Meet Me Where I AM – A Review
Grief On Screen
By Genna Reeves, Ph.D.
Watching Meet Me Where I Am, a new documentary about the lived grief experience (now available on Amazon Prime) felt like being welcomed into a conversation with people I’ve learned from, respected over time, and spent time with in different capacities. The documentary brings together actors, advocates, and experts in the grief space, some of whom I’ve admired from afar. You will come face to face with grief expert David Kessler, actor Chris Farley’s brother John Farley, actor Anthony Rapp, Julie Shaw, Alicia Forneret (who gave a HeartLight Center Signature Series presentation with PAUSE about grief in the workplace in August 2024), and more. As I watched, it was as though I got to know them on a deeper, more personal level. Their presence felt authentic, and I was struck by how we connected over the massive, shared experience of grief—a force that has the ability to reshape our lives in ways we may not expect.
The format of the documentary enhances that sense of connection. It’s not flashy or overly produced. Instead, it feels intimate, as though you’re sitting right there with the subjects, having the kinds of real, meaningful conversations that so rarely happen in day-to-day life…especially around grief. In this space, there’s room for everything: the gentle highlighting of misconceptions about grieving, the painful honesty about the challenges, and, importantly, the acceptance that it’s okay for things to be messy and hard.
One of the central questions raised is whether we live in a society that’s afraid of grief—and yes, we do. We’re often not well versed in handling it, often leading to avoidance or trying to rush through it. But what the documentary so beautifully expresses is that this isn’t the end of the story. If we’re willing to sit with that discomfort, we can keep learning. Grief can be a learning experience about ourselves. Grief isn’t something we “get over”; it’s something we practice and grow through, just as we can learn to support others more skillfully.
As I watched, I found myself reflecting deeply on my own grief experiences. The film made me pause and think in new ways. The very next day, I attended a funeral, and I noticed that the way I supported those in grief was even more intentional and informed. The message I wrote in the card was informed by something I had heard in the film: “I’m sick of people saying, ‘my condolences’.” When someone shows you what they need, listen. It’s such a simple but profound message, and I found that it opened my heart even more to really hearing the needs of those around me.
Meet Me Where I Am doesn’t shy away from the intensely personal nature of grief. There are commonalities, certainly—many of the themes echoed what I hear every day in my work as a grief professional—but the documentary also makes it clear that each person’s grief is unique. We might think we know what someone needs, but we often don’t. The film challenges us to check in with those who are grieving, to ask what they need, and, importantly, to give them space to figure that out for themselves. It’s okay to let people grieve in their own time; there’s no need to hurry them.
I was particularly struck by the film’s exploration of sibling grief. As a culture, we don’t often talk about what brothers or sisters need in the wake of loss. Meet Me Where I Am brings this to the forefront, reminding us that while those in grief might not always know what they need, they will guide us if we’re willing to listen.
As a former university professor, my first reaction when I finished watching the documentary was gratitude, followed quickly by this thought: “what an amazing teaching tool!” My mind was buzzing with ideas about how this documentary could be used to educate and open dialogue on grief. It filled both my brain and my heart, leaving me feeling understood as a griever and as a person.
In many ways, Meet Me Where I Am reinforced what I already knew—that grief is universal, and there are certain truths that resonate no matter who you are—but it also offered fresh insights with human experiences and perspectives that I hadn’t considered before. The film is bookended in such a thoughtful way, tying together the themes introduced at the beginning with the reflections at the end. Each voice contributed something important to the whole of the message.
In the end, Meet Me Where I Am is not just a documentary about grief—it’s a call to action. It’s a reminder that grief, in all its messiness, can teach us how to live better, how to show up for each other, and how to embrace the uncertainty of loss with open hearts.
Watch the trailer here.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMe1ILb9jNI)