From Experience: The Grief Collection

Sara shares the story of her younger brother Tommy's death from testicular cancer at 23, the exhibition Involuntary she created in its aftermath, her years as a hospice volunteer, her artist residency in the emergency department, and — more recently — grief following the death of her father. The conversation moves through death literacy, the power of witnessing, ecological grief, and how art can hold space for the hardest parts of being human.
Following the interview, psychologist Emma Keen joins Bianca to unpack the conversation — covering vulnerability, the importance of language around death and dying, and why grief needs to be witnessed.
Content note: this episode discusses hospice care, palliative care, death and dying. Support resources are listed below.
Visit: fromexperience.co
Socials: @biancaleewelsh or @fromexperience_
About Sara: Sara is a community artist, performer, and curator based in Lutruwita, Tasmania. Her work brings people together through creative experiences that are playful, responsive, and deeply human, often unfolding in places you might not expect from hospitals and schools to forests and public space. She creates environments where people of all ages and backgrounds can express themselves, working closely with communities, including young people, health workers, and artists. Her projects have spanned the Royal Hobart Hospital Emergency Department, Mona's 24 Karat Gardens and Collaborations across Tasmania's cultural and community sector. Alongside this, Sarah's practice is shaped by a deep relationship with the more than human world. She explores connection, ecological grief, and the intelligence of forests. Inviting people into experiences that hold both creativity and care. At the heart of her work is listening, making space for connection, imagination, and new ways of being together. Sara's website and projects: www.sarawright.space. Her exhibition in dedication of her brother: www.sarawright.space/involuntary
About Emma: Emma Keen is a psychologist with over 16 years experience across mental health and performance psychology, supporting adults with loss, trauma, anxiety, and the demands of performance. She is particularly passionate about working in the burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma space to assist those in high impact professions to sustain career longevity and wellbeing. She also works in sport and performance psychology with athletes, teams, and multi-passionate high performers, and delivers keynotes, workshops, and in-house training across both areas. She is also an EMDR accredited consultant with EMDR Association Australia and holds additional qualifications in social work and nutrition, as well as writing books for children in her spare time.
Resources:
Tasmania:
A Tasmanian Lifeline
Access Mental Health Helpline
Palliative Care Tasmania
Care to Serve - Support for Carers
National:
Beyond Blue PH: 1300 224 636
Lifeline PH: 13 11 14
Griefline PH: 1300 845 745
The Dougy Centre for Grieving Children and Families
From the Episode:
Book: Top 5 Regrets of the Dying - By Bronnie Ware
Book: The Space Between The Stars - By Indira Naidoo
Book: The Wild Edge of Sorrow - By Francis Weller
Poem - If - by Rudyard Kipling
Dr. Farida Kwhaja
Inscape Artists and the Inscape Project with Bec Stevens and this one
Symbio Lab - Julia Adzuki
Bonny Portmore - Irish Folk Song, Bonny Portmore song performed by Laura Marling
About Finnish Lamenting (Itkuvirsi)
Tessa Leon's artwork based on the Bonny Portmore song
Sara's projects mentioned in the episode: Family Dance Project, The Living Grief Project - with Bec Tilley and more are found on her website: https://www.sarawright.space/
Gathering for Grief with Kate Brennan
Styx Lament
Ruth Langford
https://wela.org.au/personnel/ruth-langford/
https://www.tellthetruth.com.au/
Art for Takayna - Bob Brown Foundation
https://bobbrown.org.au/event/art-for-takayna/
Tommy's Funeral Song - Change by Blind Melon
Music Credit: “Denali” by Bryant Lowry. Written by Bryant Richard Lowry (BMI). Published by Boss Soundstripe Productions (BMI). Licensed via Soundstripe Inc.
Cover Image: Eden Wilday

