Parenting Through Suicide Loss: Reshma’s Story

Parenting Through Suicide Loss: Reshma’s Story

Reshma Kearney is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, mindfulness guide, and solo mom of three who lost her husband Sean to suicide in 2022. A former military family, they had just begun what felt like their forever chapter when everything changed.

In this conversation, Reshma speaks openly about the stigma that kept Sean from asking for help, why she reframes “signs of suicide” as “signs of risk,” and what those first impossible months of grief actually looked like. She shares how small, accessible mindfulness practices became lifelines for her and her kids, and why letting her children see her fall apart may be the most important thing she’s ever done as a mother.

This episode covers suicide loss, parenting through grief, nervous system regulation, and what it looks like to find joy again without leaving your person behind.

What You Will Learn

• [00:10:14] Why Reshma was shocked but not surprised by her husband’s suicide after years of unresolved struggle
• [00:11:58] Her reframing of “signs of suicide” into signs of risk and why that distinction matters for survivors
• [00:13:41] The compounding stressors — deployment, multiple moves, career transition, and alcohol use — in the year before his death
• [00:16:04] How stigma in the military and medical fields made him fear that seeking help would damage his career
• [00:19:41] What the early months of grief looked like: functioning for her kids while internally feeling no future for herself
• [00:21:07] The small 20-minute walking practice that became the first step toward caring for her own nervous system
• [00:23:52] How each child expresses grief differently — movement and anger, journaling and art, or needing nature and openness
• [00:30:37] What “accessible mindfulness” really means: stacking simple gratitude and grounding practices into daily life rather than adding more to-dos

Resources Mentioned

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.) – Call or Text 988
https://988lifeline.org

Find a Helpline (International crisis support directory)
https://findahelpline.com

Let’s Connect!

Reshma Kearney
Website

Chandler Stroud
Website | Instagram | Linkedin

Mixing, editing and show notes provided by Next Day Podcast.