Episode 1: Tiny Joy for When Life Feels  F***ed

Welcome back to the Love Sober Podcast — the podcast for the sober and sober curious.

In this first episode of the new season, Kate is joined by new guest host Helen Lees for a heartfelt conversation about tiny joy — those small, sensory, grounding moments that can help us through grief, overwhelm, cravings, stress, and the sheer weight of life.

Together, Kate and Helen explore how alcohol can disconnect us from real pleasure and presence, and how sobriety helps us gently rebuild a toolkit of comfort, connection and self-resourcing.

They talk about grief, motherhood, nervous system care, sensory rituals, dopamine, play, cravings, and the surprising power of tiny things — from soft clothes and candles to pesto, poached eggs, cold water, dogs, lipstick and woodland light.

This is an honest, compassionate conversation about finding anchors in difficult times, and learning how to stay in the solution, one small moment at a time.

In this episode, we explore:

Mentioned in this episode:

Reflection questions from this episode:

If this episode resonated, we’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch:

Links:

What if you could meet yourself with the care you always needed? In this episode, I talk with Cybele Botran about the transformative practice of reparenting.

Cybele is a trusted guide for women on the path of emotional healing. She is a Certified Trauma-Informed SHERECOVERS® Coach, an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and a Mother Hunger® Trained Facilitator. Her work centers on reparenting as a powerful modality for transformation. Through one-to-one coaching, courses, groups, and retreats, Cybele creates supportive spaces where women can reconnect with their most tender selves.

✨ Where to find Cybele

Instagram 

Facebook

LinkedIn

https://www.cybelebotran.com/

🌿 Retreat Invitation 🌿

A Luxury Healing Retreat for Sober or Sober Curious Women to Reclaim Their Power

https://www.rachelbradyyoga.com/luxury-cornwall-retreat-sober-yoga-women

My substack 

AMAZING OFFER!!! Email me for a £333 discount code for the retreat at [email protected]

Midlife isn’t a crisis — it’s an initiation. In this episode, I explore the Queen Phase archetype, why sobriety is a midlife superpower, and how we can rise into this season with clarity, energy, and sovereignty.

👉 Join Midlife Alchemy Mentoring — a 12-week journey for sober women in midlife. Early Bird ends 1st Sept. Secure your place here 🌿 EARLY BIRD ENDS SEPT 1st use code ALCHEMY20 to claim. Only 5 places left. 

Grab a cuppa and let's chat! 

Kate x 

Welcome to the Love Sober podcast, a supportive space for the sober and sober curious.

In this episode, Kate Baily interviews Maggie Klaassens, a certified alcohol-free coach and founder of The Sober Summit and Sober Circle community.

Maggie shares her inspiring journey to sobriety, navigating Mommy Wine Culture and Covid and her motivation to create the free transformative online event The Sober Summit (23.04.25 -25.04.25) and the powerful impact of being part of a supportive sober community.

Join us as we explore the benefits, challenges, and tools of the sober lifestyle, and discover the empowering journey towards living an alcohol-free life.

Grab a cuppa and let's chat!

KX

Register for your free seat at THE SOBER SUMMIT online event on April 23-25 2025. Here 👇👇👇👇👇

https://soberlifecollective.spiffy.co/a/7m3cxEn1BG/4343

Follow Maggie in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesobersummit/

In this episode I talk to Casey M Davidson about how to fall in love with Sober October. We discuss habit change, early sobriety tools and the practices that have helped us to fall in love with our sobriety. 

Casey McGuire Davidson is a Certified Life + Sobriety Coach who helps busy women quit drinking and create lives they love without alcohol at Hello Someday Coaching and the host of The Hello Someday Podcast.

The Hello Someday Podcast For Sober Curious Women is a Top 100 Mental Health podcast, ranked in the Top 0.5% of all global podcasts with over 1.5 MM downloads.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, NBC News, CNBC and over 100 sobriety, motherhood, mental health and wellness podcasts and publications.

Links: Love Sober Community 

Love Sober Coaching

Love Sober Life School 3 month program for Holidays, Christmas and Dry Jan 

Grab a cuppa and let's chat.

Kate x

In this episode I talk to the founder of The Menopause School, Fiona Catchpowle who gives us a masterclass in understanding hormonal health & ageing, peri menopause, menopause and holistic health, HRT and alcohol plus practical ways to empower us to make choices for our health. 

Fiona Catchpowle is a Menopause Doula and the Creator and Founder of The Menopause School -  a centre of excellence for holistic practitioners to become menstrual health informed.

Even with a background in Biology and Holistic Therapy, Fiona’s own experience of menopause was like hitting a brick wall. How could it be possible to reach 47 and not know about something called perimenopause? Had she missed the menopause memo?

It soon became apparent that there was no education, formal or otherwise, for menstruators of any age to learn about the menstrual health journey and how to best support themselves. 

Driven to make a change in menstrual and menopause health education, Fiona built The Menopause School.

Fiona is on a mission to change the face of menopause care by creating a global collective of Menopause Doulas who will guide, nurture and support others along the menstrual health timeline from periods to perimenopause and beyond.

