Today marks the last episode of Series 3, the Wash up. Wrapping up 3 seasons of Bereavement Room, several guests later, and a worldwide listen it's now time to bid you farewell. I guess you could say Bereavement Room is my love letter to brown and black communities.  I created my podcast because I was discriminated in therapy when seeking support for the death of my younger brother, this was a time where many changes came into my life. I wanted to know what the barriers in therapy might be...

This is the penultimate episode of the third and final season, Callsuma takes us through a recap of why Bereavement Room Podcast was born. TRIGGER WARNINGS ahead of today's episode.  She is joined by today's guest, Writer, Poet and Activist Maya Kalaria. We open the conversation with racism and microaggressions we both experienced as children growing up in Britain, and the grief that comes with the ramifications of colonization and colonialism. We delve into the deep grief that South...

Joining Callsuma in the room today is British Bangladeshi, Shamsul Islam. In light of South Asian Heritage Month, I have chosen to have a uncomfortable and vulnerable conversation about the impact Covid-19 has had on one Bangladeshi family.  A report published by Public Health England (PHE) on the impact of coronavirus on ethnic minority groups, has found that people of Bangladeshi heritage are dying at twice the rate of white Britons. Other black, Asian and minority ethnic groups had...

Joining Callsuma Ali in the room today is guest Lydia Kirkland, a mother of two children working in a group home as a Case Manager for foster care children in New Jersey. Lydia runs a non-profit in memory of her daughter called Filling buckets for Brianna that helps bereaved parents with funeral costs and headstones.  In addition, Lydia has a IG called 'life after losing my child' and a YouTube Channel also entitled 'life after losing my child' her platforms help to support and connect...

Today's guest in the room is Bangladeshi American, Bushra Mollick. Bushra is a writer and the Crisis Communications Manager for NYC Emergency Management. She is writing a biography highlighting her mother's life in Bangladesh and as an immigrant in New York City in the early 90s. She enjoys bird watching, cooking, and researching outdated blasphemy laws. She hopes to empower and inspire fellow Bangladeshi women to fulfil their dreams and put themselves first. In this episode we discuss...

Today's guest in the room is British Bengali podcaster of Brown Don't Frown,Tania Hardcastle. Tania has joined me in the room to talk about her biological mother who died suddenly and unexpectedly when Tania was 10 years old. Having spent the first decade of her life in East London before moving around, she has now done a full circle and returned to her roots in the East End.  We unpack what child bereavement looked like for her, the importance of emotional support and love following the...

Today across Britain families will be celebrating Father's Day, a day of remembrance and celebration. Joining me in the room is Abigail Tuitt, growing up in a loving and supportive family, Abi's dad was doting and expressed love with actions, dropping her off to the train station and surprising her with gifts, encouraging her to do well in her studies, as well as offering to make her breakfast. Often daughters are described by their fathers as their princess, he was an integral part of her...

A break in the usual format in light of #DiabetesAwarenessWeek  Joining me in the room is PHD student Priya Ahmed, I invited her to take part in a reflective discussion about role models in our Bangladeshi community, type 2 diabetes and all things food! We all know we are going to die one day, that is a fact of life, some of us will die because of poor health and disease, I am a firm believer that health is wealth and you are what you eat, without sounding like a preacher I am under no...

Today's guest is Sylvester King aka Sly King, the happy hour Birmingham, Alabama radio personality joins me in the room to talk about life before and after his parents. In this episode we chat about his dad who was also a radio presenter, the hero in his life growing up in a loving and supportive family. The sadness of not having his father who was in radio for 30 years to hear Sly on the radio, the milestones he reached without his father to witness them.  We unpack the impact of making...

Welcome back to Bereavement Room Podcast, the third and final season! Kicking off season 3 is Hatim Eldawi, we both met on Clubhouse when we were on stage sharing our experiences of grief.  I invited Hatim to Bereavement Room to talk to me about his dad who was living with ALS, the challenges that came from travelling to and from Sudan whilst studying and working in California. We also reflect on how picking up your parents personal care can humble your ego and the humour that comes with...

Hi Folks, it's the 3rd and final season of Bereavement Room Podcast, well time has flown in this room hasn't it! The final season is sponsored by friends near and far, some of my former guests, listeners and loyal supporters in the online grief community.  Bereavement Room is a British born podcast that garnered a worldwide listen, and so in the final season we will also be hearing from our friends across the pond in the states.  We will be covering family estrangement and abuse, what it...

Today's episode is the last in Series 2. I begin with reading out some feedback and comments received over the past year followed by a reading of a heartfelt letter written by Tasneem and my own personal reflections. I close the episode with a Q&A, thank you to everyone that sent in questions. Covering off DNACPR, what makes someone comfortable in opening up in sharing a deeply personal account of their life, statutory bereavement leave and emotions. Series 2 of BR bought us perspectives...

