The Happiness Hub

This week I spoke to Life Survival Coach Stu Mace about why he set up his business to help and guide people to achieve their goals, and how he looks after his own well-being.

Stu came down to our Tuesday night well-being group at the end of 2021, and as soon as we got chatting I knew I wanted to invite him on the podcast. Stu captured the attention of all the members with his knowledge of meditation, cold showers and breathing techniques which he talks about more in this episode.

Stu led a Happiness Hub session about Meditation in February during our month on learning and kindly agreed to be a guest on our podcast to talk about his own experiences which has led him to help others.

As mentioned in the podcast Stu is offering a couple of sessions for free if you would like help setting your goals and achieving them and asks for a donation to MInd or any animal warfare charity. You can find Stu on his Life Survival Coach website, and often on a Tuesday night at The Granary Arts Cafe where we run the Happiness Hub.

Here are the books and podcasts we also mentioned in the episode:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran
• Dr Rangan Chaterjee - Feel Better Live More

This week I spoke to Tianne Croshaw, founder of the Resilience Wellbeing Partnership.

Tianne is a highly experienced Resilience Consultant working across a number of business sectors, an expert in delivering corporate programmes and also runs her own private practice working with individuals.

Tianne kindly came down to our Happiness Hub Tuesday night wellbeing group a couple of weeks ago to talk to us about managing and reducing stress. In this episode, Tianne tells us more about her own experience of stress and burnout which led her to help others.

You can find out more about Tianne and her services on her Resilience Wellbeing Partnership website, Tianne's LinkedIn profile and via the Resilience Wellbeing Partnership Facebook page.

In this episode of the podcast, Kedren talks to fellow counsellor Tracey Worrall who has just set up her own private counselling practice, Tracey Worrall Therapy.

Tracey offers counselling in Warrington and surrounding areas with the option of online, telephone and face to face sessions.

Kedren and Tracey studied together for two years at the Cheshire Therapy Centre in Warrington to complete their Level 4 Diploma's in Therapeutic Counselling and they both qualified this year.

The pair talk about the benefits of counselling and their own experiences along with what they really love about the therapy and of course, Kedren asked Tracey for some well-being tips and what makes her happy.

You can find out more about Tracey and the services she offers on her website Tracey Worrall Therapy and you can also follow her on her social media channels below:

• Tracey Worrall Therapy Facebook Page
• Tracey Worral Therapy Instagram
• Tracey Worrall Twitter

In this episode of the Happiness Hub, I spoke to Mandy Gorst, a professional massage therapist and qualified Bowen Practitioner and Scar Worker. We talked about the work she does with her clients and the different therapies she offers and of course what she does to look after her own mental health and what makes her happy.

​In 2010 Mandy became a member of the Healing Hands Network, travelling to Bosnia to work with civilian survivors of the civil war suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and physical injuries. When she returned to the UK she pursued her interest in working with UK forces suffering from the physical and mental effects of war.

​In doing so, she became more interested in how PTSD affects people and began psychotherapy training in order to become more holistic in her work of treating the body and the mind.

Mandy is currently working towards practitioner status via Human Givens and is offering FREE therapy sessions for (anonymous) case studies.

So if you are troubled with mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression, have a phobia or anything that you feel a few free sessions of psychotherapy could help you with. You can contact Mandy via her Nantwich Holistics website or call her on 07904 520890.

You can also find Mandy via her Nantwich Holistics Facebook page and down at our Happiness Hub Well-being group most Tuesdays.

We kick off series five of the Happiness Hub Podcast with special guest, well-being life coach Fiona Johnson. We asked Fiona to come on and talk to us about well-being and her top tips on how we can all live better.

After working in the early year's sector for 20 years and realising how the job consumed her, Fiona decided she needed a change. She realised she was that “go-to” person and that she wanted to help others achieve their goals. This is where Flourish Well-being came into being and Fiona took the brave step to set up her own business during lock-down.