Social Media Links

Facebook

@TheMenopauseSchool

https://www.facebook.com/TheMenopauseSchool

Instagram

@TheMenopauseSchool

https://www.instagram.com/themenopauseschool

Twitter

@menopauseschool 

https://twitter.com/MenopauseSchool

LinkedIn

@TheMenopauseSchool

https://www.linkedin.com/company/themenopauseschool

In this episode I talk to a fabulous sober sis who this year has been sober for 30 YEARS! YAS queen...Arlina Allen! With this kind of sobriety timeline, Arlina has an amazing perspective on the shifting cultural narratives around sobriety and addiction over the last three decades and the expansion of all patchworks and pathways of recovery and has a refreshing take on the 12 Steps from her badass journey.

With her trademark down-to-earth, humorous take on life and sobriety you are going to want to hang out with her for the next hour, I promise! We talk about our differing approaches to sobriety, semantics of the steps, how to reframe them to fit a female friendly, secular experience and how to find empowerment even within the language of 'powerlessness,' and how the menopause is for us gals and why booze has no place there. 

Grab a cuppa and let's chat.

Kate x 

Arlina Allen is a Certified Recovery Coach (IAPRC), Certified Hypnotist CH, the Founder of Sober Life School, and host of the award winning recovery podcast "The One Day At A Time Recovery Podcast" with over 300 episodes. She helps busy women quit drinking and create a life they love!

She has been sober since 4/23/94, happily married for 27 years,  Mother of two amazing young adult men and Mama to Teddy, the family English Bulldog.

Through her 30 years of lived experience in sobriety and working with other women to heal their relationship with alcohol and other addictions, she developed a special intuitiveness and insights into resolving the blocks to behavior change. With a combination of science based mental, spiritual, physical and emotional practices she has seen profound and lasting changes in her clients.

Her class "Reinvent-How To Rebuild Self-Esteem & End Self-Sabotage" is being taught to those who've suffered from low self-esteem, addiction, codependency, toxic relationships and many other issues. 

"We only allow into our lives what we believe we deserve on a subconscious level. You can change what you believe and create the life of your dreams. Change your mind, change your life." ~Arlina Allen

Links:

Sober Life School- http://www.soberlifeschool.com

Reinvent - Self Esteem Course http://www.selfesteemcourse.com

Podcast http://www.odaatchat.com

Social Media:

Facebook Page: facebook.com/odaatchat

Instagram: @odaatpodcast @arlinaallen

In this episode, Dufflyn and I delve into the rich and complex topic of friendships and sobriety. Whether a friendship is for 'a reason, a season or a lifetime', (thanks for this, D), human beings are naturally wired to connect with others. Navigating the adjustments to our friendships and connections when we stop drinking can be challenging. Today, we discuss how to make friends, keep friends, and how to look after ourselves and our sobriety if things go wrong with friends.

Boundaries, the importance of our connections, our attachments styles, how to let go, how to keep, new sober friends and old drinking friends and what happens if sober friends drink again and the surprising power of a frenemy... oof, it's a biggie! 

So grab a cuppa and let's chat.

Kate x

Resources: 

'Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships' by Robin Dunbar 

Alcohol Change UK for #alcoholawarenessweek

We kick off the summer season with sober legends Sober Dave & Johnny Lawrence talking about their friendship in the sober sphere, their mental health, getting sober as men and ongoing tools for sobriety. It was so lovely to hear about their friendship, vulnerability and how their connection led them to climb a mountain together and what they discovered about themselves as a result. They are both great advocates for men's mental health, work as coaches ad continue to raise awareness and build community in the sober space. 

The Self Development Coach, Johnny Lawrence is a coach, public speaker and podcast host and his mission is to help as many people as possible with their self-development. Johnny is a popular in-person and online speaker for businesses, charities, schools, sports teams, and universities. He regularly holds MasterClasses and is passionate about delivering live sessions and engaging with his self-development community, The Changing Rooms. This online community is open to anyone with a passion for self-development, and membership is available for only £10 per month.

Connect with Johnny:

https://www.instagram.com/theselfdevelopmentcoach?igsh=MWkzNnR5ZHZod3lsZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://www.facebook.com/theselfdevelopmentcoach

https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfdevelopmentcoach?_t=8nKRPvbIAAi&_r=1

Transforming his life in January 2019, David Wilson, Trauma Informed Coach and Accredited Grey Area Drinking Coach and Public Speaker, he is dedicated to motivating others to transform their lives, overcome personal challenges and embrace life with a renewed mindset. Using his unique delivery and no nonsense approach, Dave is both personable and relatable.

His Top 10 Apple Podcast 'One For The Road' reaches a global audience with over 300K downloads in the first year. Dave's rich and varied guest list includes RTT founder Marisa Peer, SAS Who Dares Wins Ollie Ollerton and author of 'The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober' Catherine Gray and recently popstar Matt Willis.

Connect with Dave: 

https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/one-for-the-road/id1565341712

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN86KLT8?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_1MXZRRDXXZ7BGT374RWR_1

Grab a cuppa and let's chat. 

Love Kate x 

This episode Kate talks midlife transitions, sober tools and the upcoming group coaching in Love Sober - Love Your Sober Summer and why we need to strategise for success. 

Kate is the co-author of two books Love Yourself Sober - a self care guide to alcohol free living for busy mothers and Love Your Sober Year - A seasonal guide to alcohol free living. She is an holistic,  ICF accredited coach, She Recovers Coach, a menopause coach and currently doing her yoga teacher training. 

Find out about LOVE YOUR SOBER SUMMER: Starting June 22nd 7pm GMT. EARLY BIRD AT CHECKOUT SUMMER20 for 20% off. 

Love Kate x