Jennifer Levin
Hi everyone and welcome to Untethered: Healing the pain from a sudden death. I am Dr. Jennifer Levin, and I specialize in traumatic death and helping individuals through the struggles, pain, trauma, and chaos of an unexpected death. In today’s podcast I interview Shannon Sessions who is the Executive Director of Support 7, a non-profit organization in Washington State that partners with the South Snohomish County fire, police, and other first responder agencies to serve those in crisis. Support 7 assists first responders on scene where the crisis occurs and provides the clients serve they serve with safety from onlookers and media, information about practical next steps, valuable resources, and follow up support. In our interview today Shannon describes the services provided by Support 7 related to sudden and unexpected death and the responsibilities associated with an organization focused on caring for others who have experienced sudden and unexpected death. She also shares with us how she was drawn to this work, how she cares for herself, and what is like to raise a family within the first responder culture.
Shannon, thank you so much for joining us today. So can you start off and tell us a little bit about yourself?
Shannon Sessions
Sure. And thank you, Jennifer, for having me on your program and giving me an opportunity to talk about one of my favorite things, Support Seven. So, you know, for me, Public Safety has always been in my blood. And it started years ago, kind of the, the Lord's blueprint of my life has been, started even when I was in youth, a youth and caring for other people and looking out for other people and, and feeling responsible for making sure others are doing okay. And that all went into when I decided to go into the Air Force after high school. Now I chose that route, for a couple of reasons. I was raised by a single mom, and I helped raise my two younger brothers and, and I wanted to go to college and I wanted to do something else. And so the only way I could do that was to figure it out on my own. And so I went into the Air Force, and I became a firefighter in the Air Force. And, and that process was - it was challenging, and it was fun. And I loved it. I've always been more physically inclined, and I've always done well with men and males, and so you have to have a large sense of humor to do these things as well and, and so it was a perfect fit for me. And I love, love, loved my time as a firefighter in the Air Force. And so I did that for four years. Got a chance to travel. I went to, I was stationed in Aviano Italy, Aviano Air Base, Italy, northern Italy, and you know, it's got to be the best airbase there is in the whole world. And somebody had to do it. It might as well have been, you know.
Jennifer Levin
Where did you grow up? Let's start off. Where did you grow up?
Shannon Sessions
Sure. I grew up actually right here in South Snohomish County. I graduated from Meadowdale High School, they were the Chiefs back then. And that's in Washington State. Lynnwood, Washington. Okay. Yeah. And so I grew up here, I was born in California, but moved here when I was very young, and went to schools all in the Edmonds school district. And then that's when I went on delayed entry, and then into the Air Force from there. And, you know, I was a firefighter, I was the only female firefighter in our group. And I always said, I wasn't going to date another firefighter. And I didn't date another firefighter, I just married one. And, you know, it was a wonderful, wonderful love story, to be able to meet my husband, Keith, and fall in love in Italy, in northern Italy, and to be able to have those experiences together. And we even got to take all of our family back, we have five kids, and to take all of us back just a few years ago, to walk through what they've learned since they were born, about our lives together and what it means, you know, to them too and how we live, they've lived vicariously through our memories through this and so they got to do it, too.
Jennifer Levin
Wow. When did you come back to the US?
Shannon Sessions
Let's see. We were there. We came back. Well, so we came back to get married in 93. So we're going to be celebrating our 30th anniversary here in a couple of weeks. And we were in Italy for four years, or he was there a lot longer than I was, but I was there for four years and we came back to the states in 93 to get married and then I got out of the air force at that point and he still was in and we got stationed at March Air Force Base in Southern California and which doesn't exist anymore. It's not an active duty base anymore. And eventually when we knew we are going to want to have kids and raise a family we came back here to the Northwest where my family's from so that we could do that.
Jennifer Levin
Is your husband still a firefighter?
