Not Another PD

Episode 29: Lived Experience Isn’t a Weakness. It’s One of Our Greatest Strengths.

Lived experience is something we talk about a lot in the helping professions.

But often, it’s framed as something to manage.
Something to be careful with.
Or something that sits quietly in the background.

In this solo episode, I explore what lived experience actually is, how it differs from learned experience, and why it is far more common in our professions than we openly acknowledge.

Drawing on early insights from my recent sector-wide survey on psychosocial hazards and psychological safety, I share what the data revealed about lived experience across helping professionals in Australia, including just how layered and common it is.

I also reflect on my own lived experience, and how it has shaped my values, career direction, and the way I show up in my work.

Importantly, this episode explores the ethical considerations of lived experience in practice:

• When sharing is helpful, and when it’s not
• The importance of intentional, boundaried use of lived experience
• Why oversharing and over-identifying can create risk
• How supervision and reflective practice support safe and sustainable use of lived experience

We also explore why boundaries matter even more when lived experience is present, and how unclear boundaries can lead to overextending, over-identifying, and burnout.

This is a conversation about moving away from seeing lived experience as a liability, and towards understanding it as a powerful, informed, and meaningful part of our work.

Because the issue isn’t lived experience.

It’s whether it’s supported.

And as I share in this episode:

“That’s not a weakness in this profession… that’s one of its greatest strengths.”

A genuine thank you to the 102 helping professionals who took the time to respond to the survey, your openness and willingness to share your lived experience is what made this conversation possible.

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

Involvement Continuum (helpful for reflecting on over/under involvement with clients)

How we can work together:

If this episode resonated and you’re wanting support around boundaries, reflective practice, and sustainable ways of working:

Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced training):
www.jazminpursell.com.au/ineedboundaries

Group Supervision (new groups beginning June 2026)

1:1 Supervision:
I have a small number of spaces for individual supervision, which are currently available before June 30 for those needing to finalise their CPD hours, contact me via my website here.

Let’s connect, lovely!

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

You can connect with me via LinkedIn or Instagram, or share this episode with a colleague who would benefit from hearing this conversation. 

Thanks for listening to Not Another PD.
If this episode was helpful and you’d like to find out more, you’ll find ways to work with me in the show notes.
And if there’s a topic you want covered, or someone you think should be on the podcast, I’d love to hear from you.
Remember, clear boundaries don’t just protect our clients, they protect us too.

Episode 28: “Bring My Baby to a Child Protection Office? No Thank You.” Culture, Boundaries & Workplace Assumptions.

In this episode of Not Another PD, I’m joined by Susan Nkechi, a social work student based in Perth, a mother of three, and the founder of Multi-Cultural Drama Dance.

Originally from Nigeria, Susan was an experienced teacher before relocating to Australia and transitioning into social work. Her work across education, community programs, and cultural spaces brings a deeply grounded perspective on identity, leadership, and workplace dynamics.

Susan also completed her first social work placement with me at Jazmin Pursell Consulting, a unique fully online placement experience, which as many helping professionals know, comes with its own set of challenges.

We talk about what it actually feels like to move countries and professions, and go from being established in your career to being seen as “new” again.

But this conversation goes far beyond that.

We unpack something that doesn’t get talked about enough in helping professions.

Cultural assumptions in the workplace.

Because what gets labelled as disengagement, lack of communication, or poor fit is often something else entirely.

Something cultural.
Something contextual.
Something misunderstood.

Susan shares powerful insights into:

• Cultural expectations around communication, respect, and authority
• Why some people internalise rather than speak up and how this gets misread 
• How workplace assumptions impact belonging, performance, and retention
• The emotional load of navigating systems that don’t always understand you and your cultural values and perspectives.

We also talk about working from home as a helping professional, the constant competing demands, and the pressure to keep up when you’re juggling multiple roles.

And of course, boundaries.

Including one of my own from maternity leave:

“Bring my baby to a child protection office? No thank you.”

Because boundaries don’t just protect our time.
They protect what matters.

In this episode, we cover:

• Cultural blind spots in workplaces
• Starting again in a new profession, without losing your experience and confidence in the process
• Working from home and managing competing demands (hello school pick up and parcel deliveries!) 
• People pleasing in early career stages
• Boundaries that communicate your values.

