This week Cath is joined by author, podcaster and content creator Cat Sims. Cath and Cat talk about Cat’s experiences of motherhood, how she has grown herself up as she mothers, her path to sobriety and why she stopped drinking. And how she views self responsibility. Cat shares her story on boarding school, her family of origin, making living amends and how she holds herself kindly now (instead of self criticism).

Cat Sims is an author, podcaster and content creator who is still trying to figure the whole ‘adulting’ thing out.

She’s made a living out of documenting her failures and successes as a 40 year old woman, a mother and a wife across various social media platforms.

Her mission in life is to make as many women as possible feel ‘seen’ and to make them realise that they are never, ever, ‘the only one.’ She’s honest AF, wonderfully self-deprecating and willing to say all the things the rest of us hide away and, in doing so, she manages to make us all feel a little bit better about our perfectly messy lives.

Cat can be found on Instagram @notsosmugnow

If you've been affected by any of the discussions we've had today, then please check out Alcoholics Anonymous at https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/ or Al-Anon: https://al-anonuk.org.uk/

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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Cath delves into the impacts of emotional neglect, how it can be so hard to live with these, why this is and the relationship between emotional neglect, attachment and regulation. She talks about our own feeling states in parenting and how learning to tend to and nurture ourselves is absolutely key on our parenting journey.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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Facebook: Cath Counihan

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In this episode Cath is joined by author and journalist Lucy Jones. Cath and Lucy discussed Lucy's matrescence journey, her most recent book (Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood), how she makes sense (and continues to) of the huge transition to motherhood, what Lucy finds supportive, how we are all eco systems and some of the realities of mothering at this time in our history.  

Lucy Jones is an award-winning journalist and the author of four books including the best-selling book Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild (Allen Lane), a Times and Telegraph Book of the Year, and most recently Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood. Her writing on science, health and ecology has been published in BBC Earth, The Sunday Times, GQ, the Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman. Lucy is a mother of 3 and lives in Hampshire in England.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

Instagram: @cathcounihan

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Facebook: Cath Counihan

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In this episode Cath is joined by Harriet Shearsmith. Harriet is a coach, podcaster, Mum of 3 and the content creator behind @tobyandroo. In this episode she shares her experiences around growing up in a household where she always tended to the needs of her Mother, how she came to see the dynamics of her family, what action she has taken to protect herself as an adult and how she is shifting dynamics in her own family.

Harriet can be found on Instagram: @tobyandroo and @unfollowingmum. She hosts a podcast for cycle breakers called Unfollowing Mum all about toxic families, estrangement and healing generational trauma.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

Instagram: @cathcounihan

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Facebook: Cath Counihan

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In this episode Cath starts to look in more detail at what emotional neglect actually is and why it matters. She explains how widespread emotional neglect is and gives some historical context to explain why. She links this to parenting, to the challenge of tending to our kids emotions and to our ability to meet our own needs. Cath discusses the concept of narcissistic families, what this actually means and the generational aspects of this. Both of these are huge subjects, listen to this first instalment today.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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

In this episode Cath was interviewed by Nikki McCahon for her Seasons of Matresence Podcast. We had a gentle, compassionate and open hearted conversation about the ways in which experiences of childhood trauma can shape and impact how we experience mothering and raising children.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, the ways in which childhood trauma can impact and shape our experience of mothering and raising children. We talk about the nervous system and our window of tolerance and how trauma can travel through families and generations why playing with your children can feel overwhelming or dysregulating. The power of rupture and repair for our children and ourselves and how we can bring in more compassion in our mothering and our journey of healing from childhood trauma.

There is so much wisdom in this episode, and I know that it’s going to be really supportive for you.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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This episode is an interview with Cath and Crystal Karges which was originally released on Crystal’s podcast ‘Lift the Shame’. Cath and Crystal talk about healing generational trauma, shifting patterns, diet culture, food choices, control and more.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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The way we come into relationships with our needs when we are babies and young children, has a huge influence on the way we learn to tend to our needs as adults.

We learn about what is 'allowed' in terms of our needs in our family of origin. Many of us have a very complex relationship with our own needs, because of the parenting we received (and the parenting our parents received). In this episode Cath digs more into needs (Listen to Episodes 1-4 of Grow Yourself Up for more on needs), looking at why our needs may feel 'illegitimate' and how we can bring these needs back to ourselves.

She shares some imagery that could be helpful with this and also some ideas about how to proceed when you don't know where to start with your needs.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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In this episode Cath discusses the concept of self mothering, explaining why this is such a crucial part of all our healing journey.

She explains what it is, highlights how we may derail ourselves and shares her 3-step approach to self-mothering. This episode is full of humanity, vulnerability, useful tips and storytelling. Cath provides an example of how she does this in her own life so that you can transfer the ideas into practice in your own life. This will help you create the life you wish and be the person you want to be.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

Instagram: @cathcounihan

Substack: Nurture.Heal.Grow

Facebook: Cath Counihan

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The term ‘rupture and repair’ is widely used across social media to explain the process of repairing with your child after a break in connection (for example parent shouted or was unkind, snappy to a child). The original research around this was done on mother and infant dyads and the research was later also done with fathers and toddlers. This process has extremely important implications for us as adults, listen to this episode for more. 

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

Instagram: @cathcounihan

Substack: Nurture.Heal.Grow

Facebook: Cath Counihan

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