Lindsey Whissel Fenton

Lindsey Whissel Fenton, MEd, CT (she/her) is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, international speaker, and grief educator. As a senior producer/director and instructional designer at PBS/NPR affiliate WPSU, Lindsey draws on her expertise in content creation, outreach strategy, fundraising, and learning design to develop meaningful, multiplatform media. Certified in Thanatology through the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), Lindsey leads projects focused on grief, trauma, and mental health. She produced and directed Speaking Grief, a multiplatform initiative designed to create a more grief-aware society. The initiative received three Emmy® Nominations (Mid-Atlantic Chapter) and was honored with a Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters (PAB) Award for Outstanding Documentary. Lindsey continues to manage Speaking Grief’s social media presence, @wpsugrief. Related projects include Learning Grief, an online educational resource designed to help adults develop grief literacy in children and teens, and Follow the Nudge, a mobile application that prompts and guides grief supporters. Lindsey has collaborated with the New York Life Insurance Company to develop learning resources on grief in the workplace and with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to develop a scalable model for delivering trauma-informed training to schools and law enforcement. She’s currently working with the Yale Child Study Center to expand its Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project. Lindsey is the founder of Empathic Media, a company that works with clients from mission-driven and nonprofit organizations to provide thoughtful and compelling content creation services. She’s also the creator, producer, and host of The Apologies Podcast and serves on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG). A sought-after speaker and panelist, Lindsey has presented on grief literacy and educational outreach strategy to a variety of organizations, including ADEC, NACG, the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), American Public Television (APT), the PBS Annual Meeting, the University of Hong Kong, and Comic Con San Diego, among others. Lindsey earned her bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Digital Arts from Point Park University and her master’s degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from Penn State. She’s a dog mom, avid reader, and rock climber. Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, Lindsey now lives on the Connecticut Shoreline with her dog, Ellie.

Articles:

The Sounds of Grief

The Sounds of Grief Since my mom died, I’ve been cataloguing the sounds of grief. So far, I’ve documented five.   Sound I. My immediate, acute grief had a specific sound. You might recognize it. If you’ve ever balled up a soft object, buried your face in it, and screamed with all your might, this particular grief sound will carry a note of familiarity. I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye to my mom in the hospital room. So I said it later, while she lay on a slab in the morgue. When I got home, I walked […]

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