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, coming on May 12 from @northatlanticbooks.
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.
Throughout the conversation, they speak candidly about their collaboration, the personal and professional threads woven into their writing process, and the deeper questions that guided the book’s development. This episode offers listeners an inside look at the relational roots of shame and the perspective that shapes this new work.
🎧 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. Together with Dr. Laurence Heller, Stephan is the co-author of Healing Shame and Guilt, an upcoming book exploring the developmental roots of chronic shame and guilt.
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 at https://stephan-niederwieser.de/ or on social media:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551023936009
YouTube: @stephankonradniederwieser507
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. His new book Healing Shame and Guilt is set to be published in May 2026.
You can find Larry and the NARM Training Institute at https://narmtraining.com/, at https://drlaurenceheller.com/ or on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/narm-training-institute
IG: https://www.instagram.com/narmtraininginstitute/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/NARMTraining
YouTube: @NARMTrainingInstitute
