Potential Psychology

Tales from the Valley of Death: Reflections from psychotherapy on the fear of death. It sounds morbid but it's not. It's fascinating.

Tales introduces us to the complex lives of 10 individuals who have been crippled by death-related fears and related existential issues. Their stories are told through interviews with their psychotherapist, internationally renowned clinical psychologist Professor Ross Menzies. It's a captivating read.

In this episode Rachel and I explore these stories and discuss cultural responses to death anxiety. We delve into some of the existential issues surrounding our fear of death and rejoice in the Death Positive Movement - a revolution in our approach to death.

Questions I ask Rachel include:

•Why write a book about death and psychotherapy?
•What is 'death anxiety' in a modern, psychological sense?
•Do we all worry about death and at what point do these worries become problematic?
•What does science say about the link between death anxiety and complex mental illness, particularly OCD?
•How is a family history of anxiety and trauma linked to death anxiety and OCD?
•What role does a sense of meaning and purpose in life have in protecting us from mental illness and death anxiety?
•How can our relationships transform our wellbeing?

I also reflect on my rituals, superstitions and childhood worries about danger and death and ask Rachel, 'Is this normal?'

It's a fascinating topic and I walked away from the interview knowing so much more about psychotherapy, the relationship that a therapist forms with a client, obsessive compulsive disorder and the experiences that shape us to become who we are. Most of all I learned about the resilience of individuals facing the most difficult of fears and circumstances. Listen in!

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

What is it like to thrive and flourish at work? Not just survive, but really have the opportunity to be your best self?

My guest for this episode is Dr Peggy Kern. Peggy is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Positive Psychology in the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education.
(She's also a speaker at the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, our fabulous podcast partner, in Melbourne on 28 & 29 April 2020.)

Peggy is an expert in workplace thriving and in this conversation I had the chance to pick her brain and uncover;

- what it means to feel and function well at work
- how we can measure workplace thriving, and
- what workplaces can do to create environment in which people thrive.

We also explored:

•How understanding ourselves and living in alignment with who we are helps us to navigate a purposeful life
•Why we should care about feeling and functioning well at work
•Navigating the work/life blend and how thriving at work lifts us up in every area of life
•Finding meaning, purpose and a sense of identity through our work
•The role of careers in healthy ageing
•Getting workplace well being programs right through conversation.

It's an insightful episode for anyone keen to feel and function well at work.

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

This episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast is brought to you by the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, Australia's leading multi-disciplinary, evidence-based wellbeing and resilience conference. April 28 & 29, 2020. See you there!

What do you do when life gets tough?

Do you retreat? Avoid? Get angry? Self medicate? Exercise your need for control?

Life throws us all a curve ball eventually and in this episode of the podcast my guest suggests that the remedy for life's difficult patches is not in avoiding what's hard but in wrestling with it and emerging a more complete individual.

Dr Sarah Sarkis is a psychologist, a writer, and a performance consultant. She has a private practice in Honolulu and also works with The Flow Research Collective, a science-based peak-performance research and training organization doing some very cool stuff exploring and understanding the science behind ultimate human performance.

Sarah blends psychoanalytic theory, positive psychology, existential psychology, neurobiology and functional medicine to bring an integrated approach to her clients' quest for wellbeing. She emphasises collaboration, partnership, and personal empowerment and she's not afraid of the occasional swear word.

In this conversation Sarah and I talk about challenge, struggle and suffering and how they relate to happiness, resilience and being our best selves.

Questions I ask Sarah include:

•What is the role of struggle suffering and pain in our lives?
•Why can't we fast forward through it?
•We often wanted to diagnose or medicalise our suffering. What is your take on that?
•What is the relationship between struggle, resilience and happiness?
•What do you think is a more helpful way to reframe struggle and suffering?
•What are your tips for thriving through life's tough moments?

It's an upbeat interview with a passionate guest, filled with tips for making life's challenges a little easier. Join us to live, learn and flourish!

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

If we have the same 24 hours as Beyonce, how should we use them if we want to be happy and well?

Do we pour our time into work? Do we sacrifice sleep for exercise? What trade-offs do we make? Because I don't care who you are, you can't fit 30 hours into 24!

My guest for this episode is Professor Tim Olds from the University of South Australia. Tim is a time-use epidemiologist and the first of our guests who will be speaking at the upcoming Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference - a 2 day science-based wellbeing event taking place in Melbourne at the Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre on 28 & 29 April 2020.

Tim's presentation at the Conference is titled: How to Build Your Best Day and in this episode we're getting a sneak peak into his research, his knowledge and his wisdom on what 'best days' look like and how to create yours.