You can listen to Not Another PD wherever you get your podcasts.

If this episode resonates, I’d love to hear from you.

Connect with Susan:

You can connect with Susan and follow her journey into social work via LinkedIn.

Connect or Work with Jazmin

Connect with Jazmin on Instagram and LinkedIn.

If you’re a helping professional or leader looking to strengthen your boundaries, navigate workplace pressures, or access supervision and training, you can find ways to work with me below.

My next Group Supervision Programs begin in June 2026. These are 3 month Group Supervision programs with limited spaces available and are designed for helping professionals who want structured, reflective support in a small group setting.

You can explore options and secure your place here

Would you like some extra support around implementing your boundaries at work?

My $59 Self-Paced Online training Boundaries as Practitioners Masterclass Series is for you! (And a bonus for some extra CPD points before June 30).

Get your instant access here

Thank you for listening to the podcast.

-Jazmin 

Episode 27: The 20% Better Approach Helping Professionals Need for Nutrition (Not Perfection)

In this episode of Not Another PD, I’m joined by Angel Fan, an Accredited Practising Dietitian and the founder of Weight Your Options.

This conversation is about nutrition in the real world.

Not the ideal version. Not the perfectly planned version.
The version that fits around full days, emotional load, decision fatigue and the reality of helping work.

Because most helping professionals already know what supports them.

The challenge is having the capacity to follow through consistently.

In this episode, we explore:

• why nutrition often becomes reactive when work is demanding
• how stress and low capacity shape food choices
• the impact of family messages and early experiences with food
• why “knowing better” doesn’t always translate into doing differently
• Angel’s practical 20% better approach that we can start implementing as soon as this episode is over
• simple, realistic food options for busy days
• the connection between nutrition, emotional regulation and burnout
• one boundary Angel uses to protect her own wellbeing

This is a grounded, practical conversation that moves away from guilt and perfectionism, and towards something that actually works in real life.

Connect with Angel Fan:

Weight Your Options Website
Instagram

You can also download Angel’s free guide “No Stress Family Meals” from her website.

Work with me:

If this episode resonated and you’re a helping professional navigating burnout, blurred boundaries or the emotional load of your work, there are a few ways we can work together.

My self-paced training Boundaries as Practitioners is a practical starting point for you as you commence (or re-commence) your boundaries journey.

You can also explore group supervision, one-to-one support, and training via my website.

If this episode was helpful, feel free to share it with another helping professional.

Cultural Supervision and Cultural Load in the Helping Professions with Yaleela Torrens

In this episode of Not Another PD, Jazmin speaks with Yaleela Torrens, proud Guren Guren and Budjalung woman, social worker and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Worker of the Year (2025).

Yaleela is the founder of Yaleela Torrens Social Work, a private practice based in Gladstone, Queensland. Through her work she provides cultural supervision, leadership guidance and culturally responsive practice support to organisations and practitioners across Australia.

In this conversation we explore cultural supervision and cultural load, and the additional expectations often placed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander helping professionals in workplaces and communities.

Yaleela shares insights from her experience across private practice, leadership and community roles, and explains how cultural supervision can support practitioners, supervisors and organisations to work in more culturally responsive ways.

This episode also explores practical ways leaders and supervisors can strengthen culturally safe environments within the helping professions.

If you work in social work, counselling, allied health, disability services, education or community leadership, this conversation offers an important perspective on how cultural safety, supervision and professional responsibility intersect in practice.

In this episode we discuss

• ​What cultural supervision means and how it differs from traditional supervision models
• ​The concept of cultural load and how it shows up in workplaces
• ​The invisible expectations often placed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners
• ​Why cultural supervision can support both First Nations and non-Indigenous professionals
• ​Practical ways supervisors and leaders can create more culturally safe workplaces
• ​How community, kinship and cultural protocols influence ideas of care, responsibility and boundaries

About Yaleela Torrens:

Yaleela Torrens is a proud Gooreng Gooreng and Bundjalung woman, living and working on her ancestral lands of Gladstone.

She is a dedicated mother and advocate in the local Gladstone allied health sector. As the founder of her own private practice, Yaleela Torrens Social Work, Yaleela blends her social work expertise with leadership in allied health to drive positive change and enhance community wellbeing.

