Unspoken Grief Podcast: Support Space After Experiencing Murder-Suicide Loss

At a time when conversations around mental health are becoming
more visible, grief and murder-suicide loss remain some of the most difficult experiences for people to discuss openly. The shame, confusion, and stigma surrounding this type of loss often
leave survivors isolated and without resources, which is exactly why Michael Vinton and Tina Chevalier created the podcast Unspoken Grief.

As the storytelling and conversation arm of their survivor advocacy organization, Impacted
Survivors of Murder-Suicide (ISMS), Unspoken Grief creates space for honest conversations
around grief, trauma, survival, and healing. Through compassionate storytelling, survivor-centered dialogue, and community support, the podcast helps listeners feel less alone while navigating the long aftermath of traumatic loss.
Founded by survivors, for survivors, ISMS is dedicated to supporting individuals and families impacted by the complex and often isolating loss of murder-suicide. 

In an interview, Michael Vinton and Tina Chevalier said: "In many ways, this topic chose us. As survivors of a murder-suicide loss, we felt an undeniable responsibility to advocate for a community that is profoundly underserved and too often overlooked. Every year, more than 700 families in the United States are impacted by murder-suicide, yet these tragedies are rarely discussed beyond the initial headlines. The survivors left behind are often left to navigate unimaginable grief in silence. Our mission became clear: we cannot shy away from these conversations. We have to talk about murder-suicide if we hope to improve both prevention and postvention efforts."

Their organization provides survivor-informed support, education, advocacy, and virtual community resources designed to
help individuals navigate grief, trauma, and stigma while finding connection, understanding, and hope.

For Michael Vinton and Tina Chevalier, the mission is deeply personal. After experiencing murder-suicide loss within their own families, both began searching for support spaces that fully understood the layered realities of this kind of grief. What they found
was a major gap in survivor-centered resources and conversations. ISMS was created from that reality: a space where survivors do not have to explain the nuances of their loss, soften their experience, or carry it alone.

Through Unspoken Grief, listeners are encouraged to continue their healing journey beyond the podcast itself through virtual support communities, advocacy initiatives, and grief recovery
resources. As audiences increasingly search for murder-suicide survivor support, grief recovery tools, and healing-centered communities online, the show continues to meet a growing need for
compassionate and accessible survivor advocacy.

Unspoken Grief is a member of the Mental Health Awareness Radio Network and is focused on reducing stigma around grief, suicide loss, and mental health recovery. The show creates compassionate conversations that help listeners feel seen, supported, and connected while navigating some of life’s most difficult experiences. Each episode combines honest storytelling, emotional reflection, survivor experiences, and mental health dialogue to help listeners move.

Michael Vinton is a Los Angeles-based actor, foster and adoptive parent, and small business owner. The tragic loss of his brother in August 2020 catalyzed Michael’s work supporting fellow murder-suicide loss survivors. He contributed to the collective book, Untold Stories of Murder-Suicide and also volunteers at Didi Hirsch in their Survivors After Suicide support groups. He co-created and patented the Murder-Suicide Loss Survivor ribbon with fellow loss
survivors. Michael's advocacy work led to the development of the podcast Unspoken Grief and the formation of the group Impacted Survivors of Murder-Suicide, which he co-founded with Kristina Faulkner and Tina Chevalier. Their mission aims to increase awareness, enhance support groups, advance research, and pave the way for prevention efforts.

Tina Chevalier is a founding member of Impacted Survivors of Murder Suicide (ISMS) and a survivor of the loss of her brother in 2021. Her journey through grief shaped her commitment to creating spaces where survivors can feel held with compassion, understanding, and care.
Guided by her lived experience, Tina brings a survivor first approach to her work and is dedicated to continually learning, researching, and growing so she can better serve this deeply
underserved community. She helps guide ISMS’s survivor support programs and outreach efforts, bringing a steady, compassionate presence to every part of the work. Through her leadership at ISMS, she works to build community, elevate awareness, and foster meaningful support for those navigating the long aftermath of murder suicide. Her work reflects a steady devotion to healing, connection, and the belief that no survivor should ever be left alone in their
grief. 

Impacted Survivors of Murder Suicide was founded by Michael Vinton, Tina Chevalier, and Kristina F., LCMHC, each personally impacted by murder suicide loss. After navigating their own
experiences, they began searching for support created specifically for families living with this kind of grief and found very little that reflected its full complexity. ISMS grew from that reality. It
was created to offer a space where survivors do not have to explain the nuances of their loss, soften their experience, or carry it alone.
Their work is just as meaningful as Robin's. Michael and Tina of the Unspoken Grief podcast have created a safe space for Murder-Suicide survivors to destigmatize their loss and grief; but also, they've pioneered a way to have these conversations from the thread of hope and not just the tragedy.

Every other week, the co-hosts converse with survivors, mental health experts and advocates in the field about how to cope and continue moving on. 

What I like best is that they make it a point to state "you don't have to explain your grief here."

Michael Vinton and Tina Chevalier explain: "Isolation is one of the greatest challenges facing survivors. We created Unspoken Grief to help break that isolation, reduce the stigma surrounding these losses, and bring survivors out of the shadows. We want every listener to know they are not alone: not in their grief, not in their journey, and not in their pain."

The co-hosts continue: "Our goal isn't simply to tell difficult stories, it's to change the way society talks about them. Every story we share and every conversation we have is rooted in the hope that someone listening will realize they are not alone. When you've experienced a murder-suicide loss, it's easy to believe no one could possibly understand what you're carrying. We want to challenge that belief by creating a space where people feel seen, heard, and understood."

Through conversations with survivors, researchers, and mental health professionals, we help educate listeners, reduce stigma, and replace sensationalism with understanding and compassion.

Ultimately, Unspoken Grief isn't about reliving tragedy; it's about fostering connection, encouraging healing, and creating conversations that too often never happen. How do you handle these delicate topics, and what would you like to see from consumers, advertisers, journalists, and the podcast industry?

The co-hosts affirm: "Everything we do is guided by lived experience and a trauma-informed approach. Because we have walked this path ourselves, we understand how important language is. The words we choose can either validate a survivor's experience or deepen their sense of isolation. Every interview is approached with empathy, respect, and the understanding that our guests are entrusting us with some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives."

The co-hosts continue: "One of our greatest hopes is that journalists, media outlets, advertisers, and the podcast industry begin to recognize that there are real people behind every headline: a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a child. When these tragedies are reported with sensationalized language or undue focus on the act itself, we risk overlooking the surviving families and missing opportunities to educate the public about prevention."

Michael Vinton and Tina Chevalier emphasize that, "Our goal is to get these stories and conversations into the ears of every murder-suicide loss survivor so they feel a sense of belonging, a reminder that someone understands and that they don't have to walk this journey alone. If our podcast can feel like a warm hug through someone's headphones during their darkest moments, then we've accomplished exactly what we set out to do."

Check out Unspoken Grief.