Challenges That Change Us

Trigger warning: This episode discusses premature birth, postpartum depression and anxiety

For those who haven’t experienced it, premature birth may seem like a simple concept. The baby is born early.

But for those who have gone through it, it can be a traumatic, all consuming event that can have long lasting effects on their mental health and the very way they function as a parent.

In this episode we speak to my friend Steph Wanless, an incredible woman who has co-founded and directs the publication FOUND Regional, all while juggling the life of a mother of two children who were both born premature.. She enjoys good grammar, good gin and good times. A self-confessed perfectionist with a penchant for Saturday night lounge room discos, when she's not writing a story, interviewing someone for a story or editing a story, she's usually staring into space planning her next 10 stories.

In this episode Steph shares:

- Her early career before becoming a mother and the life she built

- The process of reconciling she had to give up some things to be a mum

- The pivotal moment in their relationship when their child was born prematurely

- Her experience in the neonatal ward

- How she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a parent

- The anxiety she feels about her children even now

- The process of having a second premature birth

- Parenting challenges and experiences

- What it was like balancing work and childcare

- Shift in focus from finance and tech to storytelling

- The growth and challenges of the magazine

Key Quotes

“The first time I actually saw ted (my baby) was in a photo.”

“I couldn’t be with him and I had to trust other people to keep him alive and that was really confronting.”

“I was so used to physically seeing on a screen that they were breathing. So when I brought them home and I didn’t have the assurance of that machine, I panicked.”

More about Steph Wanless

You can check out FOUND Regional via their website: https://www.foundregional.com.au/

Or follow them on socials.

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/found_regional

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FOUNDRegional

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning: grief, miscarriage

Grief has been a common theme on this podcast, but often it has been discussed as a side effect, or an addition to the main challenge.

You might remember that we spoke to Imogen from the Good Mourning podcast in episode 61. In this episode I catch up with Sally Douglas, the second half of Good Mourning, about the loss of her mother and the long lasting impacts of grief.

Sally Douglas is an author and the co-founder of Good Mourning, the movement changing how we think and talk about grief by humanising the taboo topic. Since launching, she's become one of the leading voices in grief education, the podcast has grown to be one of the top in the grief category, she and Imogen have built a community of over 150,000 and written a book. She's also a PR coach and consultant, helping purpose driven brands be seen and heard.

In this episode Sally shares:

-      The experience of losing her mum in her early 30’s’

-      What it was like losing her mother while overseas

-      The practical challenges of loss

-      The physical and emotional toll loss can take on us

-      The different grieving styles (instrumental and intuitive)

-      How she found grief to be isolating

-      How the loss of her mother made her following miscarriage even harder

-      The way she shamed herself for feeling lonely

-      What she gained from the experience

Key Quotes

“Grief can make you peel back some layers on previous things that have happened in your life.”

“It was the loneliness of grief. It is so very lonely and isolating, even if you’ve got good support.”

“Grief has so many different faces...just because someone carries it well doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy.”

“It (grief) can be a huge source of fractured relationships. We don’t understand that there are different ways that we grieve.”

More about Sally

You can check out the Good Mourning podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/good-mourning-grief-podcast/id1529978129

You can also find out about their book and community here: https://www.goodmourning.com.au/#1

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of people have at some point jokingly said “Oh that’s my OCD acting up” when it comes to being a bit specific about details and for a lot of us that is the extent of our experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

But for many this can be a debilitating and difficult mental health condition to live with.

In today’s episode I have the honour of speaking with Simon Rinne. Simon is a qualified Social Worker, and has 15 years experience in the Australian Public Service, has lived with Mental Illness for over 30 years and is the host of the Mindful Men podcast.