Questions I ask Tim:

•What is behavioural and time-use epidemiology?
•What is the Goldilocks Day?
•What is the relationship between our time use and our mental health and well being?
•What is the 'perfect' amount of time for each activity? For adults? For kids?
•What are the trade offs?
•What's the state of play for young people and their health today? As parents, are we helping them to get their time-use right?
•Are adults getting their time-use right?
•Given the trade offs and necessary compromises, what are your tips for building your best day?
•Does every 24 hours need to look roughly the same for happiness and wellbeing? Or can it vary?
•And why do things tend to go pear shaped healthwise on holidays?

It's a fascinating conversation that got me thinking about how I juggle my time, the necessary choices we need to make and why it's important to be conscious about how we use our time if we want to maximise our wellbeing. Listen in to learn and thrive!

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

This episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast is brought to you by the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, Australia's leading multi-disciplinary, evidence-based wellbeing and resilience conference. April 28 & 29, 2020. See you there!

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

This episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast is brought to you by the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, Australia's leading multi-disciplinary, evidence-based wellbeing and resilience conference. April 28 & 29, 2020.
See you there!

What can we, as humans, learn from horses to boost our wellbeing and overcome struggle?

My guest for this episode is Naomi Rossthorn. Naomi is a psychologist and the Clinical Director of Harnessing Wellness, a psychological counselling service located in the beautiful Yarra Ranges in Victoria in the SE of Australia. Harnessing Wellness is not your ordinary counselling practice. Rather than sitting in a room with a therapist, clients and therapists take to the great outdoors with a gorgeous horse or pony. Naomi and her team have a specialist interest in equine assisted psychology; the use of horses in the therapeutic process.

During our conversation Naomi and I discuss:

•The ins and outs of equine assisted psychology: What is it? Who accesses it? And why?
•The life skills that can horses teach us.
•The lack of good quality research available on the efficacy of equine assisted treatments and how Naomi and the Harnessing Wellness team are working to change this.
•How Naomi, as a former city girl, got interested in equine-assisted psychology and how the events of Black Saturday led to the establishment of her practice.
•Naomi's upcoming guide for budding Equine-Assisted Psychologists which will take you through the steps to setting up an equine-assisted practice.

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

This episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast is brought to you by the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, Australia's leading multi-disciplinary, evidence-based wellbeing and resilience conference. April 28 & 29, 2020. See you there!


Do you think in one dimension? Or two dimensions? Or maybe even three?

I kick off this episode of the podcast with some reflection on Tim Urban's article, The Thinking Ladder from Wait But Why and his insight into multidimensional thinking - the what and the why of human behaviour. I then get chatting to my guest, Dr Jarrod White, who most certainly thinks in at least two dimensions. In fact it's the why of human behaviour that drives him, his work and his passion for spreading the word about emotional wellbeing and human potential to a wider audience.

Jarrod is a Melbourne-based clinical psychologist and the co-founder of The Lives of Others, an Instagram platform that allows followers to share their mental health and mental ill-health stories. While Jarrod works one-on-one with clients as a psychologist and runs group workshops for The Mind Room, he's also curious about the potential and future possibilities for mental health and wellbeing.

In this conversation we ask the questions:

•How do we 'scale up' conversations about wellbeing and mental health?
•Where are the opportunities to provide mental health and wellbeing services in different formats to traditional one-on-one therapy?
•How can we reach bigger groups and different audiences?
•What are we missing by keeping psychologists in a therapy room?
•What is the role of mental health conversation in our community, our professions, our industries and our political arena?

It's a conversation that aligns beautifully with the purpose of the Potential Psychology Podcast and I'm very excited to bring it to you.

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

This episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast is brought to you by the Wellbeing Evidence and Horizons Conference, Australia's leading multi-disciplinary, evidence-based wellbeing and resilience conference. April 28 & 29, 2020. See you there!

Welcome back to the Potential Psychology Podcast and our seventh season of the show. Seven seasons! And it's only getting better from here.

Today my guest is Dr Gordon Spence. Gordon and I studied together at The University of Sydney in the early 2000s and our paths have crossed a few times since. In July 2019 we met up by chance at the IPPA World Congress on Positive Psychology in Melbourne and what began as a quick, 'Hi, how are you?' quickly escalated into an intense and fascinating conversation about Gordon's upcoming book and his interest in exercise, longevity and motivation.

I walked away from that conversation so inspired and excited about the work that Gordon is doing that I just had to get him on the show. Here we recapture that conversation with all of it energy plus Gordon's tips for returning to exercise, fuelling motivation, setting goals and living a long, healthy and active life.

