ep 192:Mia Perry Bowick on Grief, Addiction, and the Brother She Called Matty

Episode description Most of us grieve in private. Mia Perry Bowick’s grief arrived with a global audience. Her brother, Matthew Perry, spent ten seasons making the world laugh as Chandler Bing, and when he died in October 2023, millions of strangers mourned alongside her. Mia is a licensed psychotherapist and drama therapist who spent more than a decade sitting with people in grief and trauma. She also spent years loving a brother through addiction, which is its own long, complicated grief that starts well before anyone dies. In this episode, we talk about what it was like to finally tell her story on camera in Netflix’s The One About Matthew Perry, why she stepped away from clinical practice after his death, and how she built Grief Alchemy, her framework for treating grief as a human experience to be accompanied rather than an illness to be fixed. Two therapists, two grievers, one very honest conversation. Bring tissues and possibly a snack. In this episode Growing up with “Matty”  Loving someone through substance use disorder, and the anticipatory grief that comes with it What it means to grieve a person the whole world thinks they knew Laughter in the middle of loss, and why it belongs there Why she left clinical work and created Grief Alchemy Being a therapist and a griever at the same time (spoiler: the training doesn’t exempt you) Connect with Mia Website: miaperrybowick.com Instagram: @miaperrybowick YouTube: @MiaPerryBowick Her podcast, Finding Gold, plus Grief Alchemy sessions, speaking, and workshops are all on her site Watch The One About Matthew Perry, a three-part docuseries, now streaming on Netflix Connect with Meghan Instagram: @meghan.riordan.jarvis Grieftastic Can Anyone Tell Me? Essential Questions About Grief and Loss and End of the Hour, wherever books are sold