Shannon Sessions
He is. So my husband Keith is a battalion chief for South County Fire and so he is still a fire chief or a fire fighter he's still a firefighter for for that many years and and he loves it he loves every minute of it. And with the work that I've done over the years, we get to see each other often on on different calls and different incidents, which can be pretty interesting and what I mean by that is my like I was mentioning about the blueprint, the Lord's blueprint on my life has really been more about you know, starting as an air force, going into the Air Force, becoming a firefighter that started that public safety. And then when I got out I was in, during the time I was in the Air Force and after is when I did my college degree. And I got a communications and journalism degree, went to some different schools while we were in Italy, and then in California, and finally finished up at the U-Dub here in the Seattle area with a Communication Journalism major and, and immediately was thrown into the media field. So I was a reporter for local newspapers for a lot of years in South Seattle, and then moved to back to where I grew up here and in southern South Snohomish County, to be a reporter and editor for the local newspapers at that time, the Enterprise newspapers, so I covered all of Lynwood, Mt. Lake terrace and Lake Forest Park for that for that publication. And that was, you know, a really cool time to be able to tell stories, tell stories of people. And I've always believed that every person has a story. Some people think their life is very dull, but I believe they all still have a story, you just have to ask the right questions. And, and that was a joy for me to be to be part of that. And, and you know, at that time, if there was a big incident, say, some sort of public high profile incident where somebody had an emergency, or death or something awful had happened, a crime scene. I was on the other side of the caution tape. You know, and so that was so as a firefighter, I was on scene, serving the people immediately with my skill set as a firefighter. And then now I'm in the media, and I'm on the opposite side of the caution tape right on the outside of the caution tape asking the questions. And then after eight years of doing that I was recruited to become the Public Information Officer with the Lynwood Police Department. And I did that and crime prevention and coordinated all their volunteers for more than eight years. And as you can tell, when there was a crime scene or a big incident that happened, I was on the other side of the caution tape, answering questions of the media. And then moving ahead with that after, you know, I mentioned briefly that Keith and I raised five children together. And we have a boy who's the oldest and four girls, and they're all adults now. But at the time during that timeframe, they were all little. And it was important to keep an eye to live, work, volunteer and go to church all in the city limits area of Lynwood so that we didn't have a commute, we were all near each other. And that's how we could actually have five kids and work both demanding jobs myself and him at the same time is because we didn't have a commute, which was really helpful. So we got a lot of joy out of that. And we do a lot of volunteering a lot of community service, and our kids would just come right along and be right with us whether it was in a backpack or a stroller, whatever it was, they were always right along with us. And I'm grateful that today they all have sincere servant's hearts and they continue to to serve in a lot of different ways. And around the time I stopped working at the Lynwood Police Department, I loved it but but at that time, I had four teenage daughters and and I needed to, you know I had the candle burning at both ends. And I knew I couldn't get this time back. And, and this is the time where they could go sideways. And so we took a big leap of faith. And I quit my job and started my own business called Safety Sessions. And so that way I could be more in control of my time and be able to be there for the girls too. And that, that business was fun. I learned a lot from that. It was basically doing a lot of the same things I did for the police department, media relations, consulting for high profile incidents, training smaller police departments and the public on public safety and ways of dealing with the media. And so anyway, moving forward there. I also was asked and did run for Lynwood city council, and I'm on my eighth and last year of that commitment. And about four years ago now, well, it'll be five years in September, the founder of Support 7 died. And this was a sad time, although he started this so many years ago. And there were so many wonderful things that have happened from it and people, resources and trusted relationships with agencies he started, but there wasn't a succession plan. And so we needed to have a plan. And I wasn't part of Support 7, but I was a big fan of the founder, who's Ken Gaydos, Chaplain Ken Gaydos.
Jennifer Levin
Let's actually pause for a second because that's what we're going to be focusing on is your work at Support 7. And I'm just so glad that you're here today to talk about this wonderful organization. And as a matter of fact, the next three podcast interviews that I have, are all related to Support 7. One of the women is a volunteer for your organization. And one of the family, we have two separate interviews from one family, are recipients of your services. So to have you here first, to be able to talk about this organization is just so great. So tell us about Support 7, what does the organization do?
