Healing Shame and Guilt: A Conversation with Co-authors Dr. Laurence Heller and Stephan K. Niederwieser

Preorder Healing Shame and Guilt, coming from North Atlantic Books on May 12.

What if what we take to be our shame actually has nothing to do with us?

In this episode of The Aliveness Project: Conversations on Connection, host Iris McAlpin Garrett sits down with NARM® founder Dr. Laurence Heller and NARM Teacher Stephan Niederwieser to discuss their upcoming book, Healing Shame and Guilt, releasing on May 12.

Larry and Stephan explore how this book came into being, why they felt compelled to write it now, and what they hope readers will take from it. They reflect on how chronic shame and guilt develop, how these patterns shape us, and why simply understanding our history isn’t enough to create lasting change.

🎧 The Aliveness Project: Conversations on Connection is created and produced by the NARM Training Institute.
🎬 Post-production, editing, and audio mixing/mastering by Tim Skipper (IG: @timmyskip).

About Stephan:

Stephan Niederwieser has been working as a psychotherapist for over three decades. His work is guided by a quiet fascination with how human beings become who they believe themselves to be—and how, even after early adversity, they can return to a natural sense of trust, dignity, and authentic self-expression.

His therapeutic training began with Haikomi in the late 1980s, followed by advanced training in trauma-oriented modalities including Somatic Experiencing and the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), which today forms the core of his clinical work. Stephan is a NARM Teacher and offers training and consultation to therapists internationally.

Stephan lives with his partner in Berlin and is deeply inspired by travel, nature, and cross-cultural connection.

You can find Stephan on his website or on social media…
👥 Facebook
▶️ YouTube

About Larry:

Laurence Heller, PhD is the creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®), founder of the NARM Training Institute, international trainer, and co-author of Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image and the Capacity for Relationship, now published in fifteen different languages. Dr. Heller has a PhD in clinical psychology and has conducted NARM trainings and case consultations for thousands of therapists throughout the United States and Europe.

You can find Larry and the NARM Training Institute on social media...

▶️ YouTube
💼 LinkedIn
👥 Facebook
📸 Instagram

Special Thanks
To the NARM Training Institute team—Lindsey Smith, Olga Piontkowski, Emily Scott, and Tue Kjær—for invaluable production support, and to Tim Skipper for his outstanding post-production, editing, and creative work.