E77 - Karen Bulinski Mathison - Grief Coach, Death Doula, Content Creator & Founder of The Naked Grief
Karen Bulinski Mathison was born in Buffalo, New York, and has spent her life learning that grief doesn't follow a timeline—it shatters one.
She lost her husband to a brain aneurysm. She lost her father to cancer on Christmas, her 50th birthday. She lost the last man she loved, suddenly and without warning. She's navigated pet loss, miscarriage, secondary grief, and the isolation that comes when the world moves on but you're still standing in the wreckage.
But loss also taught her something else: that raw, authentic grief work transforms everything.
Karen holds a Master's Degree in Mental Health & Wellness with an emphasis in Grief & Bereavement from Grand Canyon University. She's a Certified Death Doula through IAP Career College, a Certified Life Coach, and holds certifications in Art Therapy Coaching and Emotional Trauma First Aid.
She combines clinical expertise with lived experience—she's studied grief academically and survived it personally. That combination is rare. That combination is powerful.
In 2024, Karen founded The Naked Grief, a comprehensive grief support platform built on a simple truth: grief support should be raw, authentic, accessible, and unapologetic.
The Naked Grief's dark, heavy logo isn't accidental. It represents that initial impact—the moment loss rocks hard and cuts like glass. But the communities within are brighter and lighter because support changes the shape of your grief backpack, making it less heavy to carry. It doesn't erase the weight. It makes it bearable.
Karen is most proud of three things:
- The RAW Experience Podcast — Co-hosted with spiritual healer Melissa Bishop, this podcast dissects Friends episodes to identify disenfranchised grief and demonstrate how unaddressed life challenges create a spiral effect. It's grief education disguised as entertainment, reaching people who wouldn't otherwise seek help.
- The Grief Garden Series — A collection of short stories and creative tools that help people identify the array of emotions experienced during grief as companions walking with us on our healing journey. Characters like Hope, Love, Faith, Resilience, and Pain become guides through loss.
- Global Grief Awareness — Her mission to make discussing grief a common dialogue that occurs before loss, not just after. Prevention through conversation. Preparation through community.
Karen is passionate about one thing: disenfranchised grief—all the losses that come with or separate from the death of a person. The lost promotion due to grief brain. The warning at work because productivity suffered. The trauma and isolation that happens when employers and society don't recognize grief as legitimate.
She believes that mental health support in the workplace isn't a luxury—it's a retention strategy, a productivity multiplier, and a basic act of humanity. When people feel seen and supported through life's hardest moments, they don't just survive. They transform.
Karen was born in Buffalo, New York, and plans to eventually join her family in Holy Trinity Cemetery in Lewiston, Niagara County—a full-circle return to her roots and a reminder that grief, legacy, and connection are all intertwined.
She's honored to be here with Tom Bender and the Heroes in Grief community, talking about the losses nobody talks about and the support everyone deserves.
Karen's links:
Website: thenakedgrief.com
Support Assessment: thenakedgrief.com/support-assessment
RAW Experience Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNakedGrief
Healing Hearts (21-day free trial): thenakedgrief.com/grief-support-membership-options
Email: info@thenakedgrief.com
Phone: 302-956-4245
========================================
Please consider supporting the podcast here: https://buymeacoffee.com/heroesingrief
NEW!!! Purchase the book Tom is in 'Stories of Friends and Family Lost': https://amzn.to/3SXtG1v
Heroes in Grief: www.heroesingrief.com
Contact Tom: tom@heroesingrief.com
Tom's GriefTalks page (Book Tom as your Guest Speaker): https://www.facebook.com/tombendergrieftalks
Our partner 'Get Griefy Magazine': www.getgriefymagazine.com
Get Griefy Collective (Business Collective for anyone helping those in grief): https://get-griefy-small-business-collective.mn.co/share/d6W3Hzr6rS1NIhee?utm_source=manual
You also can help support Heroes in Grief by using our affiliate links to wherever you do your online shopping or ordering. Message Tom at tom@heroesingrief.com to inquire or get a link. No extra charges or any cost to you!
Visit the Heroes in Grief shop for products discussed on the podcast & Tom's suggestions: https://linktr.ee/heroesingrief/shop
Thank you!!!