Shannon Sessions
Oh, thank you, I love talking about Support 7 and, and it really takes a team of us, right, I happen to be the one privileged to be able to lead these folks. But it takes a lot of committed, compassionate, highly vetted and trained individuals to make this critical service available for the community. And for more than 40 years, we have what's called first responder chaplains and an incident response team who have been responding 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, alongside police and fire in the moment of darkness in the moment, something happens. So what that looks like, is you waking up, and your day starts as normal. And you're having breakfast you're putting your clothes on, and you have no idea that today is time zero. And at that moment, something happens, maybe your spouse, all of a sudden starts having cardiac arrest. And you need to call 911 He collapses. And you need to call 911. And who comes police firefighters, they come into your house, they come into your world, the chaos comes and you're scared, you're wondering what's happening, you're out of control. And you have you know, 12 to 15 firefighters moving your furniture around, trying to help your husband and you're in the corner just watching all this happening. And it's in those moments where the battalion chief on scene will get on his or her radio, his radio to the 911 system and say send a chaplain to my location. And, and it's then that we can come alongside these people and walk them through the next steps whether that's because they were able to get his heart started again and to get a pulse back and transport him quickly to the hospital. And we can help the family get themselves together so that they can follow follow along and and be alongside their loved one. Or in the case that a loved one doesn't make it that we can walk them through the next steps and talk to them about you know what what happens next that could be that medical examiner is coming to get them or maybe a funeral home is and we were there to walk them through all those logistical moves.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah, yeah. Well, the podcast is focused on the sudden and unexpected death that so many people find themselves in. So let's kind of talk a little bit more about those situations. Because they're so, so difficult. And by the way, what an amazing service that Support 7 does provide. I'm curious, um, does you know, some people aren't faith based? And does anyone ever resist wanting a chaplain?
Shannon Sessions
Oh, sure. And and let me start by telling you that, you know, the chaplains, the first responder chaplains are all you know, what we do is we walk alongside people on all unexpected deaths, it could be a natural death, like the one I described. Or it could be like, like, who you're talking about, an unexpected, unnatural death such as a death by suicide, or death by homicide. Another, another family, some other fatality at work, and or a vehicle collision. Yes, overdoses is highly, it's very common right now, unfortunately, it's its own epidemic. And with the epidemic of fentanyl, and out on the streets, we're seeing it more and more. And unfortunately, through the time of COVID. While death by suicide has been pretty consistent from what I understand the increase in death by youth and women has increased and this is a shocking statistic.
Jennifer Levin
First time since 2018 the numbers are going up.
Shannon Sessions
And, you know, I, I wish I had words of how to describe what that means or why that's happening. But I think if we all could figure that out, we would be in a better place. You know, it's a very difficult time.
Jennifer Levin
So what do you do? Um, you know, when? I mean, obviously, I mean, again, I can't even say it enough for what an amazing service and you know, when somebody's there, and they watch a loved one, die right in front of them. Unexpected. They're in shock, disbelief, chaos.
Shannon Sessions
Exactly. And you mentioned that sometimes what do you do if somebody doesn't want a chaplain? And I think that's a really important thing to talk about. And I think it's good for listeners to hear this too. Because when that battalion chief, like I mentioned, gets on the radio and says, send a chaplain to my location, first they go to that spouse, or they go to the family member that loved one or the neighbor, they'll ask, Can I ask the chaplain to come? And almost always there, they say, yes, but chaplain, the word itself has a religious connotation. And so sometimes, that's a misunderstanding of what we're there to do. And while we do love Jesus, we we are happy to pray. And we are happy to share those kinds of stories. We're not there to convert people, we serve everybody, in the moment in their moment, we know that we're treating people just like we would want to be treated just like we would want our family treated in those moments. And there are there are smart, capable people who are walking through these things. But in that moment, they're in such shock. They're in such a fog, they can't even see past past their own self, let alone to do next steps. And that's what we're there for, is just to walk them through the next steps. And, and so our battalion chiefs our captains or sergeants on scene know us so well and we have such trusted relationships that oftentimes if somebody will say, No, no, thank you. I don't know I don't need a chaplain because some of them might say, you know, I'm not religious or No, I don't need that. They'll say, they're not here to convert you. They're here just to walk you through the next steps. And then oftentimes, that'd be like, okay, okay. Come on, bring them every once in a while. It doesn't happen very often. But they might say, No, still no, absolutely not. And depending on the situation, and I remember one example of a death by suicide of a young man, and the family was so adamant that they didn't want a chaplain there. But it was chaos and people just kept coming to the scene. And it was putting more of a burden of course on our first responders, and they could just see the need of somebody who was there who could kind of choreograph in a gentle way, all the things that need to happen next. And I remember the battalion chief saying to the mother saying, Listen, I'm going to call a chaplain here because I need them. And it's in, it's in those moments, we come alongside them. And when they see us, and they know us, and they start to build a trust with us, they realize that we're just there, like I said before, to treat them, like we would want our own family to be treated, and just logistically walk them through things that they wouldn't otherwise know. These are things we wouldn't want anybody to have to know how to do. And that's, that's why we're here, we're here to take that and be a compassionate liaison between the families and the loved ones that have been left behind, and the first responder agencies, and that could be the medical examiner's office, that could be a funeral home, it could be police or fire. It could be Red Cross, but we serve as that compassionate liaison between them both and just to make things as easy as possible for them.
