Nathalie is a passionate writer, holistic counsellor, coach, woman & mother. Her areas of speciality are relationships, grief, and trauma.

She has independently authored and published various grief resource books. In her role as a therapist, she loves to help people find their inspiration for healthy grieving. She is also a speaker at international conferences and workshops in the area of bereavement and relationships.

If you are curious and want to know more about Nathalie’s personal story, listen to her podcast episode 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE! Nathalie Himmelrich Developmental Trauma, Sexual Abuse, and Family History of Grief and Loss.

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“Trauma is not what happened to you, but what happens within you as a response to it.”

— Gabor Mate

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At 19 weeks pregnant we found out that our daughter A’Mya had multi-cystic kidneys.
At that point, it was not clear what this would mean.
Would the kidneys develop and was there any healthy tissue at all? We tried to find out more about her condition and went to see specialists.
The sadness and uncertainty were as present as my growing belly.
I was in shock.
I remember the days passing in a haze.
I was traumatized by the news and already grieving the life I had envisaged crumbling before it had even started.

A’Mya was born 16 weeks later, the second of identical twins.
She lived for 3 days.
But that wasn’t all, there was more to come…

Nathalie

Raising a newborn, at the same time as grieving was confusing. “At least, you’ve got one, and she is healthy,” some said, while others added, “You’ve got to stay strong for your husband and child.”

Listen to Episode 12 where Nathalie and Chris talk about their loss 11 years later or listen to Nathalie sharing more about herself in Episode 44: Developmental Trauma, Sexual Trauma and Family History of Grief and Loss.

I grew up in Switzerland but was living in Sydney, Australia at the time. There were more than 16,000 kilometers separating me from my family.

Only four and a half months later my mother died from suicide. Our world was rocked in a way that I cannot even begin to describe.

My life before those traumatic losses wasn’t devoid of grief and loss. One would say I was practised at grieving, letting go, and moving forward in life. Yet, those unexpected, impactful, and traumatic deaths impacted me and my husband more than anything before. “Losing a child is the worst any parent has to endure” became a reality for me.

Now, more than 12 years later, I can say that I have not only survived but thrived.

Let me help you.
Let me show you how, not only how to survive, but how to thrive.
You were not born to be beaten by your trauma, but to rise from it.

Professional Training

• Psychology Masters in Social Science (in Training) (ACAP, Australian College of Applied Psychology, Sydney, Australia)
• ACMC Associate Certified Meta-Coach (Sydney, Australia)
• Grad Dip Psychotherapy (ACAP, Sydney, Australia)
• Bachelor in Education (Zurich, Switzerland)

Private Practice

Working in Private Practice since 2004

Certifications

• The Polyvagal Certificate – Safety, Connection, and the Human Experience (Stephen Porges, Deb Dana, et all., Polyvagal Institute)
• NARM – Neuro Affective Relational Model – Developmental Trauma Therapy (Michael Mokrus, Polarity, Zurich, Switzerland)
• SE Trauma Therapy – Somatic Experiencing – Shock & Developmental Trauma Therapy (Urs Honauer, Polarity Bildungszentrum & Zentrum für Innere Oekologie, Zurich, Switzerland)
• Holistic Counselling, A Psychology of Awakening, based on the Lataif System and Essence work (Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hannover, Working With People, Italy)
• Grief Recovery Specialist (Grief Recovery Method) (UK)
• Coaching Essentials, Coaching Genius, Associate Certified Meta-Coach (Dr L. Michael Hall, Sydney Australia)
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Practitioner and Master Practitioner Level (Rob Whitewood, Sydney Australia)
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Master Practitioner and Trainer Level (Pip McKay, Sydney Australia)
• The Journey Method (Brandon Bays and Kevin Billett, Journey Australasia)

► Click here to visit the NARM® Training directory entry

Further Education

• Replacing Stockholm Syndrome with a New Framework of Appeasement (Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Institute)
• Attachment, Contact, and Identity (Michael Mokrus, Polarity, Zurich, Switzerland)
• Professional Grief Accompaniment for Families with Early Child Loss During Pregnancy, Pre and Postnatally (Franziska Maurer, kindsverlust.ch, Bern, Switzerland)
• Attachment and Relationship (Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hannover, Italy)
• Male and Female Dynamics, Inner Man & Inner Woman (Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hannover, Croatia)
• Essence Work, Lataif (Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hannover, Italy)
• Path of Love (Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hannover, UK)
• Support for Family Survivors of Suicide Victims (Verein Refugium, Zurich, Switzerland)
• ASIST Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (Living Works, Sydney, Australia)
• Enneagram (Brandon Bays and Kevin Billett, Australia)
• Family Constellation (Australia and Switzerland)
• Focusing (Eugene Gendlin, Sydney, Australia)
• Touch for Health – Kinesiology (Nature Care College, Sydney, Australia)
• Transaction Analysis, Gestalt Therapy, Creative Interventions in Psychotherapy, Sandplay (Sydney, Australia)
• Grief and Loss Specialisation (ACAP, Sydney, Australia)
• Family and Relationship Training (John Gottman, Australia)
• Voice Dialogue (Hal and Sidra Stone, Australia)
• Quadritiny Process (Volker Krohn, Melbourne, Australia)

