Nathalie Himmelrich

Inspiring Hope | Finding healthy ways of Grieving | Writer

child loss

57 Kelly Cervantes Dealing with the Loss of a Child after a Medically Complex Life

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self-funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast: bit.ly/SupportGTPodcast. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

About this week’s episode

Kelly and her family went through different losses. Her daughter Adelaide whom she cared for while she lived a medically complex life died as a young child. Kelly and I talk about the complex topic of making a decision to take your child off life support and when to do this. She shares how she dealt with her grief at the time COVID came around, which kept her locked in and separate from her surroundings.  
Hearing Joe Biden’s words: ‘To heal we must remember’ had a big impact on her grieving journey towards accepting her grief instead of fighting against it, and allowing herself to move forward by remembering.  

About this week’s guest 

Kelly Cervantes is an award-winning writer, speaker, and advocate best known for her blog Inchstones, where she shared the stress, love, and joy that came with parenting her medically complex daughter, Adelaide. Since Adelaide’s passing, Kelly has continued to write candidly about her arduous and, at times, contradictory grief journey.

She has been published in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Cosmopolitan, as well as quoted in the New York Times, CNN, and People. She is the current board chair for the nonprofit CURE Epilepsy and hosts their biweekly podcast, Seizing Life, where she interviews scientists, doctors, and individuals affected by epilepsy. Kelly currently resides in Maplewood, NJ, with her husband, Miguel Cervantes currently starring in Hamilton on Broadway, four children, and their two dogs, Tabasco and Sriracha.

Website: normalbroken.com
Instagram: @ kellygc411
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kellygc411

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Thank you for listening!

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. Support the show

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50 Rachel Tenpenny Cultivating Healing Versus Coping Mechanism

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast: bit.ly/SupportGTPodcast. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

Rachel Tenpenny

About this week’s episode 

Rachel was my first guest on the podcast so I’m excited to have her back for episode number 50 – halfway to 100. She shares how she supports the bereaved with her tried and true methods which she found to be helpful in her own personal loss (check out Rachel’s personal story in Episode 1, Season 1). 

Also, today we are starting something new: some of my guests will have a gift for you which you’ll receive by going to my website (nathaliehimmelrich.com) and finding ‘Podcast gift’ in the navigation bar. Simply enter the password, which in Rachel’s case is the word fifty, (as in the episode number) and you’ll receive her ebook about grief myths. 

But for now, make sure to make notes of what Rachel is going to share with us. 

About this week’s guest 

Helping people through grief is Rachel’s passion. After her baby daughters died in 2008, she made a promise to them that she’d learn how to heal after loss and share what she learned with everyone who wants to heal too. Rachel has spent more than a decade making good on her promise and has helped hundreds of clients build a meaningful and purposeful life after loss.

Rachel’s links:

  • Website: thegriefgal.com 
  • Instagram: @the_grief_gal
  • Facebook: @rachelthegriefgal

Thank you for listening!

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. Support the show

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47 Tara Storch on Organ Donation After Losing Their Teenage Daughter

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast: bit.ly/SupportGTPodcast. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

Tara Storch

Today I’m speaking with Tara, Taylor’s mum. Taylor died following a skiing accident when she was just a teenager. In the hospital when Taylor’s parents were met with the fact that she would not be able to survive, they were offered the option of organ donation, which surprisingly was one of the easier decisions the parents to make. Tara talks about how she and her husband both grieved the loss of their daughter in very different ways and how talking to another couple who experienced a similar loss helped them. After their loss, they made it their mission to focus on the good. Part of that was that Taylor had saved multiple lives through organ donation, so the parents started Taylor’s Gift Foundation to change the conversation around the topic and to support donor families. 

About this week’s guest 

Tara Storch is president and co-founder of Taylor’s Gift Foundation and is a marketing professional, award-winning author, and community leader. Tara and her husband Todd co-authored the award-winning book, Taylor’s Gift, which was recognized as the ‘Most Inspirational Book’ at the Books for A Better Life Awards in New York City. She and her husband were also recognized as “Heroes Among Us” by People Magazine. 

Opening up about her journey of finding hope and purpose after the loss of their daughter Taylor, she speaks publicly across the nation about her powerful “Outlive Yourself” message. Sharing her journey on Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Ellen Show, People Magazine, and other national and international media, she brings a message of inspiration that touches lives worldwide. Tara is the proud mother to three children – Taylor, Ryan, and Peyton. She and her husband, Todd currently live in the Dallas, Texas area.