Jennifer Levin
Wow. Now, do you just do the services at the scene? Or do you follow up afterwards? Or tell me more about that?
Shannon Sessions
Yeah, so every scene, every situation is completely different. Some people, we they see us for three to four hours on scene, we follow up and they're fine. They have a good support system. And or, we are an example, a reminder of the worst day of their lives. And they don't want to talk to us after that. But a lot of the times, what happens is, as we follow up with people, is that they do have questions, and we always offer, Call us if you have any questions whether it's a day, two days, a week, a month later, if you have any questions, if we don't know the answer, we certainly probably know somebody who does. And we can find out what what that is for you. We leave them with a a pamphlet too a first next steps pamphlet to talk about this is what's happening now. You know, what to think about, remember the next 24 hours the next couple of weeks, months and year. And we also deal directly with veterans and veterans benefits and, and different, unique things about that. Also, in our pamphlet, we talk about different funeral homes and cremation versus burial. And those kind of hard decisions that most of these folks didn't even think they had to think about yet. I mean, particularly when we're talking of a traumatic loss, unexpected traumatic loss of death by suicide, or homicide or something. Another type of fatality where a crime has been committed. This is particularly jolting to a family. And we, at Support 7 have created a lot of relationships in the community with other organizations who serve folks in these in this time. And that could be the victim support services, it could be domestic violence services, it could be it could be other counseling, it could be churches, could be funeral homes, it could be just a companion, just another person that you can vent to. And we're connected to these kinds of groups on purpose, so that we can connect them and that also includes different cultural and language issues that we come across. Of course, like I said, we serve everyone. And we want to make it as comfortable as possible and make things as easy as possible for them in this very difficult time.
Jennifer Levin
You offer such amazing and unique services. So I imagine your geographic boundaries are pretty limited because you have such a tight knit community. I'm curious, do you know if this model has been replicated in other locations?
Shannon Sessions
So our founder, Ken Gaydos, when he started this more than 40 years ago. He how this started was he was a first responder chaplain and he had been responding alongside police and fire for some time and helping people with unexpected deaths like we like we still do. But there was a drowning down at Puget Sound. And it was raining and they were there and it was getting cold and it was getting dark and police and fire and different first responders had to be on the scene for long periods of time and they they needed to be fed and and there was media there and other family were showing up and other looky loos were showing up and there was no way to protect the family as they waited while their son was being searched for under the water and and it was that time that our founder Ken Gaydos said we can do better than this. We can do better than this, we need to have some sort of vehicle where we can feed the first responders on these long scenes, you know, just something hot, something cold, just a high protein snack even to get them through, have a bathroom. Bring the families and victims out of the elements away from media in a protected space, you know where it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and have a place where they can have private interviews with police and fire and grieve privately. And that's when he started with our emergency response vehicle. And we right now have our second one and our second one now is 25 years old. The first one was a renovated aid unit where where people could sit, this one is a motorhome and it has a bathroom. And again like I said it's more than 25 years old now and we're in a campaign to to fund, get funding for a new one of those because that one's on its last leg but all that to say that's where it, has it happened anywhere else? Well Ken Gaydos trained people all around the world. He's trained about public safety chaplaincy in all continents except for Antarctica. And so there are different probably cousins of Support 7 but they're very far and few in between. There is another group similar to us. That's a shoot off from our from our original Support 7 in the north in Skagit County area and in North Snohomish County there. And but other than that, it's very rare. First Responder chaplaincy is pretty common all around the United States. But those chaplains typically are just embedded in the police and fire and they, you know, will say a prayer to banquet in or check in with the firefighters and police officers in the station. And we do that too. We have those embedded chaplains as well. But we also respond 24 hours a day on scene in the trenches with them.
Jennifer Levin
What are some of your biggest challenges to running this organization?