We discuss:

•How Gordon 'got over his own nonsense' and motivated himself to return to marathon running just prior to his 50th birthday
•Why we can be intrinsically motivated by something and yet still not act on it - and how to get past that
•Planning for a healthier, happier future by asking the question, 'How do I want to be in 25 years time?'
•Gordon's Dad's professional rowing career that he commenced aged 85!
•What we can learn from those active in their 70s and 80s about living life to its fullest - and healthiest
•Gordon's tips for 'having a crack' and upping your energy and activity.

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

My guest today is passionate about reducing stress and chaos in people's lives.

Tom Cronin knows first-hand the power of meditation in overcoming mental health issues and the potential this ancient practice has for personal healing and human transformation.

Tom is a meditation teacher, a film maker, an international speaker and founder of The Stillness Project - a global movement to inspire one billion people to sit in stillness daily. He is also the author of six books for adults and one children's book - Missy Moo Meditates.

In this episode Tom and I are talking about The Portal - an upcoming experiential documentary that he has co-produced - and his commitment to a planetary shift.

Can stillness transform individuals, communities and the world?

Tom and I also explore:

•His transformation from financier to meditation teacher
•The power of our connected world to educate, inform and inspire
•How you know when your life must change
•Teaching meditation to CEOs
•Why stillness and meditation is vital to busy workplaces
•The creation of The Portal and telling global stories
•What the world could look like if 7 billion people go through the portal or start meditating.
•Why it's up to you to be part of the change.

It's an inspiring conversation, filled with possibility and thought-provoking idea about our individual responsibility and power to change the world. I can't wait to see the film.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

My guests on the podcast today are the living embodiment of 'testing and learning', particularly when it comes to life admin - everything from getting your mobile phone plan and contract sorted out to planning family holidays to filing your tax return.

Mia Northrop and Dinah Rowe-Roberts are the co-hosts of the Life Admin Life Hacks Podcast. Their mission is to help you save time, money and achieve a little more peace of mind and household harmony.

Mia gets a thrill when they unearth processes and tools that help their listeners. She says it's 'satisfying to know we've made someone's life a little easier in some way by giving them a shortcut or nudging them to finish something or make a better decision'.

In 2018 Dinah decided to take a break from the corporate world to see how she could find more balance and purpose in her life. During that break she decided she needed to do two things: 1. Find a job at an organization where she genuinely believed in the purpose and thought she could make a meaningful contribution. 2. Make her family's life admin more efficient so that they all felt more calm and in control.

Together they formed Life Admin Life Hacks and every tip, tool, process, strategy and hack that they recommend comes from testing and learning everything themselves - underpinned by a bit of psychology, behavioural economics and decision science.

Listen in as Mia, Dinah and I discuss:

•Reducing the mental load in family life
•Creating calm from chaos
•How 'life admin life hacks' relate to wellbeing
•Their five pillars of an organised household
•To critical importance of self awareness
•And why no-one can get their digital photos organised!

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

"Australian men over 85 have the highest rate of suicide in the country"

Wellbeing in older adults. It's a conversation we don't often have, but we need to. My guest today is Dr Julie Bajic-Smith, an aged care psychology consultant and mentor, and she is passionate about the need to shape a better future for everyone in aged care.

For five years Julie travelled to aged care homes and facilities to provide treatment and face-to-face intervention for the elderly. Her career took a turn when she kept hearing the same thing from her patients - I'm not getting the right emotional support from my caregivers. It's not that caregivers didn't care. They just didn't have the skills, knowledge and confidence to provide emotional as well as physical support and care to their clients.

Julie set about changing this. Today she provides education to aged care workplaces, support to families and mentoring to clinicians who share her vision of greater wellbeing, reduced isolation and better mental health for older people.

In this episode Julie and I discuss:

•The wellbeing issues faced by older adults, including isolation, financial constraints, changes in circumstance and health and how these impact on mental health
•How Julie came to specialise in the field
•Her goal to boost the wellbeing - and halve the depression rate - of Australian adults in aged care
•Why there is a dearth of mental health professionals working in aged care - and what Julie is doing to change this
•Julie's tips for better conversations about ageing and mental health
•

September 12 is RUOK Day in Australia - a national day of action encouraging us all to start life-changing conversations to support those who might be struggling with life's challenges and to create a more connected world. Julie and I hope that this episode prompts more conversations about emotional wellbeing in our older adults.

If you work in aged care or have older adults in your life, listen in. You will be inspired by Julie's words and passion, I promise.

For a full transcript, guest profile, expert tips and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit potential.com.au/podcast or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com