The Aliveness Project: Conversations on Connection

The Aliveness Project: Conversations on Connection is a podcast from the NARM® Training Institute exploring the many dimensions of human connection. Hosted by members of the NARM community, including NARM founder Dr. Laurence Heller, this show invites guests from both inside and outside the world of NARM to share stories and insights from their unique areas of expertise.

Each episode centers around a conversation—sometimes clinical, sometimes personal, often both—that looks at what it means to be in connection: with ourselves, with one another, and with the world around us. Whether you're a therapist, a helping professional, or someone curious about the deeper layers of human experience, these episodes are designed to spark reflection, offer practical insights, and open up new ways of thinking about connection and the healing process.

At its heart, this podcast is about connection, re-connection, and aliveness—our birthright as humans. We’re grateful you’re here.

Contributors

Host

NARM Training Institute

The NARM® Training Institute offers professional training for those working with developmental and complex trauma. Our mission—to humanize and depathologize the mental health field and other helping professions—is at the heart of our trainings.

The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) is an approach to working with the effects of complex and developmental trauma. Developed by Dr. Laurence Heller, NARM integrates attachment theory, somatic psychology, and a present-moment, non-regressive orientation to support healing. It explores how disconnection becomes a survival strategy in early relational trauma, and working with NARM helps restore connection to self, others, and the world around us. NARM works top-down and bottom-up, emphasizes agency and embodied mindfulness, and highlights the role of shame in disconnection. NARM also supports practitioners in preventing burnout and creating a sustainable, life-giving practice.

https://narmtraining.com/

Co-host

Iris McAlpin Garrett

Iris McAlpin Garrett is a NARM® Master Therapist (AMFT) and online educator specializing in self-sabotage, eating disorder recovery, grief, and complex trauma. Her work is deeply informed by her own lived experience: after battling bulimia, C-PTSD, and depression for over a decade, Iris became determined to understand the root causes of her self-destructive patterns. That search led her into the field of trauma—and what she discovered completely changed the way she saw herself and her story.

Since then, Iris has developed and taught trauma-informed programs that have reached thousands of participants globally. In her clinical work, she helps clients break long-standing patterns of self-protection that no longer serve them, so they can experience more connection, authenticity, and choice in their lives.

https://www.irismcalpin.com/about

Co-host

Laurence Heller, PhD

Dr. Laurence Heller is a clinical psychologist, international trainer, and author with over 40 years of experience in trauma healing. He is the creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®), a clinical approach for working with complex and developmental trauma. After years practicing in multiple other models, he developed NARM to address the gaps he saw in treating early trauma.

Dr. Heller is founder of the NARM Training Institute, a Senior Fellow at The Meadows, and co-author of Healing Developmental Trauma, translated into 15 languages. His latest book, The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma, was published in 2022. He continues to teach, write, and present globally, and is a proud father, grandfather, polyglot, skier, and traveler.

https://drlaurenceheller.com/

Guests

Guest

Dr. Lissa Rankin

Lissa Rankin, MD, is an OB/GYN physician, author of seven books, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute and the non-profit Heal At Last, and an encaustic artist who researches radical remission, trauma-informed medicine, and spiritual healing. She teaches memoir writing for therapeutic purposes, in addition to being an educator of Internal Family Systems (IFS). Her TEDx talks have been viewed over 6 million times, and she starred in two National Public Television specials. Lissa is currently co-writing her eighth book with Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Rediger about the link between relational trauma and medical illness, focusing on how healthy boundaries and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy can help reverse diseases related to nervous system dysregulation caused by traumatizing relationships. She thrives on daily hikes in nature, dancing, singing, writing, DJ’ing music whenever she can, playing with her dog Gaia, and healthy gourmet cooking.

https://lissarankin.com/

Guest appearance on:

Healing Beyond Medicine: Dr. Lissa Rankin on Trauma, Spirituality, and Healing

Guest

Maya Vaughan

Maya Vaughan is a relationship coach and a NARM therapist. She is also the Director of the Trauma Training Institute UK which offers in-person NARM trainings in the UK.

Maya integrates NARM and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy to support emotional safety, self-awareness, and authentic connection in her work with individuals and couples. Maya is also an Associate Member of the British Emotionally Focused Therapy Centre, the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy, and the Complementary Medical Association.

Drawing on her professional expertise and her own relational healing journey, Maya brings compassion, clarity, and depth to her work. She lives in north London with her husband of 20 years and her three daughters.

You can find Maya on her website at mayavaughan.com or on social media at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-vaughan

https://mayavaughan.com

Guest appearance on:

What Happens When We're Connected: Ralf Marzen & Maya Vaughan on Healing Through Relationships

Guest

Nadine Macaluso, PhD

Dr. Nadine Macaluso (Dr. Nae) is a therapist, writer, and industry expert in narcissistic abuse, trauma bonds, and Complex PTSD. At 22, she married Jordan Belfort—the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street”—believing love could save him. After years in a trauma bond, she left at 30, beginning a journey of deep self-reflection and healing. This led her to pursue a PhD in counseling and somatic psychology, launching a career dedicated to helping others break free from abusive relationships.

Through her private practice, Dr. Nae has supported countless women navigating toxic dynamics, drawing from both professional expertise and personal experience. She is the author of Run Like Hell: A Therapist’s Guide to Recognizing, Escaping, and Healing from Trauma Bonds. A mother of five (plus two dogs), a cancer survivor, and a devoted advocate for survivors, Dr. Nae continues to educate and empower those impacted by relational trauma.

https://drnae.com/about-dr-nadine-macaluso/

Guest appearance on:

Surviving Narcissism: Dr. Nadine Macaluso on Trauma Bonds and Healing

Guest

Ralf Marzen

Ralf Marzen is a psychologist, trauma therapist, and seminar leader with 25 years of experience working with individuals and groups. He is a NARM teacher and currently teaches NARM trainings in the US, Spain, Germany, the UK and Turkey.

Beyond his trauma therapy practice, Ralf serves as the director of the StillPoint Centre for WellBeing in London and the Mudita School of Thai Yoga Massage. Drawing on both his extensive professional training and a lifelong passion for the journey of healing and awakening, Ralf brings sensitivity, compassion, and clarity to his work.

Ralf is the lead trainer for NARM professional courses offered by the Trauma Training Institute, UK and for the NARM-Informed Professional Training, offered by the NARM Training Institute.

You can find Ralf on his website at https://www.embodied-trauma-healing.com/.

https://www.embodied-trauma-healing.com/

Guest appearance on:

What Happens When We're Connected: Ralf Marzen & Maya Vaughan on Healing Through Relationships