She was recognised as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Worker of the Year (2025).

Yaleela also serves on the boards of Roseberry QLD, MindCare Gladstone, and BilaEmpower, championing initiatives that create meaningful impact across the region.

Connect with Yaleela:

Website

Clinical Cultural Supervision

LinkedIn

Business LinkedIn

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Phone: 0421 921 536

Work with Jazmin:

If this conversation resonated with you and you’re navigating boundaries, leadership or complex practice environments in the helping professions, there are several ways we can work together.

Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced training)

Group Supervision Programs:

Explore current group programs here

If this episode has been helpful to you practice, I would absolutely love to hear from you. You can send me an email at [email protected]

This episode is being released during the week of World Social Work Day (17 March), making it a timely and important conversation for our profession.

In Australia, social work is not nationally registered.
Which means, technically, anyone can call themselves a social worker.

That might sound surprising. Or even confronting.

In this episode, I’m joined by Brooke Kooymans, an experienced social worker and sector advocate, to unpack what national registration actually means, why it’s being actively debated right now, and what’s at stake if nothing changes.

We explore:

• What national registration is (and what it isn’t)
• Why title protection matters for public safety and professional accountability
• The risks of anyone being able to call themselves a social worker
• How the lack of registration contributes to role ambiguity and psychosocial hazards in workplaces
• What’s currently happening at a national policy level, including the proposed new regulatory framework
• Common concerns and differing views within the profession

As Brooke shared, national registration ultimately comes down to protection, recognition, and accountability

This isn’t just a “social work issue.”
It shapes how professions are understood, how accountability is upheld, and how safe our systems actually are for the people we support.

Connect with Brooke:

• Rehability Australia
• LinkedIn

Get involved in the conversation around National Social Work Registration

• National Social Work Network (LinkedIn)
• National Social Work Network (Facebook Group)

Connect With Me/Work with me:

Instagram

Website

Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced training)

Upcoming Group Supervision

Episode 24 - Burnout Isn’t Always Personal: Psychosocial Hazards in the Helping Professions

In this solo episode of Not Another PD, I unpack a topic that is gaining increasing attention in Australian workplaces: psychosocial hazards.

Burnout is often framed as a personal issue, something that can be solved with better coping strategies, improved time management, or simply becoming more resilient.

But many of the pressures helping professionals experience are actually workplace risks, not individual shortcomings.

In this episode I explain:

• ​The Safe Work Australia definition of psychosocial hazards
• ​What psychosocial hazards actually look like in everyday helping professional roles
• ​My own experience earlier in my social work career and the impact of lack of role clarity and low job control
• ​The patterns I now see in supervision across social work, counselling, disability and allied health sectors
• ​Common hazards such as team conflict, bullying, unclear expectations and limited decision-making autonomy

I also share three practical steps you can consider if these hazards are present in your workplace.

Psychosocial hazards don’t just impact practitioners, they can also affect team culture, leadership decision-making and ultimately client outcomes.

Being able to name what is happening is often the first step towards creating healthier and more sustainable workplaces.

Work with Me: 

If you'd like further support around boundaries, supervision, or creating psychologically safer workplaces:

Boundaries as Practitioners Self-Paced Training (Only $59) - https://www.jazminpursell.com.au/ineedboundaries

Free Work From Home Environment Self-Audit

Group Supervision (Groups starting regularly)

Send me an email at [email protected] and let me know what you thought about this episode. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening. 

Episode 23: What Is Your Work From Home Environment Doing to You?

Around 6.7 million Australians now work from home in some capacity.

For helping professionals, that often means holding trauma, conflict, high-stakes conversations and emotional intensity inside our own homes.

But we rarely stop to ask:

What is our work from home environment actually doing to us?

In this first solo episode of 2026, I share honest reflections from my own experience, from working at the dining table, to sweating through confidential meetings in a hot garage, to overworking when unwell because “I’ll just work from home.”

This episode explores the hidden psychological impact of blurred physical boundaries, lack of transition time, overworking, and environments that quietly erode psychological safety.

