Grief and loss are tricky to navigate. There’s no rule book and it looks completely different for everyone. But for something that all of us are going to experience, why are we so shit at talking about it?

Meet Danielle Snelling & Eloise Baker, Co-Founders of Motherless Daughters Australia (MDA). Two best friends united in their grief, who connected online after both tragically losing their mums.

It wasn’t long before they realised just how isolated, unsupported and misunderstood they felt in their grief amongst society, friends, colleagues and even other family members. A silver lining perhaps, was finding comfort in their shared pain, which opened up the door to connect with thousands of other women and girls across Australia.

MDA now has a community of over 40,000 women, and continues to grow rapidly. We worked closely with the girls to produce their first Mother Loss Awareness Campaign, A Thousand Words. The video takes an intimate look at grief and loss through the eyes of motherless daughters in the hope to help facilitate open and honest conversations within families, friendship circles and communities about grief, and encourage them to continue talking about their loved ones lost, to keep their memories alive.

We sat down with the girls to talk about their own experience of losing the most important person in their life…their mums. We also challenge some common misconceptions around what grief should look like, and explore the importance of normalising conversations that are often put in the ‘too hard basket’.

Trigger Warning:

The conversations and subject matter in this episode discuss some heavy topics, which some people may find triggering.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please call lifeline on 13 11 14, or seek professional advice.