How To Deal With Grief and Trauma
You can't go through life without experiencing loss and trauma the question is how do we deal and live with the grief and pain? Join Nathalie Himmelrich, grief expert and author, talking to people who have experienced grief and trauma first-hand. If you want to be inspired by others who traveled through their grief and trauma, found that healing is possible, and came out the other end knowing they can survive and thrive in life after loss. For more info: www.nathaliehimmelrich.com
How To Deal With Grief and Trauma
167 The Many Faces of Trauma | Developmental Trauma: A Brief Map (Building on Earlier Episodes)
Developmental trauma often forms through chronic, repeated stress during childhood—especially when safety, support, and repair are inconsistent. In this episode, you’ll get a clear, non-overwhelming map of what developmental trauma is, why it affects so many areas (regulation, identity, relationships), and how it can show up later as survival patterns like scanning, pleasing, protecting, or disconnecting. Using simple polyvagal-informed language, we explore how a developing nervous system adapts to ongoing stress. We close with a gentle “pendulation light” practice to help the body experience movement between tension and neutral, supporting regulation without forcing a story.
In this episode, you’ll learn
- A practical definition of developmental trauma (chronic stress + limited escape + limited repair)
- Why developmental trauma can affect regulation, self-concept, boundaries, and relationships
- A simple polyvagal lens: safety/connection vs mobilised protection vs shutdown
- Four common survival patterns (non-diagnostic): Scanner, Pleaser, Protector, Disconnector
- What helps as first steps: micro-doses of safety, regulation before deep processing, boundaries, and safe repair
- A short grounding practice that teaches the system that it can shift states
Grounding practice (2–3 minutes): “Pendulation Light”
- Notice one neutral sensation
- Briefly notice a mild tension area
- Return to neutral
- Repeat once
- Closing phrase: “This is a body that adapted—and it can learn safety now.”
Check the website for the free resources offered for both those affected by trauma and those supporting them.
What’s next: Intergenerational Trauma: What Gets Carried Forward
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