Shannon Sessions
Well, people, people...people are a challenge. But you know, I would say for, for me personally, you know, Support 7 is a nonprofit. And the reason why I got involved and I have to tell you I said no to getting involved three times before I finally said yes, I couldn't fill the shoes of Ken Gaydos. But I said no three times. And but I did finally decide to do this because I felt led to do it from the Lord, I really rely heavily on my faith. And I felt led to do it. And I can tell you about that in a minute. It's quite a story. But I I think that running the nonprofit and raising funds is the biggest challenge. I can do the 911 I can do the training, I can do the hiring, I can do the volunteers. I can communicate and outreach and build relationships with leaders and the chiefs, I can do all that. The part that's hard is that nonprofit side for me, the fundraising, the getting the word out, and being able to walk this fine line of being discreet and humble about what we do. But also letting everybody know that we need to be above the radar. And we have to be sustainable. We have to be out there and let people know what we do in order for us to be sustainable.
Jennifer Levin
I bet. In this type of work, you are constantly surrounded by sudden and unexpected death. What is that like for you? How do you take care of yourself? What are some of your coping mechanisms? And even more importantly, or no, not more importantly, just as important, how do you constantly lead a team of others who are constantly experiencing this?
Shannon Sessions
You know, it's really a privilege it? I get this question a lot. And I know I've mentioned my faith and I cannot say enough how important my faith is and hope and giving people hope and whether that's faith for them or something else. giving people hope is is the number one most important thing, regardless of what that hope is for them. For me, it's the Lord and that I rely heavily on. I can tell you that when I'm on scene and doing this work, no matter how dark it is, I can always find hope in it and a light in it and that and it's such a privilege to be to walk alongside people in these toughest times and just love on them to just really try to relate to them to try to lift them up to give them other people to walk alongside them, who they can relate to, and offer them a hand up. And just like I said, make things easier for them in these moments. And it's a, it's a unique, unique, rare position we find ourselves in that is really a privilege. And it's the same for all of us. And how do we do it, we debrief a lot. There's a lot of debriefing going on, we care for each other, the fellow chaplains and fellow response team members, we debrief, we talk about it, we laugh, we cry, we pray, and we tell our stories, we say, how could you not have done better on this? How could I have done something different? And maybe, also, you know, we hear from each other on those moments, and are able to find new ways and other ways to help those who've had great traumatic loss. And that is so worth it. Those moments and to be able to see even a tiny bit, you know, we can't fix what's happened with these folks. Mostly, we're there as a quiet presence. And people respect and love and understand just that we were there, and in the trenches with them and willing to sit in their mess, willing to sit in their trauma, willing to sit in their grief. And we are we're willing to do that. And it's been there's so many lovely things about it, too. I get it. I'm married to a first responder, our whole family is used to this and and we're battle buddies. So I'm grateful for that. But not all of us have that. And so so we really find it in each other. And we really check on each other a lot.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah, actually, that's a great transition to the next thing I wanted to talk with you about. And that's your entire family. And pretty much most of your life has been immersed in the first responder culture. What's that like?
Shannon Sessions
Yes, well, we love it, we absolutely love it. I mean, it does. You come over for dinner, and maybe our dinnertime conversation might not be what the typical family is talking about, because of all the different things that we do and serve in the community. Whether that is Keith with being a battalion chief and working for the fire department, or when I served as PIO for the police department, or any other community service that we do. And then now as a first responder, chaplain and those stories, our daughter, one of our four daughters, enlisted into the Air Force as well to follow our footsteps as and is a flight medic now. And each of our kids, like I said, have come alongside us and served in these ways. And it's always been with a spirit of public safety, whether it was our business or whether it was when we were at the fire department, police department, whatever it is, and through our church has always been about serving others and public safety. And so that's where that all came from.
Jennifer Levin
How would you describe your relationships as a family? Do you think they're different because of your first responder culture, or kind of that energy that runs through you?
Shannon Sessions
I, I don't know. I don't know if we're different. It certainly, conversations that maybe some people wouldn't more easily or openly have we have and I'm grateful for that and that opportunity so they can see other ways to help other people but also how to cope for themselves because we model how to cope when bad things happen. And it's not always easy. I don't mean it that way. But but it's something I think that that is a legacy that we can send down to our kids. You know, I want to if you if you have time, I want to be able to tell you a little story. Do you have time for a story?
Jennifer Levin
Yep. And then we have one final question.
