Karen Austin is a perpetual student of grief and a lifelong learner in the experience of death and loss. Before she turned 25, she lost all four grandparents and her mom to natural causes, and her brother to suicide. She has experienced loss through divorce, and in 2017 lost her second husband and best friend Tracy to pancreatic cancer after a nine-month illness.

She’s had 30-something jobs (she’s lost count), buried numerous pets, and once (pregnant) snuck into a cemetery to bury her brother’s ashes at their mother’s grave.

She is the board chair for LOSS Community Services in Columbus, Ohio, which provides services to suicide loss survivors, a certified grief companion, and a trained support groups facilitator. She is working on completing a death and grief certification. 

And she’s funny.