that helped her understand grief as love searching for somewhere to land.

She also shares how writing her debut novel, Red Bird, became a love letter to her mother and Aunt Audrey—and a safe harbor for others navigating loss.

This episode is honest as hell, but it is also filled with hope. You can survive the thing you believed would destroy you. You can ask for help. You can honor the people you have lost by choosing to keep living.

Keywords: Diandra Ford-Wing, grief recovery, workplace burnout, suicide prevention, depression recovery, losing a parent, grief and mental health, therapy, bereavement support, healing after loss, maternal loss, emotional resilience, Red Bird novel, storytelling as healing, mental health podcast

Meet Our Guest — Diandra Ford-Wing

Diandra Ford-Wing is an author, speaker, and accomplished Sales Director whose experiences with grief, depression, career burnout, and healing inspired her to use storytelling as a source of connection. Her debut novel, Red Bird, is a heartfelt tribute to her mother and Aunt Audrey and an exploration of love, loss, resilience, and the complicated beauty of being human.

Website: http://booksbydiandra.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diandrafordwing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diandrafordwing
Book: Red Bird by Diandra Ford-Wing

Key Takeaways

Burnout can build quietly until your mind and body have nothing left to give.
Asking for professional help is not a failure; it can be the decision that saves a life.
A strong support system does not need perfect words—it needs consistency and presence.
Grief has no corporate timeline, and a few bereavement days cannot contain the loss of someone you love.
Therapy can help name emotions that feel too complicated or painful to explain.
Storytelling can give grief somewhere to go and transform private pain into connection.

Actionable Items

Write a free-association list of every word you connect with grief, burnout, or loss. Review the list and notice which themes keep appearing.
Identify three people you can contact when you are not okay, and tell them what useful support looks like for you.
Check your current level of exhaustion honestly. Ask yourself whether you need rest, professional support, medical leave, firmer boundaries, or a larger life change.

Important Chapters

00:01:07 — When burnout and grief collide: Diandra explains how her mother’s death intensified an exhaustion that had already been building and why she ultimately stepped away from work.
00:07:09 — Taking time off and writing Red Bird: During an 11-month career pause, Diandra wrote and published the novel that transformed her grief into a tribute to the women who shaped her.
00:08:39 — Why workplaces need grief literacy: The conversation turns to productivity culture, employee burnout, and the lack of meaningful support for grieving workers.
00:10:16 — Diandra’s suicide attempt and mental health crisis: Diandra shares the depression she experienced at 24, the night her friend found her, and the emergency care that followed.
00:11:58 — The decision that saved her life: Diandra’s mother recognized that love alone was not enough and insisted that her daughter receive professional psychiatric care.
00:14:46 — Gratitude, therapy, and learning how to cope: Diandra reflects on the coping tools she did not yet have and why she remains committed to therapy.
00:16:33 — Mourning a parent before the loss: Diandra discusses anticipatory grief and the ways she imagined her mother’s death before it happened.
00:18:32 — Grief is love with nowhere to go: A therapy exercise helps Diandra find the language that now shapes how she understands and carries grief.
00:20:19 — G-Rex on honoring her mother through the podcast: G-Rex shares why the show launched on Valentine’s Day and how she changed the meaning of a painful anniversary.
00:22:47 — Why bereavement policies fail grieving employees: The group challenges the idea that loss can be processed within a standard three-to-five-day leave period.
00:24:15 — The people who helped Diandra keep standing: Diandra speaks about the support of her husband, twin sister, older sister, and brother.
00:25:22 — Turning grief into advocacy: Diandra shares her goal of speaking on larger platforms and bringing more humanity into workplace culture.

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#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #GriefRecovery #SuicidePrevention #DepressionRecovery #WorkplaceBurnout #TherapyWorks #LosingAParent #BereavementSupport #HealingAfterLoss #EmotionalResilience #StorytellingHeals #RedBird #DiandraFordWing #Season19 #GriefAwareness #YouAreNotAlone

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If You Need Support, Reach Out

If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.

United States: Call or Text 988 — 988lifeline.org
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