Nathalie Himmelrich

Inspiring Hope | Finding healthy ways of Grieving | Writer

grief support

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! 

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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:

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Sarah Stillman on How Dealing With Trauma Does Not Prevent But Helps Prepare For Future Trauma | Episodes 34 and 35

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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! 

Episodes 34

Episodes 35

Sarah Stillman

Today on the podcast I am speaking with Sarah Stillman, who suffered preeclampsia and concealed placental abruption which led to the stillbirth of her first son. Having been sexually assaulted earlier on in her life in a medical environment, she was very clear about needing to take charge of her medical care to avoid further traumatization. Unfortunately, the developments her pregnancy experienced leading to emergency care, resulted in her experiencing more trauma.

We had such a rich conversation that this became a double episode. Make sure you listen to the second part which is going to be published a week after this in which we dive much deeper into the topic of pregnancy after loss and how to deal with the trauma of sexual assault.     

About this week’s guest

Sarah is one of Nathaniel’s two mamas (yes, he has two moms)! Nathaniel is Sarah and Amy’s firstborn son conceived through IVF with a traumatic ending in severe early-onset preeclampsia, placental abruption, emergency C-section, a brief NICU stay, and death within his mother’s arms. Sarah took to grieving, finding out what happened, and planning for future pregnancy like a full-time job, and in the midst of the uncertainty and haze of grief, identified resources that helped answer critical questions. In honor of her son, she created whenmybabydied.com which aims to offer families a centralized resource hub of information and answers for the question no parent ever thought they’d have to find. Sarah is currently pregnant with Nathaniel’s sibling who is expected to be born in April 2023. She lives with her wife, two dogs, and Nathaniel’s warrior spirit in Central Massachusetts.

Check out Sarah’s links:

Topics discussed in this episode

Part One

  • Early miscarriage, appendicitis operation during subsequent pregnancy, preeclampsia leading to the stillbirth of her son Nathaniel
  • Prior sexual assault trauma leading to challenges in medical care during pregnancy
  • Loss and trauma
  • Secondary losses following a stillbirth

Part Two

  • Empty arm syndrome
  • Being pregnant after a stillbirth
  • Sexual assault
  • The effect of prior trauma on pregnancy
  • Grieving the loss of having planned for a healing event when it turns into a new trauma

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.

Lisa Bolton on It is Never Too Late to Mourn Your Losses | Episode 31

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Lisa Bolton
Lisa Bolton

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 Lisa Bolton who experienced multiple losses in her life. She talks about dealing with loss after loss, the intense grieving bringing her to the brink of suicide, and the pivotal importance of her support system. She says: Without support, you can’t go through it. In her case, she had her church and a group of mothers who all had lost children through a drug overdose. In making her loss meaningful, Lisa beautifully describes how she allows her daughter to live through her. Another really important part of our conversation dealt with the topic of comparing losses, especially in the case of blended families dealing with losses on both sides, and the importance of relational support within the family. 

About this week’s guest 

Originally from New Jersey, Lisa now lives in Florida. After having been married for 25 years, she divorced and later remarried. She is a mother to 3 biological children, 2 stepchildren, and one foster child, but she considers them all hers. She has been an Early Childhood Administrator for almost 40 years. A few years ago, she also became a Stillbirth Doula, Support Group Facilitator, and Grief Counselor for adults, children, and adolescents. Her grief journey began 34 years ago when she lost her first-born son to a miscarriage. 30 years later she lost her rainbow baby, her beautiful 26-year-old daughter to an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl. In between those losses, she also lost her wonderful 18-year-old stepdaughter to a rare autoimmune disease. Everything she does is in memory of her children: carrying on their legacies, making sure their names are said and their deaths are not in vain. They all mattered, and while making sure they live on she is also trying to heal her own heart while helping others to heal theirs. 

Check out Lisa’s links here: The Dandelion Project: Facebook – Email

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Multiple losses: Pregnancy loss of her son DJ, loss of her daughter in 2019 and stepdaughter in 2015
  • Dealing with the most intense days of grief, suicidal tendencies, and the vital importance of support
  • Comparing losses in a blended family situation
  • Expressive versus cognitive ways of grieving, and cultural differences in grieving
  • How to incorporate the memory of her children into her own life

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. 

Clover Stroud on the Ambiguous Loss of Her Mother and the Early Loss of Her Sister | Episode 28

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Clover Stroud
Clover Stroud

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 Clover Stroud, a British journalist, and author, telling us about her beautifully rich and colorful life, which also included deep trauma within her family of origin.
 She shares about the ambiguous loss of her mother who suffered a horse-riding accident and because of it became brain-damaged when Clover was only sixteen years old. Her mother was alive but no longer capable to fulfil her role as a mother. She required full-time care following her accident and died 20 years later. 

During their teenage years, Clover and her two years older sister Nell formed a close bond, as they first cared for their mother in their home. This role reversal had a huge impact on Clover’s outlook on life. Not even 50, Nell was diagnosed with cancer and died within a couple of years of their mother’s death.

Clover believes that what saved her life was to be creating and really going after life. One of her quotes from the podcast that I will keep as a reminder of our conversation is that grief can be a creative act. 

About this week’s guest 

Clover Stroud is a writer and a journalist and has five children. She writes about the way life feels, mining her own experiences to draw universal truths about what it means to be human. She never shies away from the big topics and writes with startling honesty about life, death, sex, addiction, motherhood, nature, grief, ecstasy, and suffering.

She started her career as a journalist at 24, and since then has written regularly for all the major newspapers and publications, including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, Vogue, Red, Harpers, Elle, and she frequently appears on radio or podcasts as a distinctive and singular voice. She has published three memoirs, all Sunday Times bestsellers, and is working on her next book. 

Clover hosts a weekly author interview on her popular Instagram page @clover.stroud. 

Check out her website here for details on her memoirs. 

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Grieving the relationship with her mother after her accident and brain damage, the first loss, and caring for her at home with her sister as two teenagers
  • Twenty years later her mother died, and a new kind of grief
  • Two years later her sister’s cancer diagnosis led to her death

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.

Keem Fares on How Grief Evolves From Survival | Episode 25

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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.

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

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.

Nathalie with Simone Surgeoner on Loss of Significant Men | Episode 14

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Simone Surgeoner
Simone Surgeoner

Today Simone and I talk about losing the most significant men in her life. She dealt with the loss of her life partner through cancer, the sudden death of her father, and the dissolution of two marriages. After all these losses she investigated the masculine, and she found an appreciation for the male aspect in her life and in herself.  

She describes the experience of grief’s intensity in the following way:

The pain and intensity of it has not lessened in those moments. Yes, there are fewer and further between, but … it’s okay now because I know that it comes up like a huge wave and it feels so overwhelming in the moment, but I know that it’s going to leave now so it doesn’t topple me over. But I’m still always quite… It’s almost like impressed with that level of grief does not abate when it comes up.

Simone Surgeoner

About this week’s guest

Simone Surgeoner is a therapist and mentor who has helped thousands of people find their own authentic path in life.  She enjoys nothing more than exploring the depths of what it means to be human. Using herself as her own guinea pig, Simone demonstrates beingness as arising from integrity with one’s essence. Helping people find their inner truth, through their own direct experience, is the core of Simone’s work. 

Simone’s website: www.saksana.com.au 

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Loss of life partner
  • Loss of her father
  • Loss of relationships, divorce
  • Loss of a lifestyle, home, relationships, values, dreams, identity, religion
  • Supporting children who lost their father
  • Child’s experience of grief
  • Giving herself a full year of grief

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.

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.

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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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