Shannon Sessions
Okay I, like I mentioned I think this is important for people to know and to listen to is that from the beginning, even so like I said, Support 7 is so important to me. It's my favorite thing to talk about. With that said when I was asked to take this on, I said no. I said no, three times. And I was pretty adamant about it and and And I wasn't sure that we, I took on with one of Ken Gaydos's sons, who's one of our board members to go around. Because when Ken died, we thought that maybe it was time for Support 7 to die too along with him. There wasn't a succession plan. And we just didn't know how it was going to continue. So he asked me since I was involved in the community, knew the leaders and the chiefs and everything. Would I come with him to these meetings to find out if Support 7 should just die or should it not? And we did that we met with several different people, and chiefs, community leaders, church leaders, and they all said 100% no, absolutely we need Support 7 more than ever. And they said we just need an executive director. And a lot of them knowing me would say, Shannon could do this. And no, Shannon's not doing this. And Tim would say, Shannon, please, can you do this? I said no, Tim, absolutely not. And it got to a point where Tim was asking me a third time and I just said, Tim, there's no way I can do this. The next morning, I was driving south to Seattle to do a crime prevention class for a school through my business Safety Sessions. And I'm driving down the freeway. And it's you know, in all the traffic going southbound on I-5, and I'm looking ahead of myself here and I can see an overpass, and I see something on the overpass and I don't know what it is I'm looking closer. And I see there's a person up there as I'm approaching the overpass, and I'm thinking Oh, no. There's nobody supposed to be up there. Why is there a person up there? And as I'm getting closer, I can see the person kind of getting up on top of the boundary and throwing her leg over. And I'm like, no, no, no, what are you doing up there? No, get down. And I always think it's a woman. And I look because what happened is the reason why I think she's a woman is as she comes on the other side, and she stands on a rim, a cliff of the overpass on the other side, her shirt comes up and she pulls it down. And I always remember seeing her do that. And I'm getting close to her saying no, no, don't do it. Don't do it. And I'm wondering then, why what is she pausing for? Why isn't she jumping? I'm the first car coming towards her. And just as I'm thinking that I look in my rearview mirror, and there's two semis behind me. And I'm thinking No, don't do it. Don't do it. And as I go under that overpass, she goes down behind me. The whole freeway stops. I'm the only one on the road. And I'm just like, no, that didn't just happen. And I'm calling 911. And I'm telling them what's happened. And all I could think about Jennifer wasn't necessarily that woman who made that choice that day, to change everybody's lives. But I was thinking about the semi truck drivers. The other drivers of the vehicles that just witnessed that, the first responders who are gonna have to get her off of the ground. The family that was just impacted and the domino effect of those things and all I wanted to do was turn around and serve those people. All I wanted to do was just walk alongside them. And I thought, oh my goodness. Lord, you just answered this for me. I have to do this. I've got to do this. And that's how it started.
Jennifer Levin
Wow. I'm so glad to shared that. Thank you. You truly have a calling and you are so skilled. Wow. That's such a beautiful transition to this last question, which is, you have so much experience being with people in the moment, just like that moment. When a crisis or traumatic death has just occurred? So what advice would you give to someone right now, who just experienced the crisis, the trauma, and has that long road ahead of them, of trying to put their life back together, after experiencing the death of a loved one from a sudden or unexpected manner.
Shannon Sessions
My advice would be more to the people surrounding their loved ones, friends, neighbors who have gone through such a traumatic loss. And that is to be present be there. Words aren't what they need, they need you just near them. In fact, oftentimes, words we use can hurt unintentionally. Even with good intention, sometimes words hurt. But I would encourage people to use their loved ones name, say it out loud, talk about their loved one. Friends and family get at the level that your loved ones are at who've had this loss, get down on your knees, if you have to sit down with them. Use the loved ones name, talk about them, keep them alive, find ways of honoring the loved one. Excuse me, and also recognize that people grieve differently. And I, in my experience, so far, people tend to grieve like they live. And I think that that's a good thing to think about as you're walking into what to do next. If your person who's grieving was always a task oriented person, they're going to be more of a task oriented person in their grief. If your person was abusing substances before this loss, they're probably going to go there for their comfort. If your person was more quiet and introverted and or wanted to be behind the scenes, likely, they're going to go even deeper there. And it's important to allow each of those things to happen. And try not to take things personally. Try to find ways to laugh about your loved one that you've lost and or situations. And find the joy, the wrinkles in their life that you can bring into yours to keep them alive. And again, I just can't stress enough for people just to be there. Because your loved one who's lost somebody or your friend or your neighbor will remember that you were there, they will not remember what you said. They will remember that you are there. And we all say this too, is they get a lot of attention, a lot of energy around the time the person dies around the person time the person is lost. If you really want to do them a favor, set, all of us have our smartyphones now. Get your smartyphone out and start making reminders in your calendar to notify you, you know, visit Sally, go see John. call Joe. And those are the times they're going to need you. It's it's even more so months and years afterwards. And just keep using the person's name.