In This Episode:

• Why your work from home environment directly impacts your mood, regulation and performance
• The hidden cost of no commute time
• The myth that working from home is a “rest” when you’re unwell
• Eating at your desk and unpaid lunch patterns
• Physical discomfort and its impact on client care and leadership capacity
• Climate control, sensory needs and cognitive load
• Small, practical changes that improve sustainability when working from home

This isn’t about aesthetics, although I must admit I do like a good office colour scheme.

It’s about whether your environment supports your nervous system to do complex helping work well.

Free Resource: Work From Home Environment Self-Audit:

If this episode resonated, you can download it for free now.

It helps you reflect on:

• Physical setup and ergonomics
• Sensory stimulation and climate
• Emotional containment
• Whether your environment supports psychological safety

Download it here

Ways We Can Work Together:

Boundaries as Practitioners – Self-Paced Two-Part Self-Paced Training ($59)

Clinical Supervision & Leadership Supervision

Organisational Training on Psychological Safety and Psychosocial Hazards

Learn more

If this episode made you pause, I’d love to hear from you.

At the end of a work-from-home day, how do you actually feel?

And what might your environment be contributing to that feeling?

Thank you for listening.

Jazmin

Episode 22: Are You Taking Your Clients’ Energy Home? Emotional Boundaries for Helping Professionals & Therapists (Part 2 with Sarah Xanthos)

Do you ever leave work still carrying your clients’ emotions?

Do you find yourself replaying sessions at night, thinking about their stories while you’re trying to switch off at home?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Sarah Xanthos, we explore emotional boundaries, empathy, compassion, and why helping professionals can feel depleted after certain interactions, even when they love their work.

If you haven’t listened to Episode 21 yet, I’d encourage you to start there first. This is a continuation of that conversation and builds on the foundations we covered in Part 1.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why helping professionals can feel emotionally drained
• The concept of “energy transfer” and resonance
• Why sympathy can lower the emotional state of both people
• How to hold space for your clients without collapsing your own boundaries
• Why focus on the ‘fixing’ can sometimes disempower your clients
• A simple visualisation ritual after sessions
• How to stop taking client stories home

One of the key reminders in this episode:

You can care deeply without absorbing someone else’s emotional state.

As helping professionals, many of us are naturally attuned to others. That attunement is often our strength. But without emotional boundaries, it can turn into over-identification, merging, or carrying work home long after the session ends.

Sarah shares practical tools including:

• Holding your own emotional state rather than matching someone else’s
• Energy boundaries
• Choosing compassion instead of sympathy
• An effective ritual to disconnect after client sessions

Whether you work in social work, counselling, psychology, disability, allied health, leadership, or supervision, this conversation invites you to reflect on your own emotional boundaries.

Listen to Part 1 (Episode 21)

Make sure you go back and listen to Episode 21 for the first part of this conversation.

About Sarah Xanthos

Sarah Xanthos is an energy healer and transformational practitioner based in Wallan, Victoria.

She offers one-on-one transformational sessions, energy healing, meditation classes, and an energy healing school. Sarah is also offering listeners access to her free meditation library.

Check out Sarah's Website

Free Meditation Library

Work With Me

If this episode resonated and you’re noticing blurred emotional boundaries or feeling drained after client work, there are a few ways we can work together.

Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced CPD training)

Clinical supervision, leadership support and psychosocial safety consulting

If you’re an organisation wanting to build emotionally sustainable teams and psychologically safe workplaces, you can get in touch via my website.

Thanks for listening to Not Another PD.

If this episode was helpful and you’d like to find out more, you’ll find ways to work with me in the show notes.
And if there’s a topic you want covered, or someone you think should be on the podcast, I’d love to hear from you.
Remember, clear boundaries don’t just protect our clients, they protect us too.

Not Another PD | Season 2, Episode 21
What Is an Empath? Why Helping Professionals Feel Everything (Part 1)

We’re back for Season 2 of Not Another PD.
This episode marks the first episode of the new season, and Jazmin is excited to be back with more honest, grounded conversations for helping professionals navigating boundaries, burnout, and sustainable practice.

To open Season 2, Jazmin is joined by Sarah Xanthos, founder of Wallan Healing Tree and Healing Tree Courses, and host of the Healing Tree Hub podcast.

This is part one of a two-part conversation, exploring a question many helping professionals quietly wrestle with:

What does it actually mean to be an empath?

