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Nathalie Himmelrich

Inspiring Hope | Finding healthy ways of Grieving | Writer

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grief/loss

Keem Fares on How Grief Evolves From Survival | Episode 25

January 30, 2023 By Nathalie Himmelrich Leave a Comment

Keem Fares

Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Keem Fares, the mother of Karina, a spirited intelligent young gymnast, who died in a freak accident when she was 12 years old.

In our conversation, we draw the connection from early grief to when we worked on the book Surviving My First Year of Child Loss in 2017 to now, 8 years after Karina’s death.

I can highly recommend listening to this episode with Keem because she so beautifully describes how grief has affected her life, her relationship, and her faith and how it has evolved from pure survival to how she experiences it now, after 8 years.

This was without a doubt the most interesting conversation I had on the topic of how faith and grief interact, especially given the fact that I would call myself a strongly spiritual but non-religious person.

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Resources mentioned in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest

Keem Fares is a Non-Profit professional and holds a leadership position in Financial Operations. Originally from Mexico herself, she met her husband in Cairo, Egypt, where they lived for 15 years before moving to San Diego, California in 2011.

Keem struggles to rediscover herself after the accidental death of her 12-year-old daughter, Karina, in 2015. She finds joy in her son Mark, and together with her husband, they rely on their faith in hope. They established Karina’s Joy Foundation to perpetuate Karina’s joyful spirit and giving nature through youth scholarships and acts of kindness.

She says, “I don’t have answers. I simply intentionally survive one moment, one day, one week, one month, one year…and then I do it again. Maybe, someday I’ll have survived enough to live and perhaps even thrive. In the midst of my own darkness, I can trust and hope that a rainbow might appear. One stormy day at a time, I am expecting rainbows.”

Topics discussed in this episode

  • The impact of her teenage daughter’s death on her life
  • How grief evolved from surviving to becoming ‘comfortable’ with grief
  • Pre-grief in the times before death-anniversaries
  • Finding comfort in community online
  • Social media offering both comfort and triggers
  • What grief looks like 8 years later, effects on relationship and faith

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • The book including Keem and Karina’s story Surviving My First Year of Child Loss

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website.

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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.

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier.

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, from personal experience, grief/loss, grieving parents Tagged With: accidental death, child loss, grief, grief and loss, grief support, grieving, grieving a teenager, grieving parents, loss, teenage death

Nathalie with Jessica Zucker on Saying it Loudly: I Had a Miscarriage | Episode 24

December 19, 2022 By Nathalie Himmelrich Leave a Comment

Jessica Zucker

Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Jessica Zucker who is widely known on social media due to the movement she started in response to her miscarriage. She openly talks about her 16-week miscarriage and the more recent trauma of her journey with breast cancer.

Similarly to Jessica’s intent with her #IHadaMiscarriage movement, this podcast is encouraging people to speak about the trauma they have endured and the grief they are dealing with.

Having chosen that path herself, Jessica says:

Without truth and candidness around these life experiences, then what? It’s almost like then the onus is on us to sort of feel ashamed or silenced or embarrassed or like a failure. Culture wouldn’t mind us feeling like that because then it would be easier if we just kind of curl up in a ball and keep it to ourselves, but I have clearly chosen not to do that.

Dr Jessica Zucker

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest
    • Jessica’s links:
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Resources mentioned in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest

Dr Jessica Zucker is a psychologist specializing in reproductive health and the author of I had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement. She’s the creator of the #IHadaMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Magazine, and Vogue, among others. Jessica Zucker’s second book is in the works.

Jessica’s links:

  • Jessica Zucker’s Website
  • Instagram: @ihadamiscarriage

Topics discussed in this episode

  • 16 weeks miscarriage
  • Unmedicated dilation and curettage (D&C)
  • The long journey with breast cancer
  • Dealing with the physical trauma of multiple operations and people’s reactions

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Saying it Loudly: I Had a Miscarriage (New York Times article)

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website.

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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.

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier.

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, grief support, grief/loss, grieving parents, health, parenting, trauma

Nathalie with Rachelle Spencer on Being Proud on Who You’ve Become | Episode 23

December 12, 2022 By Nathalie Himmelrich Leave a Comment

Rachelle Spencer

Today on the podcast I have the honour to dive deep into loss and trauma with Rachelle Spencer, who I’ve known since 2016. She has experienced multiple miscarriages and an abusive, toxic relationship. Rachelle is proud of who she has become not because but despite of her grief and trauma.