Jennifer Levin
That's so great. And I'm so glad you said we grieve like we live. I love that I say that all the time. And it's so wonderful to hear that. Um, this is such great advice. And I encourage you if you're listening to take that last answer that Shannon just said and share it with your loved ones. Shannon, I can't thank you enough for your time today and that you share this wonderful organization. It is like a hidden gem. And so for the people who live in Snohomish County in Washington, what a wonderful resource and hopefully, other people will hear about it and perhaps be able to reach out and learn more. We're going to put the link to Support 7 in our Facebook group and any other materials that you want to share will be in our Facebook group so that they can learn about your organization and all of the wonderful services that you provide. So thank you.
Shannon Sessions
Thank you for having me, Jennifer, and thank you for all you do for our families and youth and people who need it.
Jennifer Levin
Thank you. So, again, wonderful interview today.
I am so grateful to Shannon for sharing this amazing organization with us today. I have seen first-hand the impact this organization has had on the lives they serve. For those of you who have experienced a sudden or unexpected death you understand how helpful it can be to have someone assist you with practical steps and information in the moment of a crisis. The minute you learn that your loved one has died, your world shatters and rug is pulled out from underneath you. Having a calm presence who can shelter you from the immediate chaos, give you the next steps, phone numbers to call, and anticipate your early needs is an unbelievable resource you don’t know you need at the time. The volunteer chaplains who do this work give their heart and souls. They are full of resources, well trained and supported by Support 7 to meet the needs of those they serve and if they don’t have the answers they will find out and respond in a very timely manner. Shannon also shed light on some of the challenges a nonprofit such as Support 7 faces in providing this type of services both administratively and emotionally. It is no surprise that funding is an issue. No one is going to argue about the importance of an organization like Support 7 but raising funds for an organization like this is a full-time job. Many people may not truly realize the value of what Support 7 has to provide unless they have experienced a similar crisis or know others who have. It is hard to comprehend the totality of the behind the scenes administrative and emotional needs that go into running an organization like Support 7. There are administrative and training needs, Board of director needs, fundraising needs, insurance and liability concerns, volunteer and support service needs, community outreach, and mobile van needs that Shannon described along with the various other needs associated with running a nonprofit. Similarly, an organization like Support 7 must tend to the emotional well-being of its volunteer’s who are constantly on the front lines life and death crises. Compassion fatigue and burnout are real concerns for those on the front lines. Shannon mentioned that the volunteers laugh, cry, and support one another. Community support and training is very important but caring for the emotional well-being of her volunteer’s is a responsibility that Shannon and the organization must constantly attend to ensure that every client in need receives the care needed. It was such a privilege to talk with Shannon today. It is my hope there will be more organizations like Support 7 in our future. I am so grateful to her for sharing her personal story, sharing how she was drawn to this work, how she met her husband, the role her faith plays in her life, and the powerful story that led her Support 7. I have had a chance to meet Shannon’s husband and several of her children, and step into the first responder culture for brief moments of time when I go to Support 7 events and trainings. I know I am not alone in my thoughts when I say the world can feel pretty dark at times but spending an afternoon or a day with a group of first responders and Chaplains at Support 7 is like swallowing a light that illuminates a lighthouse. My insides glow – my sense of hope is restored as I am surrounded by goodness in people who truly care about others and making a difference in the lives of others who are in pain. We cannot always control what happens in the world, but we can control how we show up and care for one another. Support 7 shows up and cares for people in their darkest times. If you want an opportunity to connect with Shannon and learn more about Support 7 please join our facebook group “Talking about the Podcast Untethered with Dr. Levin.” Shannon’s contact information is available along with the website for Support 7. Thank you so much for joining today’s podcast episode with Shannon Sessions. Our next interview will be on Wednesday, August 30th and will feature one of Support 7’s volunteer Chaplain’s Debbie Rosenfelt who shares the story of her son’s death by suicide almost 15 years ago. To learn more about hope and guidance after sudden or unexpected death please visit my website and sign up for my monthly newsletter Guidance in Grief at www.therapyheals.com.