Together, Jazmin and Sarah unpack:

• What the term empath really means, and how it’s often misunderstood
• Why empaths are so commonly drawn to helping and healing professions
• How empathic sensitivity can develop as a survival response in childhood
• The emotional and physical cost of constantly tuning into other people
• Why switching off after work feels so difficult for helpers
• How blurred boundaries contribute to burnout and over-giving
• One practical boundary Sarah has put in place to protect her professional role

This episode will resonate deeply if you’re a helping professional who feels emotionally affected by others, struggles to disconnect from work, or carries more than you realise.

The conversation continues in Episode 22, where Jazmin and Sarah go deeper into energy, boundaries, and what empaths need in order to work sustainably.

About Sarah

Sarah Xanthos is an award-winning energy healer, educator, and author of the children’s book Scarlet’s Auras. She is the founder of Wallan Healing Tree and Healing Tree Courses, and blends modern coaching with ancient healing wisdom to support emotional healing, self-mastery, and personal transformation.

Connect with Sarah

Instagram

Facebook

TikTok

YouTube

Free guided meditation library

Sarah’s work includes:

• One-on-one energy healing and transformational coaching
• Online and in-person courses for self-healing and energy practitioners
• Meditation and group experiences focused on emotional healing and self-mastery

Connect with Jazmin

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

Work with Jazmin

If this episode resonated and you’re noticing blurred boundaries, emotional overload, or difficulty switching off, there are a few ways you can work with Jazmin:

• Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced masterclass)
• 1:1 supervision and clarity calls bookings
• Group supervision for helping professionals

Episode 20: Inclusion, Boundaries and the Stuff Workplaces Avoid

Most workplaces say they value inclusion.

Far fewer are willing to look at the systems, boundaries, and decisions that actually determine whether people feel safe, respected, and able to stay.

In Episode 20 of Not Another PD Podcast, Jazmin is joined by Patrick Rory-John (they/them), senior psychotherapist with The Identity Clinic, for a grounded, honest conversation about authenticity, inclusion, and boundaries in real practice settings.

Patrick brings together lived experience, psychotherapy, and national inclusion work across sexuality, gender, disability, and trauma-informed care. This is not a surface-level conversation about being “inclusive enough”. It’s about what workplaces routinely avoid, and the impact that avoidance has on practitioners, teams, and clients.

As Patrick puts it:

“Out of fear of getting things wrong, we avoid the conversation. And that actually makes the problem worse.”

In this episode, we explore:

• Why authenticity and modelling create more safety than perfect language

• How visual cues, intake forms, and workplace systems quietly communicate inclusion or exclusion

• Why practitioners from marginalised communities experience more boundary violations at work

• How minority stress shows up in helping professions, and why it affects wellbeing and retention

• The difference between equality and equity, and why “treating everyone the same” often causes harm

• Navigating dual relationships ethically in small or niche professional communities

• Why inclusion is not an optional value, but a workplace safety and sustainability issue

Patrick challenges the idea that inclusion requires perfection:

“It’s okay to get it wrong sometimes. It doesn’t have to be perfectly said. People will correct you.”

We also talk about boundaries beyond the workplace, including Patrick’s decision to stop being the “at-home therapist” in personal relationships, and the importance of having spaces that are genuinely non-clinical, restorative, and playful.

This episode is essential listening for practitioners, supervisors, leaders, and organisations who want to move beyond good intentions and into responsibility.

Connect with Patrick Rory-John:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Email: [email protected]

Find out more about The Identity Clinic:

Instagram

Website

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Jazmin Pursell

If this episode raised questions about boundaries, safety, or inclusion in your own practice or workplace, here are ways to work together:

• Boundaries as Practitioners (self-paced training)
  Practical, boundaries-centred training for helping professionals navigating burnout, blurred boundaries, and systems pressure
  Find out more here 

• Supervision & Coaching
  Individual and group supervision for social workers, allied health professionals, and leaders
  
  

• Organisational training, reflective practice & consultation
  Supporting psychologically safer, more sustainable workplaces through boundaries-centred practice
  Connect via the website or LinkedIn to start a conversation.

If this episode resonated, share it with a colleague, supervisor, or leader.

These are the conversations that shape workplace culture.

Thank you for listening!