In this conversation, Peter talks candidly about what it's like to sit with people who are dying — and their families — and why he believes our culture is so bad at talking about death.
We talk about the gap between where people say they want to die and where they actually do, the reality of what caring for someone at home really involves, and why hospice care — done well — can be one of the kindest environments there is. Peter reflects on the language he's had to build for this work: choosing "distress" over "agitation," "calming" over "sedating," and death over the euphemisms so many of us reach for instead. He also opens up about his own relationship to mortality, the toll — and the strange gift — of witnessing death so often, and what he wishes everyone understood before they ever need this kind of care.
This is a raw, generous conversation about presence, language, and what it really means to be person-centred when someone is dying.
Bianca is then joined by Emma Keen, psychologist, burnout and trauma expert to unpack the episode.
Content note: This episode discusses death and dying in a hospice or similar setting. Please take care when listening.
Visit: fromexperience.co
About Peter:
Peter is a palliative care nurse, currently working as part of a consulting team in a public tertiary hospital. Before nursing, Peter was a hardware retailer, photo lab manager, forklift driver, apprentice, electrician, drillers offsider, petrol pumper, amongst other things. He's been a nurse for 17 years, initially, in various roles before eventually finding his way to palliative care. And as soon as he started doing this work, he knew he'd found his place. He worked in inpatient palliative care hospice for four years before starting his current position seven years ago.
About Emma:
Emma Keen is a psychologist with over sixteen years' experience across mental health and performance psychology, supporting adults with loss, trauma, anxiety and the demands of performance.
She is particularly passionate about working in the burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma space to assist those in high-impact professions to sustain career longevity and wellbeing. She also works in sport and performance psychology with athletes, teams and multi-passionate high performers, and delivers keynotes, workshops and in-house training across both areas.
She is also an EMDR accredited consultant with EMDRAA (EMDR Association Australia) and holds additional qualifications in social work and nutrition, as well as writing books for children in her spare time.
Resources
Tasmania:
A Tasmanian Lifeline
Access Mental Health Helpline
Palliative Care Tasmania
Care to Serve - Support for Carers
National:
Beyond Blue PH: 1300 224 636
Lifeline PH: 13 11 14
Griefline PH: 1300 845 745
The Dougy Centre for Grieving Children and Families
Music Credit: “Denali” by Bryant Lowry. Written by Bryant Richard Lowry (BMI). Published by Boss Soundstripe Productions (BMI). Licensed via Soundstripe Inc.
Cover Image: Eden Wilday

In this episode of From Experience: The Grief Collection, Bianca sits down with Brock Kerslake — primary school teacher, dad, husband, and former owner of the beloved Launceston walking tour business Taste Walk Talk — to talk about a loss that shaped his entire childhood.
Brock's older half-sister, Britt, died in 1985 at just 12 years old, after being hit by a car near her mum's home in Launceston. Brock was six. In this deeply moving conversation, he shares what it was like to grow up as the sibling of a child who died — the confusion of being a kid processing something enormous, the different ways his parents grieved, and how his family has kept Britt's memory alive for 40 years through cemetery visits, a school award in her name, and even a tattoo.
Brock also reflects on becoming a teacher at the very school Britt attended, what it's like talking to a new class of grade sixers about her every year, and the advice he'd give his six-year-old self.
Bianca is then joined by Caroline Thain, occupational therapist and clinical leader in youth mental health, to unpack the episode — covering how we learn to grieve from our families, the gendered stereotypes around men and crying, supporting adolescents through grief, and why anniversaries can catch us off guard no matter how much time has passed.
Content note: This episode discusses the death of a child. Please take care while listening, and come back to it another time if needed.
Visit: fromexperience.co
About Brock: Brock a primary school teacher, a dad, a husband, and someone whose story is deeply woven into the fabric of Northern Tasmania. Born and raised in Burnie Brock made the move to Launceston for high school and apart from some extended adventures both around Australia and overseas, including living and working in the UK and the U.S., Launceston has remained home. It's where he studied, worked, raised a family with his wife fee and built a life alongside their two kids. Gus and Bonnie. Before stepping fully into teaching, Brock also owned and ran a tourism business that many locals will fondly remember, taste, walk, talk, walking people through Launceston in a way that blended history, food, conversation, and connection.
About Caroline: Caroline is an occupational therapist, witness intermediary, and clinical leader working within a national youth mental health service. She has expertise in trauma-informed practice, grief and loss, clinical governance, content development, and service improvement. Caroline has a special interest in media, communication, and participation, and is passionate about supporting young people and families through complex challenges while helping to create systems that are safe, accessible, and responsive to their needs. Caroline also brings personal lived experience of grief and loss to her work. Following the death of her stepfather during adolescence, she developed an early understanding of the profound impact that loss can have on young people and families. This experience has shaped her commitment to ensuring that conversations about grief are compassionate, honest, and grounded in hope. It has also fostered a deep appreciation for the importance of connection, support, and meaningful communication during times of adversity.
Resources:
Tasmania:
A Tasmanian Lifeline
Access Mental Health Helpline
National:
Beyond Blue PH: 1300 224 636
Lifeline PH: 13 11 14
Griefline PH: 1300 845 745
The Dougy Centre for Grieving Children and Families
Music Credit: “Denali” by Bryant Lowry. Written by Bryant Richard Lowry (BMI). Published by Boss Soundstripe Productions (BMI). Licensed via Soundstripe Inc.
Cover Image: Eden Wilday

