Dysfunctional

In this episode, I’m joined by Amber Hughes for a powerful conversation about addiction, homelessness, grief, and the impact all of it has on families.

Amber shares the story of her sister Hannah, who experienced addiction and homelessness before passing away in 2017. We talk about the chaos and heartbreak of loving someone through addiction, the stigma that still surrounds homelessness, and how these struggles affect the whole family, not just the person at the centre of it.

Amber also shares how she has turned that pain into purpose through Amber Lights in Oxford, raising awareness, supporting local charities, and helping children understand homelessness with more compassion and humanity.

A raw, honest and deeply human conversation.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/amberlightsinoxford

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-hughes-bem-1a888b38a/

https://amberlightsinoxford.com/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Publish-our-book-on-homeless-education-forchildren

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

This week on Dysfunctional, I’m joined by Becky Ray.

Becky works in workplace culture and leadership, helping organisations improve toxic work environments and develop better leaders, especially middle managers.

We talk about toxic workplace culture, sexism, bullying disguised as banter, and how poor leadership becomes normalised over time.

We also explore “accidental managers” and why so many people are promoted without ever being taught how to lead.

A big part of this conversation is resilience. Not just pushing through stress, but understanding emotional capacity and why burnout is often about what people are already carrying, not just workload.

We also touch on men’s mental health, emotional suppression, and the importance of release, whether through breathwork or other ways of getting out of your head and into your body.

In this episode:

Toxic work culture and leadership

Bullying vs banter in the workplace

Accidental managers and poor leadership

Burnout and emotional capacity

Men’s mental health at work

Resilience and emotional release

Connect with Becky: 

https://www.culturekick.co.uk/

Breathwork:

https://www.culturekick.co.uk/breathwork

Insta - https://www.instagram.com/culture_kick_/

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

In this episode, I sit down with Laura Marston for one of the most raw and honest conversations we’ve had on Dysfunctional.

Laura shares her journey from being labelled and sectioned, spending years in and out of psychiatric units, struggling with addiction, and being told she had a “disordered personality”… to beginning to understand her experiences through the lens of trauma.

We talk about emotional neglect, family dysfunction, self-harm, psychosis, and what it’s like to grow up without your needs being met.

But more than anything, this episode is about what happens when you stop seeing yourself as broken… and start taking your life back.

We also explore:

• What psychosis actually felt like from the inside
• The reality of psychiatric wards (and why they often don’t help)
• Being diagnosed vs understanding trauma
• Addiction, survival and coping mechanisms
• Going no contact with family
• Breaking generational patterns
• Learning to sit with yourself instead of escaping
• Rebuilding your identity from the ground up
• 
  

Laura also shares how she’s now supporting others through resilience coaching and community, and what helped her move from survival mode into something that actually feels like living.

This one is raw, emotional, and incredibly powerful.

Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of self-harm, suicide, childhood trauma, abuse, addiction and psychiatric hospitalisation.

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

In this episode of Dysfunctional, Josh sits down with Kevin Brown for a raw and honest conversation about men’s mental health, addiction, shame, and the long road from self-destruction to self-respect.

Kev shares his journey through chaos, binge drinking, drug use, and living a double life, before a powerful moment of clarity helped him finally understand the impact of his childhood and the wounds he’d been carrying for years.

They explore father wounds, generational patterns, endurance running, breathwork for emotional release, and why healing isn’t a single breakthrough moment, but a messy process of getting back up again and again.

This episode is a grounded, deeply human conversation about learning to sit with the boy you once were… and becoming the man you choose to be.

Find Kevin -

https://www.instagram.com/mindmastersscotland?igsh=MTZzb2x5Z2RvMjlqMw==

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BEhesPJTD/

https://open.spotify.com/show/1dK4Zs6jcve7K3aWID7eAr?si=TJ2tlZ5cSG2dygMd5ueksw

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

Rich Finegan joins me for a powerful conversation about family estrangement, neurodivergence, anger, shame, and what it means to finally let yourself feel.

We talk about emotional suppression, accountability, parenting, dyspraxia, and the relief that can come when you realise you’re not broken and you’re not alone.

A deeply honest episode about healing, self-acceptance, and learning to show up for yourself.

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

In this episode of Dysfunctional, Josh sits down with comedian and creator Laura Belbin, best known online as Knee Deep in Life, for a raw and wide-ranging conversation about healing, family estrangement, therapy, and self-respect.

Laura opens up about growing up in a dysfunctional family system, surviving childhood sexual abuse, and the painful reality of walking away from family relationships that could no longer be healthy. Together, Josh and Laura explore the complexities of trauma, therapy, accountability, and what real healing actually looks like.

They also discuss misogyny, relationships, emotional responsibility, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the courage it takes to rebuild your life on your own terms.

This is an honest conversation about healing, boundaries, and the messy, complicated work of becoming yourself.

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

In this episode, Josh sits down with Sue Deagle for a powerful conversation about loss, grief, resilience, and life after everything changes.

Sue shares the sudden loss of her husband and the journey of rebuilding a different kind of life in the aftermath. Together, Josh and Sue explore why grief and joy can exist at the same time, why people often struggle to support those in pain, and how loss is something we all face in different forms.

They talk about friendship, courage, work, parenting through grief, and Sue’s powerful idea that after loss, a different kind of great is still possible.

Let me know if you want an even tighter version.

https://thedobook.co/products/do-loss-a-new-way-to-move-through-change?Format=eBook&mc_cid=d1b275e995&mc_eid=2cb75235bb

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

This week I’m joined by Leona Waller and Ana Ally, hosts of The Body Knows, for a conversation that goes way beyond “regulating your nervous system.”

We explore the three things your body is constantly organising around — safety, belonging, and dignity — and why so many of us were taught to override them.

We talk somatics vs embodiment, the productisation of healing, chronic illness, disconnection, and what it actually means to come home to your body.

If you’ve been stuck in your head trying to fix yourself, this one might change how you see everything.

Find them here - https://thebodyknows.substack.com

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

In this powerful episode, I sit down with five extraordinary young people to talk about what it’s really like to grow up with a parent in prison.

The courage and maturity they bring to this conversation is breathtaking. They speak honestly about shame, stigma, anger, confusion and loss, but also about resilience, ambition and who they’ve chosen to become because of it.

This isn’t just a conversation about hardship. It’s a conversation about strength, success and the voices we don’t hear enough. I have no doubt this episode will help a lot of people feel seen.

https://childrenheardandseen.co.uk

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

Jolene Ironside is a trauma therapist specialising in teenagers and neurodiversity, a somatic mind-body coach, yoga teacher, and holistic therapist.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens when you grow up around addiction, how perfectionism can be a survival strategy, and why “understanding it” isn’t the same as actually feeling it.

We get into suicide and addiction with honesty (and a lot of love), the limits of talk therapy, and what it looks like to come back into your body after years of living in your head.

We also talk neurodiversity, diagnosis, and why the system often labels people as “disordered” instead of simply giving them what they need.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing all the healing things but still not actually here… this one will land.

Find Jolene - https://www.heart-in-mind.com/about

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