The Pear is more than a coffee house – it’s a neighbourhood meeting place that hosts community-driven events. In this episode we talk with Carol, Leonie and Annemijin from The Pear about how they found connection, The Pear and a sense of community.

Christmas and the end of year holiday season can hold different meanings for different families. Some families revel in the joy of gift-giving, transforming their homes with decorations and festive cheer. However, for many the holidays can also evoke stress, feelings of loneliness or financial pressure.

In this episode we talk with psychologist Dr Angie Willcocks about navigating this Christmas holiday season and finding ways to make it work for you and your family.

It might surprise you to know there are nearly four hundred thousand young people (under 25 years) in Australia who provide unpaid care and support to a loved one. In this episode host Nadia Rossi talks with Isabella Hassall, Young Carer Coordinator at Carer Gateway for the Benevolent Society.

Isabella shares how carers are often hidden figures in our community. She also discusses the challenges of being a young carer, how the adults in their life can support them and what opportunities they can access.

When it comes to suicidal ideation, we are unlikely to think of children as having such distressing thoughts. But recent research by Wesley Mission Queensland has found that some children under 12 years have negative thoughts which may be the first sign of suicidal ideation.

In this episode host Alicia talks with Emma and Chloe from Wesley Mission Queensland. They help us to understand the signs of suicidal ideation that we can look out for and what we can do to support children who might be experiencing distressing thoughts.

In this episode host Alicia Ranford talks with social worker, parent educator, author, founder of Connected Parenting and mother to four boys, Gen Muir. Gen shares ways parents can support their children when they experience big feelings and emotions, especially when they don’t have the words to tell us what they need.

This episode is the fourth in a series where we talk to families who have experienced disasters. In this episode host Nadia Rossi talks with Willow who was 20 years old when her family experienced severe storms in the Dandenong Ranges in 2021. Willow shares her perspectives as a young person experiencing such a major event. Willow also offers some advice on how adults can help support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people who experience disasters.

In this episode, host Alicia talks with Sam and Kathy from Centacare’s Unify reunification service. They discuss what it can be like for children and parents to be separated from each other by the child protection system, and the shame and stigma that these families can experience. Sam and Kathy also offer insights into the reunification process and how they support families through it.

In this episode, host Alicia Ranford talks with Dr Zali Yager, an internationally recognised expert in body image with a background in health and physical education. She co-founded The Embrace Collective with 2023 Australian of the Year, Taryn Bromfield.

In this episode, Dr Yager shares things families, educators and practitioners can do to help create safer body image environments for children and young people.

The term ‘global majority’, a collective term for non-white people, and people and groups who don't experience white privilege. It aims to the ‘flip the script’ on power as something that only white people can hold and help provide a sense of empowerment and belonging to those who are often excluded based on appearance, particularly skin colour.

In this episode, guests Julie Ngwabi and Nancy Jeffrey share their personal stories with podcast host Rosie and explore cultural identity, the damaging impact of assumptions and biases, and the importance of courageous conversations in being more inclusive.

In this episode, host Nadia talks with Tegan and Shelly from the Finding Your Voice Choir, a community choir of women with lived experience of family and domestic violence. Together they share how the choir supports and empowers its members and helps them to form lifelong connections.