Bianca sits down with Diana Butler OAM — Tasmanian humanitarian, nurse, and founder of Care for Africa — to talk about losing her first son, Tom, as a newborn 40 years ago, and grieving in an era with no language or support for baby loss. Diana traces the line from that loss to founding Care for Africa, and to the moment she found her purpose standing before a Tanzanian community she describes as the reason she was put on this earth.
The conversation closes with Caroline Thain, occupational therapist and trauma-informed clinical leader, joining Bianca to unpack how grief resurfaces across a lifetime, why "toxic positivity" can do more harm than good, and how to support someone who isn't ready to talk.
About Diana:
Diana Butler, OAM, is a Tasmanian humanitarian, whose work has changed lives far beyond our island. As the founder of Care for Africa, she has spent decades advocating for children and communities in Tanzania, turning compassion into action and building lasting pathways to education, health, and Hope. Awarded the Order of Australia medal for her service she balances her leadership of care for Africa with a clinical health career, and works as an after hours nurse manager at the Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania, bringing her health experience into her international aid work. Diana's story is one of quiet determination, deep humanity and the belief that meaningful change often begins with one person simply choosing to care.
About Caroline:
Caroline is an occupational therapist, witness intermediary, and clinical leader working within a national youth mental health service. She has expertise in trauma-informed practice, grief and loss, clinical governance, content development, and service improvement. She has a special interest in media, communication, and participation, and is passionate about supporting young people and families through complex challenges while helping to create systems that are safe, accessible, and responsive to their needs.
Caroline also brings personal lived experience of grief and loss to her work. Following the death of her stepfather during adolescence, she developed an early understanding of the profound impact that loss can have on young people and families. This experience has shaped her commitment to ensuring that conversations about grief are compassionate, honest, and grounded in hope. It has also fostered a deep appreciation for the importance of connection, support, and meaningful communication during times of adversity.
RESOURCES
Tasmania:
A Tasmanian Lifeline
Access Mental Health Helpline
Gidget Foundation (Located Launceston and Hobart) PH: 1300 GIDGET
National:
Beyond Blue PH: 1300 224 636
Lifeline PH: 13 11 14
Red Nose Grief and Loss Support PH: 1300 308 307 (24/7, specifically for
pregnancy and infant loss)
SANDS Australia (miscarriage, stillbirth, newborn death): 1300 072 637
BOOK:
The Rain Queen by Katherine Scholes
Music Credit: “Denali” by Bryant Lowry. Written by Bryant Richard Lowry (BMI). Published by Boss Soundstripe Productions (BMI). Licensed via Soundstripe Inc.
Cover Image: Eden Wilday

Life has gotten in the way of me being able to interview and edit episodes so the podcast will just take a very short break. Herb's 4th birthday next week too...so I'm finding life just a little harder right now. I promise I will be back very soon with other amazing stories of grief and insights in to what has worked and what hasn't for people in their journeys.
Follow - @biancaleewelsh or @fromexperience_
Website: fromexperience.co
Email: hello@fromexperience.co