In this episode, Andrea and Rebecca interview Hannah Rumsey and explore the profound (and often unacknowledged) pain associated with the loss of a friend. Hannah shares how her experiences of being unmet and unseen in her grief taught her the importance of acknowledgment in the healing process. As Hannah moved through her grief, she decided to act on the absence she found when looking for support, creating a one woman play, a podcast, and now launching a community for support in friend loss. Hannah is committed to those suffering the disenfranchised grief of friend loss through her beautiful creation of Friends Missing Friends.

In 2015, Hannah's best friend, Lauren, passed away suddenly. She was one of the closest friends Hannah ever had. 

Hannah wanted to create a supportive space for others, so in 2023, Hannah started Friends Missing Friends. It’s a podcast, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a community. It’s a place where we can come together, and lean our head on each other’s shoulders. 

Join Sascha and Hannah Rumsey of Friends Missing Friends as we talk about the beauty and joy of having very dear friends and the disenfranchised heartbreak that can come along when those friends die. 

In a heteronormative world that likes to make hierarchies of our losses, I was so happy to spend time hearing about Hannah's dear friend Lauren. In Hannah's grief journey she began Friends Missing Friends (a podcast, a community and a collective) where she helps folks find community while working through this particular note of loss. 

What happens when your soulmate isn't a romantic partner — but your best friend — and they're suddenly gone?

In this heart-opening episode, I sit down with writer, performer, and podcast host Hannah Rumsey to explore the often-overlooked pain of grieving the loss of a friend. After losing her friend Lauren in a tragic accident, Hannah found herself in a grief no one seemed to understand — one without rituals, recognition, or even language.

Hannah opens up about her personal story of losing her friend, Lauren, under tragic circumstances, and how this loss inspired her to create a space for others navigating friendship loss grief. 

If you’ve lost a close friend—or want to better support someone who has—this episode will remind you that your grief is valid, seen, and worthy of love and acknowledgement.

Sometimes our soulmates are our friends. The people that we hand select to go through life with. In this episode, we honor that bond and the deep grief that comes with losing a friend. Jenn is joined by Certified Grief Educator and Author Hannah Rumsey, whose work honors her friend Lauren, who passed in 2015. Hannah and Lauren had a supernova of a friendship that formed at summer camp and continued despite long distances. Since Lauren’s death, Hannah has created a one-woman show titled “42 Days of Summer,” the podcast Friends Missing Friends, and her upcoming memoir.

In this episode, we meet Hannah Rumsey from Chicago. She's the founder of Friends Missing Friends, a community she created for people navigating the loss of a friend. And Hannah’s work grew out of her own story, when in 2015 her best friend Lauren died suddenly.

Together, we explored the unique challenges of grieving a friend, and why this grief can feel invisible or minimised, how few resources exist for friend-loss grief, despite how common it is, and the surprising ways healing, and hope, can unfold over time.

Access the Transcript HERE.

 "When a friend passes away, you often question—what was our relationship? Do I own this grief? Were we actually as close as I think? But grief doesn't work like that. The love was real, and so is the loss."

In this episode of Grief'd Up, host Rebecca Feinglos engages in a heartfelt conversation with Hannah Rumsey, a writer, performer, and podcaster based in Chicago. Together, they delve into the complexities of friendship and grief, discussing how societal norms can invalidate the depth of platonic love and the unique challenges faced when mourning a friend.

When Hannah’s best friend died unexpectedly, she looked for help. Friends, family, mental health professionals could only go so far. She started an exhaustive search for friend loss support and found…nothing. Friend grief, like all grief, is a lifelong process yet there are scant resources for those who truly understand the impact of losing a trusted friend. Friend loss is neither family or romantic loss and thus isn’t always given the same level of attention and understand that blood or partner loss does. After getting repeated messages (from herself) to do something and raise awareness about friend loss Hannah started the Friends Missing Friends podcast. The community of grievers now has a home.

In this episode of Two Girls with Grief, Kendel and Rachel sit down with Hannah Rumsey, founder of Friends Missing Friends, to dive into the often-overlooked grief of losing a friend. Hannah shares her journey after losing her friend Lauren and highlights the emotional complexities that arise when grieving a friend in a society that doesn’t always recognize this type of loss.

Join us as we unpack the complexities of friend loss and advocate for more support and understanding around this often invisible grief.

Watch the episode on YouTube HERE.

In episode five of Someone You Love, I sit down with the host of Friends Missing Friends, a podcast & community dedicated to enfranchising platonic grief and friend loss. We discuss the passing of Hannah's best friend, Lauren, and how impactful her grief has been on her artistic journey.

Hannah and I also cover 42 Days of Summer, a solo performance Hannah wrote and performed in which covered the complex emotions of her best friend's death.

Watch the episode on YouTube HERE.

In this deep episode of Tendrils of Grief, I’m joined by Hannah Rumsey—writer, performer, and podcaster based in Chicago—whose journey through grief began with the sudden loss of her best friend, Lauren, in 2015. What began as a deeply personal experience of loss soon blossomed into a powerful mission to give voice to an often overlooked kind of grief: the loss of a close friend.

In this episode, Hannah Rumsey shares her journey of grief following the sudden loss of her friend Lauren. Through storytelling, writing, and humor, she explores the complexities of navigating grief, the importance of witnessing pain, and the healing power of creativity. The conversation delves into the societal challenges surrounding grief, the need for support, and the significance of keeping memories alive through shared stories.