Today's episode is the penultimate episode of Series 2. As the creator and host of Bereavement Room Podcast I want to remind everyone why we are here in the first place.Bereavement Room was created following the multiple deaths I had in my family coupled with poor experiences of therapy as well as inadequate support from mainstream bereavement charities particularly when I came up with the idea of a death cafe for BAME communities and spoke about Muslim Funerals. Bereavement Room is a podcast...

Today's guest is Myira Khan a BACP Accredited Counsellor, Therapeutic Coach and qualified Supervisor, working in private practice, under her organisations ‘Myira Khan Counselling’ and ‘Grow To Glow’.  Myira is also the Founder of the Muslim Counsellor and Psychotherapist Network (MCAPN). MCAPN connects Muslim counsellors, therapists and psychologists.In this episode of Why We Do What We Do we open our discussion on how 2020 has treated us, Myira and I also discuss microaggression, unconscious...

This week marks National Grief Awareness Week and so today's guest is Lawyer and Co-founder of South Asian Sisters Speak, Shirin Shah.Shirin joins Callsuma in the room to talk about her dad who died earlier this year in February of a rare neurological disease and what it looks like to grieve in a lockdown. She reflects openly about what it was like caring for her father in hospital whilst trying to manage her self care and that grieving the same loss also means family members do not grieve in...

Today's guest is Humanistic Gestalt Counsellor Marvis Stewart.She joins Callsuma in the room for a chat about Gestalt therapy, practicing self compassion, forgiveness and her own experience of bereavement when her grandmother died.Marvis has been living in England for more than a decade and is British Venezuelan, we look at Latinx bereavement and grief noting that one size does not fit all and that there are communities within communities that may have various practices and rituals depending...

Today marks one year of Bereavement Room Podcast, Happy Birthday! Former guests, Lydia Okoibhole and Nikhwat Marawat from Series 1 return to the room to host today's Birthday special episode. Bereavement Room is a podcast that addresses the conversation around life, death, grief and identity from the perspective of ethnic minoritised communities across the diaspora.This means that we navigate and dissect the unspoken truths about grief within our communities, including having difficult...

Today I am joined by 2/2 Co-hosts of Thinking Out Loud Podcast, Jermaine Omoregie.Thinking Out Loud is a podcast that explores the unspoken truths about grief, mental health, masculinity and much more from the perspective of Black British male voices.Representation in the bereavement and grief space is very low so when i stumbled across Jermaine and Ben I just knew I had to get them in the room. Jermaine joins Callsuma to talk about his mum who died in Nigeria whilst on holiday in 2015, he...

Today I am joined by 1/2 Co-hosts of Thinking Out Loud Podcast, Ben Acquaah.Thinking Out Loud is a podcast that explores the unspoken truths about grief, mental health, masculinity and much more from the perspective of Black British male voices.Representation in the bereavement and grief space is very low so when i stumbled across Ben and Jermaine I just knew I had to get them in the room. Ben joins me to talk about his mum who died in hospital from Kidney failure in 2015, he opens up about...

Today's guest is Sherine Kerr, Sherine is a qualified integrative therapist and the founder of the Black families support group based in Suffolk for local black/brown people.She has joined Callsuma in the room to talk about her mum who died of Cancer in 2008, we explore what it means to grieve forever, family dynamics, and the power of being heard. Sherine's mum was of Windrush generation where nearly half a million people from the Caribbean were invited to Britain because of severe labour...

Today's guest in the Bereavement Room is Chelsea Koomson, she joins Callsuma to talk about her mum who died unexpectedly in October 2018. Sharing her personal experiences and what it's like not knowing the cause of death. Chelsea is also the owner of the instagram page Griefluencer, helping raise awareness about grief & mental health. As always thanks for listening, to donate to Bereavement Room Podcast Community Fundraiser for a season 3 and to share it with your network please go to our...

Today's guest is Priya Vara, she has joined me during Baby Loss Awareness Week to talk about her son Shayen. Priya gave birth to Shayen at full term, he was born sleeping. Priya walks me through that harrowing moment she was told there was no heartbeat with her husband and family by her side. Diversity in loss is the entire fabric of Bereavement Room Podcast and what we often see is that the mainstream excludes the voices of the diaspora and our experience.Priya and I discuss cultural...

Today's guest is Laura Marven, Laura graduated from the University of Leeds in 2019 majoring in Criminal Justice and Criminology. Laura has an interest in travelling despite Covid-19 and is a regular listener of Bereavement Room podcast, she has joined me to share her lived experience of grief and loss. Today we remember her mum who died in 2018 whilst on holiday in Mauritius, her native country. We also discuss dating in the age of social media and that it's ok to be vulnerable and not have...

Today's guest in the Bereavement Room is Health Psychologist in training and Founder of the charity Our Mind's Matter, Jolel Miah.In this episode of why we do what we do, Jolel reflects on life as a young carer and what this meant for him on GCSE day almost 2 decades ago when a teacher told him education isn't for him.  Now a qualified Psychologist he remembers loved ones no longer here to witness his achievements and that education is not always in the traditional sense of Academia but...