In this episode Simon Rinne shares:

• The many ways OCD compulsions presented themselves for him during childhood
• How it took him around 20 years from experiencing the first symptom to finally getting a diagnosis for OCD.
• How accepting your mental health challenges, people are able to seek help and embark on the path to healing.
• His experience with burnout and it’s connection to OCD
• The different ways you can seek professional help
• Why it is so important to change the discourse around mental health and end the stigma
• Why trivialising OCD can be damaging

Key Quotes

“Acceptance is the key thing in every single situation.”

“If you hold a knife there’s this overwhelming fear that you’re going to stab someone. You don’t want to but it’s just an intrusive thought that you can’t get rid of.”

“Having this really high bar of perfectionism. A lot of that was to control the anxiety that comes with obsessive thoughts if I didn’t do something in a certain way.”

More about Simon

Check out his website at www.mindful-men.com.au

Listen to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mindful-men-podcast/id1604992311  

Follow him on social media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindful.men.aus

Instagram: @mindful.men.aus

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-rinne-246207247/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mindful.men.aus

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbXBNQmbj4ZQj3rzFAZALTA

You can get involved with the podcast online

Our facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

On Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

To find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business go here:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are talking to an incredible man who, together with his with Phoebe, went through the horrendous experience of losing their daughter Josie to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).

Matt Dun is Professor of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Research at the University of Newcastle and Deputy Director of the Precision Medicine Research Program at Hunter Medical Research Institute, Matt is currently a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. He has many more titles and awards that would honestly make us go over our word limit just to post them all.

The research of Matt’s lab underpins the international clinical trial for patients diagnosed with DIPG, a combination therapy strategy targeting the unique and emerging features of DIPG, with each drug targeting critical hallmarks discovered by the research of his laboratory.

In this episode Matt shares:

-      His military experience and transition to civilian Life

-      The experience of having his daughter diagnosed with DIPG

-      How he started running as a way to cope with internal sorrow

-      Why he decided to run a marathon to raise awareness and funds for research

-      The way he and his partner started a charity called Run DMC Run to raise awareness

-      What is DIPG and its treatment challenges

-      How there is a need for increased funding and research for childhood cancer treatment

Key Quotes

“What we need to do is attract the world’s greatest minds to take on the world’s biggest medical challenge.”

“I just started to run…and for that time I was feeling physical pain instead of emotional pain and it just felt great.”

“Families just disintegrate. Because what they watch their kid go through, it’s hard to disentangle what you’ve experienced when you look at your partner again.”

About Matt

For more about Run DIPG through their website: https://rundipg.org/run-for-run-dipg/

Donate to Matt’s upcoming run here: https://rundipg-org.grassrootz.com/run-for-run-dipg-23-sunday-24-09-23/matthew-dun#claim

Follow Run DIPG on social media:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RUNDIPG

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rundipg/

Get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

To find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the website:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning: anxiety, imposter syndrome

The term imposter syndrome gets used more and more commonly these days and many of us have probably experienced it at some point. But just how closely is it connected to anxiety? And just how devastating can its effects be?

To share her personal experiences with anxiety and imposter syndrome we have Alison Shamir joining on us the podcast.

Alison is an Imposter Syndrome Expert, International Speaker, Certified Coach and Media Contributor. Through her work, Alison empowers global organisations, teams & individuals with the knowledge, tools and methods grounded in science they need to overcome Imposter Syndrome and present and perform as their most confident selves. Alison is also a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and has held Leadership roles across the Technology and Media sectors. She combines both lived experience and professional expertise to help her clients make transformative change. 

In this episode Alison Shamir shares:

-      Overcoming imposter syndrome and navigating the lasting effects of a difficult childhood.

-      The panic attack that led her to confront her deepest fears,

-      How she has used her experiences to become an advocate for domestic and family violence

-      The importance of finding someone who offers psychological safety when sharing personal stories or seeking support.

Key Quotes

“Everything from the exterior, looking in, looked good. But on the inside I was really, really suffering.”

“You can’t outrun imposter syndrome. Unless you address it at its core, it just keeps a hold on you.”

