Nathalie Himmelrich

Inspiring Hope | Finding healthy ways of Grieving | Writer

widow/widower

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. 

Mira Simone on Grief Literacy and Somatic Trauma Work | Episode 38

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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.

Mira Simone

I’m so excited to talk to Mira, an inspirational woman, dealing with the loss and trauma of her partner. I found her through Instagram, where she shares authentically about her journey through her voice that connects with many other grievers, not just young widows. She shares about Brian’s death which came very quickly, within 7 weeks of his second diagnosis, and how she finds her way back to living life as a young widow. 
 Mira and I speak a common language and share the purpose of teaching people to become grief literate and the importance of working with a trauma-informed lens, which for both of us is the basis of dealing with grief and trauma. 

About this week’s guest 

Mira Simone is a widow, mother, published writer, grief coach, and grief-literacy advocate. She is also a registered mental health occupational therapist in Ontario, Canada. In early 2019, Mira’s life was blown apart, when her partner Brian was diagnosed with an unbelievably aggressive cancer. He died seven weeks later, leaving her alone with their almost three-year-old daughter. Prior to Brian’s death, she worked in the mental health space. But it wasn’t until his death that Mira began to explore the grieving process. In 2022, she launched New Moon Mira, her grief coaching business, through which she supports widows and grievers in more intimate group containers and provides grief literacy training for grief-support people and healthcare professionals. She is currently in the early stages of writing a memoir, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Mira’s links: Website | Instagram

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Growing up with her Dad’s chronic illness (Parkinson’s)
  • Mira’s husband dying from melanoma (skin cancer)
  • Relational (developmental) trauma triggered through the current loss
  • Traveling and going on adventures helped her to figure grief out on her own
  • Developing an understanding of grief and the nervous system

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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Shannon Traphagen on Vulnerability and Loneliness as a Widow | Episode 36

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Shannon Traphagen

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! 

Today on the podcast I am speaking with Shannon Traphagen about the loss of the love of her life and best friend from brain cancer. She so beautifully describes feeling rudderless and lost after having spent all her adult life with her husband. Before her husband’s diagnosis, they were on the road to adoption but due to his illness, they also lost that option. Shannon slept downstairs on the couch for a year to avoid the loneliness of the bedroom she had shared with her husband and the baby’s room across the hallway. She slowly worked her way back into embracing her life and now helps others through her podcast. Shannon speaks about vulnerability and loneliness, a topic she feels is not discussed enough in grief. 

About this week’s guest 

Shannon Traphagen, MSW, is a published author, motivational grief & loss speaker, patient advocate, and host of The Game On Glio Podcast. A show centered around the stories of brain cancer patients, caregivers, doctors, researchers, therapists, and grief and loss journeys. With a background in magazine publishing, social work, and modern media, Shannon is also walking through her own grief journey after losing her 45-year-old husband to Glioblastoma two years ago. She now helps others through her podcast and her own experiences, bridging the gap in communication between patients/families, widows, and the medical community. She is also the founder of Traphagen’s Trail Ride 4 Brain Cancer, a cycling fundraiser which has raised over $30,000 to date for brain cancer clinical trials. 

Shannon’s links:

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Miscarriages
  • The diagnosis of brain cancer of her husband led to the loss of adoption in the process
  • The death of her husband from glioblastoma
  • How to come to ‘I’m ok with this (loss)’ 
  • Vulnerability and loneliness
  • Secondary losses
  • Finding resilience through creating meaning

Resources mentioned in this episode

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. 

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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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