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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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Today’s guest is Shavaun Scott, a psychotherapist and author who shares a deeply personal and courageous story with us in our conversation. In her memoir Nightbird, Shavaun explores the devastating experience of her husband’s revenge suicide, an act he carried out on the very day she told him she wanted a divorce. After 17 years in an abusive relationship, Shavaun was left not only with the trauma of a gruesome scene staged in her own home, but also with the complex emotional aftermath, grief not just for the loss of life, but for the relationship that never truly was. As a therapist herself, Shavaun offers a profound and nuanced perspective on the psychological toll of intimate partner abuse, the moral injuries of suicide, and the long road of healing. This is a powerful and honest conversation about trauma, survival, and the complicated nature of grief.

Shavaun has been a psychotherapist for nearly 35 years in Oregon and California in the US. Shavaun shares her passion for mental health and wellness through writing, speaking, and podcasting; she is the author of four books. While she has worked extensively with grief and trauma, she has also experienced it in multiple ways throughout her life. She lost her mother when she was 16, her father when she was 35, and her previous husband of 17 years died by suicide in 2004. Shavaun now lives and works from her home in the forest in Portland, Oregon, which she shares with her husband and a houseful of beloved animals.

• www.shavaunscott.com
• www.instagram.com/shavaunscott/

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Send us a text

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.

Today’s guest is someone many of you will remember from episode 87. She’s here today to talk about her latest book, The Joy Reset, a groundbreaking and deeply compassionate guide that takes the powerful tools of positive psychology and adapts them for those of us who have lived through trauma. Joy, she reminds us, isn’t about toxic positivity or forced gratitude. It’s about finding light in the dark, one gritty, bite-sized moment at a time.

In this book, she explores why joy can feel so elusive after trauma—and how we can gently reclaim it. Through neurobiological insights, real-life examples, and actionable practices, MC gives us a new framework to understand hope, gratitude, and resilience—not as fluffy ideals, but as essential, hard-won emotional tools for healing.

Mary Catherine (MC) McDonald, PhD, is a research professor and life coach who specializes in the psychology of trauma, stress, and resilience. She has been researching, lecturing, and publishing on the neuroscience, psychology, and lived experience of trauma and stress for over a decade. She is passionate about destigmatizing trauma, stress, and mental health issues in general, as well as reframing our understanding of trauma in order to better understand and treat it.

• Website: alchemycoaching.life
• IG: @mc.phd
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@mc.phd

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  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/grievers-support/
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  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/

Send us a text

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.

Mary-Frances’s book The Grieving Brain has inspired me from the moment I started reading it. In this episode Mary-Frances is back to speak about her second book The Grieving Body.
So I’m very excited today to be speaking with Mary-Frances again, neuroscientist to find out even more about the science behind grief and all that Mary-Frances and her colleagues have researched in their lab.

Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab.

Her research focuses on the physiological correlates of emotion, in particular, the wide range of physical and emotional responses during bereavement, including yearning and isolation. She believes that a clinical science approach toward the experience and mechanisms of grieving can improve interventions for prolonged grief disorder, newly included in the revised DSM-5.

Website: https://maryfrancesoconnor.org/

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💡 If today’s episode touched you, please share it with someone who might need it.

🤝 Become a supporter of the show! Starting at $3/month & leave a review.

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• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
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Find Support Resources

• 💜 For Grievers – Resources
  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/grievers-support/
• 💜 For Supporters – Supporting someone https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/supporters-resources/
• 💜 Books – Explore books on grief and healing https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/books/
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  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/