Rachelle found the support of a therapist instrumental in her healing and in making healthy decisions:

I know you mentioned therapist, but that was hugely instrumental for me to have a safe place, a sounding board. I don’t want to underestimate how big that was because I was figuring things out and learning to make decisions on my own. There was one person that completely supported whatever decision I made and trusted me to figure it out.

Rachelle Spencer

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest
    • Rachelle’s links:
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Resources mentioned in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest

Rachelle Spencer is an entrepreneur and mom in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). She started her handmade jewellery business after she lost 4 children to early miscarriage. She now has a son, daughter, and another little one on the way. She spends most of her time doing photography, reading children’s books, or trying her hand out at a new creative outlet.

Rachelle’s links:

Website: www.rachelle-isms.com

Instagram: @rachelle. isms

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Multiple miscarriages
  • Toxic relationship leading to divorce
  • Educating children, helping them understand how to deal with emotions, consent, trauma etc
  • Co-parenting and parenting as a blended family
  • The value of therapeutic support
  • Secondary losses

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • May We All Heal peer support group

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website.

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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.

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier.

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, counselling, creative healing, grief support, grief/loss, grieving parents, love/relationship/marriage, separation/divorce, trauma Tagged With: abusive relationship, blended family, co-parenting, miscarriage, rachelleisms, secondary losses, step-parent, toxic relationship

Nathalie with Brooke Carlock on If This Wasn’t Enough Already | Episode 22

December 5, 2022 By Nathalie Himmelrich 2 Comments

Brooke Carlock

Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Brooke whose story could be one that movies are made of. She has experienced loss after loss culminating in a series of devastating and traumatic losses within the past 12 months. 

Listening to Brooke telling her life story is both devastating and shocking, at the same time as hope-inspiring in the way she’s living her life after loss with fierce resilience at the same time as grieving. 

She speaks candidly about the dark places she went through while grieving and how she got help when she was suicidal. 

The truth is that there are people like Brooke who have no choice but to live with multiple traumatic losses. The question is: how do we meet them? How do we enable ourselves to hold space for someone and their situation? 

Regarding the people who helped Brooke the most, she says:

I want to be strong, and I want to keep going and find meaning in things. I’m just like a go-go-go person and the most helpful thing for me was people saying: ‘Slow down and breathe. You need to feel this and not rush through it, not ignore it, not medicate it. 

Brooke Carlock

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest 
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Resources mentioned in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest 

Brooke Carlock has experienced more grief and loss in her lifetime than most. The deaths of her grandparents, sister, cousin, and sister-in-law before she turned 35, along with her extensive coursework in Human Development and Psychology, taught her the power of resilience. However, nothing would prepare her for the devastation to come in her 40s. In a span of four months, Brooke lost her father to an unexpected heart attack, her stepmother to suicide, and her beloved 10-year-old daughter, Libby, in a horrific car accident.

As a teacher and freelance writer, her daughter’s death led Brooke to relentlessly study the fields of grief, loss, trauma, and resilience in order to survive her own experiences. Currently, she is pursuing her Grief Educator certification.  

Brooke is the founder of LiveLikeLibby.org, a nonprofit organization that provides dance scholarships in her daughter’s honor, as well as the creator of Grieving Mommy, where she blogs about her experiences as a grieving mother.

Brooke’s links:

  • Grieving Mommy Website
  • YouTube 
  • Instagram 

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Loss of her favourite grandfather when Brooke was 10-year-old 
  • Loss of her sister leaving behind young children, and multiple losses in the close family
  • Divorce
  • Most recently her father (heart attack), closely followed by her stepmom (overdose) and dealing with both funeral arrangement
  • News of the terminal illness of her mother
  • Loss of her daughter Libby through a car accident
  • Dealing with the dark places in early grief and suicidal thoughts

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), here is an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRrXuBU8-Q

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website. 

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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. 

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier. 

