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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.

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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Stay Connected

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• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  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.

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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💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  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/

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/

Send us a text

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and with it comes a deeply meaningful PAIL Mini Series here on How to Deal With Grief and Trauma.

In this seventh and last episode of the PAIL Mini Series, we explore two central themes:

• how hope and grief can coexist — how life can slowly expand again without erasing love, and
• compassionate insights on sustaining long-term support for grieving parents, reminding us that presence months and years later can mean even more than words in the early days.

🕊️ What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• How to allow hope to return naturally after deep loss
• Understanding that healing and grief can exist side by side
• Ways hope manifests in small, meaningful moments
• How to stay connected and supportive after initial condolences fade
• Practical suggestions for long-term, sustainable support
• Reflections on the beauty of ongoing love and remembrance

🗓️ About the Mini Series

The PAIL Mini Series runs through October with episodes released every four days, combining solo reflections and replays of the most loved guest episodes on pregnancy and infant loss.

🩷 Replays: October 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28
💬 Solo episodes: October 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  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.

During October, which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we will dedicate all the episodes to increasing awareness around what parents experience. Today, we feature a conversation with Katherine Lazar, a mum who has experienced her first child's death through stillbirth.

Katherine Lazar currently lives in Atlanta, GA in the US and is married to the love of her life, Brody’s dad, Michael. When she was 37 weeks pregnant, her precious son died and was stillborn. The sorrow following his death almost killed her. Conversations with other loss moms saved her. She decided to record them and put them out for others to hear. If they helped her feel less alone, maybe they could help others. She’s so proud to have created this in Brody’s honor and to give other mothers a platform to talk about their babies.

At the time of recording this episode, they were expecting their second child, and navigating the world of pregnancy after loss is a whole new battle. However, Katherine has spent a lot of time putting in the work with grief therapy & trauma recovery, surrounding herself with good people, having a great support system, and amazing doctors this time around. She feels ready for whatever comes her way.

She misses her son every day and knows that she will see him again someday. Until then, she will continue to tell her story, be very open about her journey, and help other loss mothers find light in the dark.

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/

Send us a text

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and with it comes a deeply meaningful PAIL Mini Series here on How to Deal With Grief and Trauma.

Grief is not one-size-fits-all.
In this sixth episode, we explore two central themes:

• how every person’s grief unfolds differently — and why permitting yourself to grieve in your own way is essential and
• compassionate guidance for partners and extended family, who each carry their own version of loss and need understanding, patience, and communication to stay connected through grief.

🕊️ What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Why there’s no single right way to grieve
• The harm of comparing grief journeys
• Giving yourself permission to feel, rest, and heal authentically
• Navigating differences in grief styles between partners
• How the extended family can offer genuine, sensitive support
• The power of communication and respect in shared grief

🗓️ About the Mini Series

The PAIL Mini Series runs through October with episodes released every four days, combining solo reflections and replays of the most loved guest episodes on pregnancy and infant loss.

🩷 Replays: October 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28
💬 Solo episodes: October 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30

🧭 Next Episode

🎧 PAIL Mini Series: 7 — Carrying Hope Alongside Grief & Sustaining Support Beyond the Early Weeks
📅 Releasing October 30
Exploring how grief and hope can coexist — and how ongoing support brings strength long after the early days.

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  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.

During October, which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we will dedicate all the episodes to increasing awareness around what parents experience. Today, we feature a conversation with Rachelle Spencer, a mum who has experienced multiple pregnancy losses.

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.

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/

Send us a text

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and with it comes a deeply meaningful PAIL Mini Series here on How to Deal With Grief and Trauma.

Love doesn’t end when a baby dies — it transforms.

In this fifth episode, we explore two central themes:

• the continuing bonds that parents carry after pregnancy and infant loss, how to navigate the complex dance between connection, longing, and healing, and
• insights on boundaries — how grieving parents can protect their emotional space and how supporters can respect it with empathy and awareness

This episode speaks to both parents who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss and the people who wish to support them with sensitivity and presence.

🕊️ What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• The concept of continuing bonds and how love evolves after loss
• The role of longing and remembrance in healing
• Why maintaining connection doesn’t mean being “stuck” in grief
• How to communicate and honor emotional boundaries
• Guidance for supporters to show love without intrusion
• Reflections on mutual respect and sustainable compassion

🗓️ About the Mini Series

The PAIL Mini Series runs through October with episodes released every four days, combining solo reflections and replays of the most loved guest episodes on pregnancy and infant loss.

🩷 Replays: October 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28
💬 Solo episodes: October 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30

🧭 Next Episode

🎧 PAIL Mini Series: 6 — Permission to Grieve in Your Own Way & Supporting Partners and Extended Family
📅 Releasing October 26
Affirming that every grief journey is unique — and exploring how partners and families can support each other through loss.

Support the show

💡 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.

Stay Connected

• 🌐 Visit nathaliehimmelrich.com
• 💌 Subscribe to the newsletter for resources and updates
• 🎧 Never miss an episode—follow the podcast!
• 💛 Socials Instagram Facebook

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/
• 💜 Support – Offers - free and paid
  https://nathaliehimmelrich.com/free-resources/