In this episode, Em talks to Sally. Sally experienced a major loss in her life when her younger brother sadly passed away when they were both in their teens. She describes what grief feels like to her, how the trauma from grief can manifest in different ways over many years, how important it is to check in with yourself along the way, the importance of learning what grief can do to your mind and body, learning to care for yourself and give space for your feelings and needs. Sally is now a parent and foster carer and she also talks about what her experiences have provided her with when it comes to resilience, empathy and emotional literacy for those around her

In this episode Em talks to Dave. Dave is a father to two young girls and as it's Father's Day this week, he shares his experiences of what it's really like to plan to be and then become a father. What is the expectation vs. reality? What changes for you as a person? What's it like to see yourself in someone else and does having your own kids make you see your own childhood (and the relationship between you and your own parents) differently? We talk about his hopes for the future and knowing what he knows now - what he believes makes a good parent

In this episode, Em chats to Lorna. Lorna shares her story of what it's really like to be in an abusive relationship. How does it start? How does it develop? What makes it so hard to leave? What does that long term manipulation do to you and your self worth? Lorna describes a 6yr relationship with her abuser and the many times she wanted to and even tried to leave but the brainwashing, as she describes it, kept her right where he wanted her. Thankfully, she was able to leave shortly after the birth of her son and she shares with us what that healing process looks like and how she can now look to the future, free from violence.

In this episode, Em chats to Hywel. The name of this episode comes from Hywel's own description of himself as a 'wonky wrong un.' He shares his experience of leaving the Welsh valleys as a teenager with complex feelings about his working class identity, his early 20s as a homeless, couch surfing singer in a hardcore punk band, years of excess and realising it was time to embrace recovery, being in AA in his 20s, the importance of queer family and community, discovering who he truly was when becoming sober, coming out as a trans man in his 30s and what makes him happy now and getting into university to become a therapist

In this episode, Em chats to Neil. Neil has battled mental illness for a long time now and has survived multiple attempts at suicide, he made it out of a specialist hospital after being sectioned and he's here to tell his story from the best place he's been in his life so far. We talk about how to get a diagnosis, what it's like to live with bipolar and borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT therapy, what it's like to have a mental illness when you're neurodivergent (ADHD) and the skills learned over the years to get to know yourself and manage the way your brain works as best you can

Content warning: references made to self harm, suicide and being sectioned. Details of the specifics eg. method of attempted suicide however, are not mentioned

In this episode, Em chats to Emma. Emma is of East Asian heritage and she talks about the impacts of racism from being very young and how it shaped her feeling of safety in the world. We discuss the concept of cumulative trauma and how, after surviving a sexual assault later in life, this added traumatic event compounded those earlier feelings. We talk about what it's like to live with PTSD, how our brains respond to trauma, the structures of power at play, how difficult it can be to exist in the world as a survivor, and how important it can be to share your experience (if you can).

As we are both women in tech, we also talk about what it's like to be in Equality, Diversity & Inclusion groups in the workplace and the desire for change and representation but also the cognitive load, vulnerability, and extra time and effort spent with little/no compensation for your efforts.

Content warning: There are open discussions of racism and sexual assault throughout. No specific details of the actual assaults themselves are shared.

In this episode, Em chats to Kirstie Young. Kirstie reached a crossroads in her late 20s which left her with a big decision to make that would change the course of her life from then on. We never know what is around the corner for us and no matter how much we plan or write out pros and cons on paper, we can never truly be prepared for what may happen next. Get ready to feel some feels during this episode because in a world where sometimes we struggle to hope or believe, some things really do end with a happily ever after

CW: Discussions of pregnancy & abortion

In this episode, Em talks to Andy Waterfield. We talk through the concept of masculinity - what it meant in history and what it means in 2021. We tackle the subject of men's mental health and how this also intersects. Why do men feel less able to talk about mental health? How do our cultures and societies condition children into confirming to stereotypes of the gender binary and why? We discuss men's rights activists, male privilege and how we all need to try and figure out how we can prevent the mistakes of the past happening again in future generations

In this episode, Em talks to Abs Sharma. Abs was born in India and moved across to the UK as a kid. He talks about the adjustment to living here, attitudes towards people who are different and how to build empathy through understanding people and their experiences as we grow older. He also talks about getting into a tech career as a Developer, Conversational Analyst and then a Product Owner as well as dissecting the feeling of joining a big established company and the imposter syndrome that comes with it.

2020 was a beast, so how can we get our heads right and in a good a place to try and tackle 2021? This special episode to kick off the new year starts by discussing the 'new year, new me' phenomenon, aren't we always the same me, just looking to improve? Do we even want to improve, what does that 'improvement' even look like? Is it for our own happiness or is it for the benefit of others, an imagined audience or even for social media?

My special guest for this episode is Claire Hart, a Yorkshire lass based in San Francisco who is all about goal planning, self improvement, creating routines and writing lots of lists!