Publications

Books

• Bridging the Grief Gap: Building a Bridge of Understanding Between the Bereaved and Their Support Network, 2021
• Das erste Jahr nach dem Verlust eines Kindes überleben: Persönliche Geschichten von trauernden Eltern, 2018
• Surviving My First Year of Child Loss: Personal Stories from Grieving Parents, 2017
• May We All Heal: Creative Healing After Loss, 2016
• Trauernde Eltern: Wie ein Paar den Verlust eines Kindes überlebt, 2015
• Grieving Parents: Surviving Loss as a Couple, 2014

Articles

• Ezine Articles – various articles written by Nathalie Himmelrich
• Still Standing Magazine – various articles written by Nathalie Himmelrich

Newspaper Articles

• Nach Kindstod: Zwischen Freude und Trauer – Interview with Nathalie Himmelrich, Migros Magazin (in German)
• Sie hält Erinnerung an die Sternenkinder wach – Interview with Nathalie Himmelrich, Zürichsee Zeitung (in German)
• Mutter-los – Interview with Nathalie Himmelrich, Erlenbacher Dorfbott, Seite 3 (in German)

Media Appearances

• Zwischen Freude und Trauer – TV Interview with Nathalie Himmelrich Talk Täglich, Tele Züri (in German)

Languages

• Swiss German and German – native speaker
• English – native speaker
• French, Italian, Spanish – good to very good command

Becoming who I am today

The story behind the story

Born in Switzerland I moved overseas and lived abroad for 15 years, 5 years in Singapore, and 10 years in Sydney, Australia.
Now, I live back in Switzerland, near my beautiful hometown of Zurich, with my partner and Ananda Mae, my surviving twin daughter.

My interests always related to human interactions, first, as a friend, appreciated as an attentive listener, then as a teacher, loved by students due to my empathy, and then as a counsellor and coach, because of my non-judgemental acceptance, compassion, and authenticity.

My experience with life and death

In 2011, I gave birth to twin girls and my younger twin daughter died on the third day due to Potter’s Syndrome. In subsequent years, I experienced two miscarriages. Birth and death were the most impactful experiences in my life, which have enriched me with an intense and deeply personal understanding of human suffering in grief and loss. Four and a half months after my daughter’s death, my mother died following intense years of depression due to suicide.

My intention is to bring more light to the taboo topics of child loss, suicide, and the reality of grief by being open and honest about these experiences.

Comments from readers of my articles and notes, which I wrote during my grieving phase, led me to write my first book Grieving Parents: Surviving Loss as a Couple. This was really like a catalyst for all those that followed and a jolt into following my passion and intention of supporting the bereaved. My area of passion and speciality is relationships and grief.

My passion is writing and rethinking human behavior and emoting. I write for magazines and on my websites, and you can also read my daughter’s blog, where she writes letters to her identical twin sister, who left her body at the young age of 3 days.

When I’m not writing, you may find me reading, hand lettering, or running after my daughter.

* Schedule a Call – 30 minutes Discovery Sessions

There are limited time slots available so please be on time.

I’m sorry to inform you that the Discovery Sessions are no longer free due to many no-shows.

There will be a booking fee of CHF 95 (what is that in another currency? Find out here) to secure your booking. By booking a time you accept the cancellation policy as referred to here within the terms and conditions.

If you continue working with Nathalie this booking fee will be taken off the counselling package fee.

If you do not show up within the first 10 minutes, you forfeit your session. It is assumed you have cancelled the session.

Please be respectful of Nathalie’s offer of her time.

Make sure to check the time zone the calendar is showing. If there are no time slots available check back later – the calendar is open 30 days in advance – or book a fully paid session directly with Nathalie.

What People Say

Since our last session, I feel the deepest gratitude. It was the day that many things changed for me: I have integrated all my children into my life and given them the space they deserve. I gave them names, intuitively sensing whether each of them was a girl or a boy.

I experience a deep shift, the way I experience my life, my life as a woman, as a mother with children who are not alive. There is a feeling of peace, healing and fullness which I didn’t experience before. It is as if a deep wound of my being a woman was able to heal.

– Treena, Vienna

Nathalie is a special person who is able to assist when there seems no answer or hope. She has the unique ability to put life’s turns and twists into an amazing perspective and leave you feeling encouraged, optimistic and calm.

All that she does is very practical and immediately effective. She has the ability to change people’s lives and particularly long term, destructive patterns in the most gentle way. Before I met Nathalie I was somewhat of a cynic about “counsellors” and business coaches but now I will be eternally grateful.

– Mandy, Melbourne