“One conversation can make a profound impact. Just one conversation flicks that first domino.”

More about Alison

You can find out more about Alison on her website: Find me at www.alisonshamir.com  

Follow her on social media:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-shamir-67440b17/

Instagram: @alisonshamir

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonshamir

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning: eating disorders and depression

Eating disorders are a mental disorder that is gaining a lot more awareness, but there is still so much we do not know.

That is why I am so honoured to have Hannah Campbell share her journey of recovering from Anorexia Nervosa in such a raw, detailed and personal way.

Hannah is 32 years old and currently lives in the United Kingdom. She completed her PhD in Clinical Exercise Physiology and is one of the first Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologists in the UK. She's now the Programme Lead for the Bachelor in Human Physiology at the University of Leeds.

In this episode Hannah shares:

- Her experience of a friend's death and subsequent rumours and bullying at school

- How she felt isolated and lost trust in people

- The early warning signs she was developing a disorder

- What support could have looked like for people with an eating disorder

- The experience of refeeding in a hospital setting

- How the struggle with eating disorder compares to alcoholism or drug addiction

- The lasting impact of bullying and why she urges bullies to consider the consequences

- There is always hope.

Key Quotes

"I was so exhausted. I just started eating, and I'd eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat until I was so full, and then I'd feel disgusting."

“I wasn’t just losing a couple of kilos a week, I was losing a kilo a day”

“I had a GP who told me my BMI wasn’t low enough to have an eating disorder”

More about Hannah

Hannah suggested these resources and books around eating disorders:

https://butterfly.org.au/

https://emilyprogram.com/resources/books/

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/about-eating-disorders/downloads-resources/helpful-books/

The book: Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life by Jenni Schaefer.

Follow her on X: @HannahCamp

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-campbell-clark-b126a2223/

Her professional achievements: https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/biological-sciences/staff/2618/hannah-campbell-

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cancer is a topic that has come up a bit on Challenges That Change Us, but my good friend Col Secomb has an incredible story to share about not only overcoming a brain tumour the size of a plum, but also overcoming a challenge he describes as being even harder than going through brain surgery.

Col was born, raised and educated on the east coast of Australia and moved to England in 2010 after travelling extensively. Since then he has gone through brain surgery, founded a law firm and founded a legal tech company.

Cole opens up about his own experience with a brain tumour and the shocking death of his father that changed his world.. We'll explore their unique perspective on life and how it shaped his approach to challenges, as well as the contrasting viewpoints within their relationship. Cole also navigates the complexities of parenting, the importance of treating people equally in business and living your live with no regrets as life is short, Just crack on with life.

In this episode Cole Shares

-      His discovery of a plum-sized brain tumour that caused him to lose his ability to speak

-      How his biggest fear was if his tumour affecting him in communicating with children

-      Reflection on why he needed to be selfish during difficult experiences

-      Why the loss of his father was his real challenge that changed him

-      Navigating differing perspectives on the same issue

-      His parenting dynamics in guiding children and how it has shifted as they grow older

-      How he gets clarity and relaxation through walks and thinking through things

Key Quotes

“Without physically holding my hand, She held my hand, and allowed me to guide myself through the way that I thought I needed to do it.”

“You know, the only thing you take your grave is memories”

“As soon as you start to realise that people are just people, it's makes all the relationships easier.

More about Col

If you want to connect with Col personally you can do so via linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/col-secomb-4072326b/

You can find his law firm here: (www.lewisdenley.com)

And you can find his legal-tech company here: (www.yaotechnology.com)

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning – depression and suicide

We have been honoured to have a few guests share their stories of mental health battles, this week’s episode is a truly detailed and immersive story of what it’s like to live with a parent who is battling depression.

Meg Southcombe is currently the Where There’s A Will There’s A Way Ambassador and it is her story of coming to terms with her father’s depression that has allowed her to have such an impact with the organisation.

