This week’s guest is writer and podcaster Giles-Paley Phillips, best-known for his award-winning children’s books and the novel One Hundred and Fifty Two Days, based on his own loss of his mother as a child, and as host of the Blank Podcast. 

Another ‘platinum’ member of the DPC – Giles was six when his mum died after contracting leukaemia and his dad a week before Giles’ 21st birthday. 

In this episode, we discuss what it was like navigating this huge loss as a child and how balancing his dad’s alcohol addiction and other personal tribulations meant he never faced his grief head-on  as a child or young adult, even after his dad passed just a week before his 21st birthday. 

We go on to talk about how becoming a parent confronted him with his grief, particularly how this brought him closer to the emotions his mum must have felt and how grief and sadness can live side by side with gratitude and happiness. 

Despite these immense losses and the impact they had on Giles’ own mental health, he has become a huge grief advocate on social media; particularly twitter where he offers a safe and welcoming space for people to speak openly about their losses. 

You can find Giles on Instagram and Twitter at eliistender10.