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, emotions/feelings, grief support, grief/loss, grieving parents, parenting, partner loss Tagged With: accident, child loss, loss after loss, multiple losses, overdose, suicidal, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, suicide

Nathalie with Sharna Southan on the Changes Needed in Pregnancy Loss Support | Episode 21

November 28, 2022 By Nathalie Himmelrich Leave a Comment

Sharna Southan
Sharna Southan

Today on the podcast I’m speaking with Sharna who I’ve come to appreciate as a force for change in regard to the support offered to women in dealing with their pregnancy loss, a passion we have in common.

Talking about her missed miscarriage Sharna shares:

…never experienced contractions before so I didn’t know that’s what I was experiencing until I got to the hospital until they told me then what was going on. They also told me that one in four pregnancies ends in loss and I was like: “Well, then why do I feel like I’m the only one? Why is there not enough information? Why does no one talk about this?” I felt like I was living under a rock, like where have I been my whole life to not know about this?

Sharna Southan

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Resources mentioned in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest

Sharna Southan is an ICF-certified coach, a mum to her rainbow baby, a business owner and a wife. She followed her heart and soul into business after her own pregnancy loss in 2017. Sharna firmly believes that our adversity gives us an opportunity to grow.

She founded The Institute of Healing through Pregnancy Loss supporting loss parents with her transformative Pregnancy Loss recovery method and teaching her signature Pregnancy Loss Practitioner™️ Certification Program.

Check out Sharna’s Instagram here.

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Dealing with the loss of her father at the age of nineteen, led to depression, anxiety, panic attacks
  • Missed miscarriage and the trauma of miscarrying
  • Feeling isolated in not knowing that 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in loss
  • Lack of information and support on what miscarriage means emotionally, and physically and what it may require in care
  • Finding help through professional support

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Grieving Parents Support Network
  • May We All Heal peer support group

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website.

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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.

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier.

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, grief support, grief/loss, grieving parents, trauma Tagged With: miscarriage support, missed miscarriage, pregnancy loss, support after pregnancy loss

Nathalie with Katja Faber on Continuing Living While Grieving After Homicide Loss Part 2 | Episode 20

November 21, 2022 By Nathalie Himmelrich Leave a Comment

Katja Faber

Today on the podcast I have the pleasure to delve deeper with Katja Faber, who has been a guest on the Podcast in Season 1. If you haven’t already, go check out her episode which has been one of most downloaded and listener showed a clear interest to know more.
Among other things, today Katja and I speak about the important topic of victim blaming and defamation, the changes in personality due to dealing with such a traumatic loss and the loss of innocence.

Katja shares:

I cannot image that however much I have come to accept the reality, that I’m a loss mother I will ever accept that Alex is dead. These are just two things that I can know for myself that this is something I am now. That my son does not live anymore, I still struggle with. And I always will.

Table of Contents

  • About this week’s guest
    • Katja’s Links:
  • Topics discussed in this episode
  • Links
  • Support this Podcast

About this week’s guest

Katja Faber is the mother of three children. Following her 23-year-old son’s murder in Switzerland, she used her legal training to work closely with lawyers and the State Prosecutor to secure justice for her dead son. Through her writing at Still Standing Magazine and other grief-related publications she hopes to break the taboo of homicide loss and child loss. She runs her own fruit farm and is an advocate of ecotherapy as a means of finding healing following traumatic loss. Katja is a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care® counselor through the Center for Loss and Trauma in partnership with the MISS Foundation and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust.

Make sure to listen to the podcast to the very end as there are some gems to be found there. I am sure you will enjoy and learn from today’s episode.

Katja’s Links:

  • Website
  • Articles on Still Standing Magazine
  • Facebook page
  • Instagram

Topics discussed in this episode

  • The challenges of being in court, both as a grieving mother and as a plaintiff
  • The invaluable support of friends and family
  • Victim blaming and defamation
  • The changes in her personality
  • The loss of innocence

Links

–> For more information, please visit Nathalie’s website.

–> Subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.

–> Join the podcast’s Instagram page.

Thanks for listening to HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA. If you’d like to be updated on future episodes, please subscribe to my 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.

Support this Podcast

To support this podcast, please rate, review, subscribe to, or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

Remember to keep breathing, I promise, it will get easier.

Filed Under: podcast, child loss, grief support, grief/loss, grieving parents, trauma Tagged With: child loss, defamation, grief and loss, grieving a child, grieving parents, homicide loss, loss changes personality, loss of innocence, victim blaming

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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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