She attended St Joseph’s High School Aberdeen and was a WTAW student leader and takes every opportunity afforded to her to promote WTAW’s approach to community wellbeing and lobbies for every Australian school to adopt an evidenced based approach to

wellbeing education.

Meg is the Recipient of the National Council of Women, Dame Marie Bashir Peace Award for work on international women’s day , mental health, and homelessness advocation.

She is also a panellist for The Australian Broadcasting Commission – ‘The Drum.

In this episode Meg shares:

-      Her Father's illness and the impact it had on her

-      Feeling trapped and unable to escape the situation

-      Embracing vulnerability and honesty

-      Sharing their experiences to help others relate and understand their struggles

-      Emphasising the importance of reaching out for support

-      Working with the organisation "Where There's a Will"

Key Quotes

“You see, I was so caught up in presenting a picture-perfect life because I was embarrassed and didn't want to be associated with anything negative. I felt trapped, unable to escape the situation at home.”

“It wasn't until I started working closely with a program that teaches coping methods to kids that I truly began to understand the importance of opening up and talking about our struggles.”

“It was important for me to be seen as positive and a go-getter, but deep down, I was struggling. I would cope with stress on my own, not reaching out for support when I desperately needed it.”

More about Meg

You can follow her on social media

Instagram: @meg_southcombe

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-southcombe-538663269?originalSubdomain=au

You can check out the charity, Where There’s A Will” here: https://uhwheretheresawill.com.au/

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Time is almost out to sign up for our Resilience course. To subscribe to the course, use this link: https://altitudefitnessarmidale.clickfunnels.com/from-surviving-2-thriving

Trigger warning – difficult births

Combining long term health issues like diabetes and birth complications is enough of a challenge for anyone to overcome, but Katie Godden has gone through it all.

She has experienced the negative self talk, the struggles of not having a system that works for you and has come out the other end.

Now Katie is a committed and purpose driven holistic health practitioner, qualified with a bachelor of education, a Master in Hypnotherapy and Timeline Therapy and is and NLP trainer.

In this episode Katie shares:

-      What it’s like living with type 1 diabetes

-      How her relationship with diabetes has changed over the years

-      The moment that she realised she was done with the way she was living and that things needed to change

-      How the thoughts were all consuming for such a long time and the excuses and self talk she had in her mind

-      The power of timeline therapy and neuro linguistic therapy

Key Quotes

“Experiencing Type 1 Diabetes is not a straight line.”

“Knowing what felt good for me was the key.”

“There were moments that I thought oh gosh I can’t do this, this is too hard.”

More about Katie

You can find out more about what Katie does via her website: http://katiegodden.com/

You can also follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katie.godden/

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Resilience course

To subscribe to our resilience course use this link: https://altitudefitnessarmidale.clickfunnels.com/from-surviving-2-thriving

A lot of the challenges we discuss on this podcast are about overcoming something unexpected, or something you were not prepared for, but this week’s episode is a different kind of challenge.

Extreme sports like Ultra Marathon running, or swimming every day for over 8 years require an incredible amount of preparation and endurance and that is something Peter Hancock has in spades.

This amazing friend of mine has pushed his body to the absolute limit with running and swimming and it was my absolute pleasure to talk with him about the impact that these incredibly challenging sports have had on him.

In this episode Peter shares:

-      What made him first get into ultra marathon running

-      The powerful addiction of endurance sports

-      The hardest run that really made things challenging for him

-      How he uses fortune cookies to help get through hard and challenging runs

-      How negative thoughts can derail a run

-      What made him decide to keep swimming for over 3000 days

-      The time his swimming caused him and his two children to have a run in with a shark

Key Quotes

“I try to focus on the positive...Once you start doubting the negative thoughts cascade.”

“It’s really inspiring to know that someone is waiting at 100km”

“Before every event I will open a fortune cookie and I’ll carry the fortune with me throughout the event.”

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.