 Tara’s links:

Other episodes mentioned in this episode:

Thank you for listening!

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. Support the show

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1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE! Nathalie Himmelrich on Developmental Trauma, Sexual Abuse, and Family History of Grief and Loss | Episode 44

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast here. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

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Birthday Giveaway 

I’m giving away 5 copies of my books to individuals who leave or have already left a review for the podcast. The choice of the book is absolutely yours!

If you want to be in the draw for a copy of one of my books, 

  • Leave a podcast review, and take a screenshot. 
  • Send it to me by e-mail, latest by June 30th, 8 pm, to support@nathaliehimmelrich.com
  • Important. You need to take a screenshot of when you are writing the review, not just when it is posted
  • The winners will be announced on Monday, July 3rd via my newsletter. Sign up here.

Support this Podcast

Donate just 3$ per month to cover some of the cost: bit.ly/SupportGTPodcast

Nathalie’s links: Website | Instagram

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Nathalie’s personal story of loss and trauma
  • Non-death losses and the loss of grandparents and what she has learned from her family about grief and loss
  • Developmental trauma
  • Sexual abuse

Thank you for listening!

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. Support the show

Support the show:

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Nathalie Himmelrich on Trauma and Its Impact on the Nervous System | Episode 40

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast here. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

Nathalie Himmelrich Trauma and Its Impact on the Nervous System

Todays Episode 

All trauma involves grief but not all grief needs to necessarily be or feel traumatic.

When is a loss also traumatic and when is it not? 

What are the differences between a traumatic loss and a non-traumatic loss?

Why and how does it matter? 

How can we support ourselves and others after a traumatic loss?    

All these questions and more are the topics for today’s episode.

Nathalie’s links: Website | Instagram

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Examples of losses that can be traumatic 
  • The difference between traumatic and non-traumatic losses
  • Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Trauma response in the body 
  • Polyvagal theory and its application to trauma
  • Nervous system regulation
  • The importance of trauma-informed, grief-literate professional care

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Dr. Stephens Porges’s Polyvagal Theory 

Thank you for listening!

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. 

John Henry Parker on How Helping Troubled Veterans Helped Him Deal With Grief | Episode 37

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HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast here. Thank you! 

For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website, join the podcast’s Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

John Henry Parker

Today on the podcast I am speaking with John Henry Parker who has experienced multiple losses in his family. From avoiding grief and its emotionality altogether after the loss of his older brother Russel when John was just twenty years old, he could no longer do that when his son Danny died in 2009. Therapeutic writing and helping other troubled veterans as he calls them were his ways of dealing with his loss.

About this week’s guest 

John Henry Parker is a behavioral assessment analyst, writer, and audiobook narrator. For over 35 years, he has immersed himself in the work of personal transformation with a simple philosophy; Apply everything to self, first.
His passion ranges from writing, offering men’s transformational work to the philosophy in life of giving back and paying it forward. His passion for supporting and working with transitioning veterans and their families is in memory of his son Danny, who was killed in an adrenaline-seeking, excessive speed-related motorcycle accident after completing his military service. Danny was a Purple Heart Recipient and Combat Veteran of two deployments to Afghanistan with the Army 10th Mountain Division. John is a former peacetime Marine, and his father was a former Marine, Korean War Combat Veteran, and Air Force Reconnaissance photographer in Vietnam.

Check out John’s links:

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Growing up with an alcoholic father and in a ‘bad’ neighborhood
  • His mother’s Parkinson’s disease for 35 years
  • Significant losses: John’s older brother Russel through a motorcycle accident when he was twenty, and his son Danny (highspeed motorcycle accident) in 2009
  • Aunt Glady’s influence on John’s view on life: God is love, the gift of empathy, and the law of reciprocity
  • Working with troubled veterans 
  • Epigenetic trauma

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Bruce Lipton, Joe Dispenza

Thank you for listening!

 If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to the newsletter on Nathalie Himmelrich.com

 If you need grief support, please contact me for a FREE 30 min discovery session.

 HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. 

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    Nathalie Himmelrich

    I accompany people therapeutically as a holistic counsellor and coach.

    I walk alongside people dealing with the challenges presented by life and death.

    I’m also a writer and published author of multiple grief resource books and the founder of the Grieving Parents Support Network.

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