After more than 18 months of silence, The Broken Pack™ podcast is back, and Dr. Angela Dean is sharing everything.

In this return episode, Dr. Angela Dean, psychologist, thanatologist, bereaved sibling, and host of The Broken Pack™, opens up about why she went quiet, what grief looked and felt like from the inside, and what is coming next for this community of surviving siblings and sibling loss survivors.

Where Dr. Dean Has Been: After nearly five years since losing her brother Tony, something shifted in fall 2024. Despite consistently showing up, recording episodes, building community, and training with Dr. Robert Neimeyer at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, she found herself unable to continue at that pace. She reflects on the paradox of avoiding her own grief while pursuing advanced training in grief therapy, and why she needed to step away from narrating loss in order to actually live it.

The Personal Losses Behind the Silence: An adult child moving across the globe, shifts in family dynamics, estrangement, and the growing weight of being her parents' only living child, a reality her brother Tony is no longer here to share.

What Brought Her Back: A grief retreat through the Portland Institute reconnected her with her purpose. After recording an episode with Karin McLean, Dr. Dean began noticing signs from Tony, wolves, Pittsburgh references, and childhood memories only he would have known.

Big News for Surviving Siblings: The Broken Pack is expanding to welcome ALL sibling loss survivors, including those who lost siblings in childhood or before birth. The Wild Grief newsletter moves to Substack, and a sibling loss book club is launching.

Upcoming guests: Dr. Christina Zampitella, Nina Rodriguez, Dr. Heidi Horsley, Susan Kellum, Karin McClean, Anne Pinkerton, Earl Dawn Legault, and sibling loss survivor stories from Valerie, Amy, Paige, Amanda, Jayden, Deidra, and many more.

If you would like more information or to share your own sibling loss story, please contact Dr. Angela Dean at contact@thebrokenpack.com or go to our website, thebrokenpack.com.

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Sign-up for Wild Grief, our newsletter: https://thebrokenpack.substack.com/

Thank you!
Angela M. Dean, PsyD, FT, GTMR

Credits:
The Broken Pack: Stories of Sibling Loss is produced by Not Done Here Media

"If Tomorrow Starts Without Me" © ℗ 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Performed by Fuji Sounds (feat. Joe Mylward)
Written by Joe Mylward and Brian Dean
Licensed for use to The Broken Pack
Now available on all streaming platforms including Apple Music & Spotify: ...

The Broken Pack Returns: Surviving Sibling Loss, Grief, & What's Next