Fiona offers well-being life coaching to help others realise their potential and achieve their goal of a more fulfilled, happy life.

We spoke to Fiona about what she does for her own well-being, how she helps her clients with theirs and of course what makes her happy.

If you'd like to find out more about Fiona and how she can help you achieve your goals, you can find more detail on her Flourish Wellbeing Coach website and on her Flourish Well-being Life Coach Facebook Page and Flourish Well-being Life Coach Instagram Page.

You can also give Fiona a call or send a text to 07986 536 472 or email her at: [email protected]

If you would like to know more out about Happiness Hub Well-being groups head on over to our Happiness Hub Website and you can sign up here.

The group is free to attend and we run them every Tuesday evening from 8 pm, at the Granary Arts Cafe with activities and guest speakers on our monthly well-being themes.

This weeks guest, Sarah Palmer came on to talk about why she decided to go alcohol-free and set up Sobalicious to help others live alcohol-free too.

Sobalicious is an alcohol-free community group with over 300 members who meet weekly online or at face to face events with activities like outdoor swimming and foraging walks.

Sarah shared with us her story of how she went alcohol-free three years ago and what led her to make the decision, and how she hadn't realised at the time the impact of alcohol was making on her mental health as well as her physical health.

There is still stigma and shame attached to admitting you may have an addiction to alcohol and society does have a strange way of viewing drinking with it often being used to celebrate. When you give up alcohol it can make you feel very isolated and awkward at social events but it's something that we can change by talking about it.

Thank you to Sarah for coming on and sharing her story so that others don't have to face going sober alone. Talking about alcohol and how it might be impacting your life with a supportive group can help you cut down or quit and also stay sober.

If you would like to know more about Sarah's Sobalicious group, visit the Sobalicious website, and you can also join the Sobalicious closed Facebook group and follow Sobalicious on Instagram.

In this week's episode, we welcomed Life and Style Coach Annie Taylor back on the podcast to talk about her own chronic condition.

Annie was diagnosed with both ME and Systemic Candida several years ago, causing her great pain and chronic fatigue, making everyday tasks and attending work incredibly challenging.

As luck would have it, a work colleague was able to spot Annie struggling having suffered from similar conditions herself and told her to go home, which resulted in Annie getting the help that she needed.

You can find out more about Annie and the work that she does on her website www.onelifeandstyle.co.uk.

In this second MS podcast, Keds talks to Karen Makin about her diagnosis, treatment and self-care whilst living with MS.

Karen is very much an all or nothing sort of person and was running two self-employed businesses when her MS really took hold and prevented her from pursuing one of her businesses and taking stock of what the future might hold.

Karen shared with us tips and tricks she and her family have implemented to help budget her energy better and manage her MS but also to remove stress where possible from her life which can be a major trigger for chronic conditions.

If you'd like to know more about Karen's photo booth business you can find her at www.jollygoodphoto.co.uk

Listen to part one with Nichola Brain here and don't forget to visit our Happiness Hub Blog where we have weekly posts around the topics we discuss on the podcast.

And of course, we'd love to know what you think about the podcast and the subjects we cover and we're always looking for guests. Here's how to contact us and click here to be a guest.

This is the first part of a two-part podcast talking about all things MS.

Kedren one-half of the show's hosts was diagnosed with MS in January 2021 and wanted to invite others she had met on her journey who have helped her get her head around the diagnosis and to share their own stories.

Nichola was diagnosed in 2011 when living in the US and has secondary progressive MS and her symptoms affect her daily life. She very kindly came on the podcast to tell us about her experience and different treatments she's had for the condition and how she manages her physical and mental symptoms day to day.

Saskia Lightburn Ritchie has a collection of hidden and chronic conditions and came on the Happiness Hub to share her experience and how she manages her symptoms and mental health daily.

Saskia talked mainly about her diagnosis of Bipolar but also how this led her to be diagnosed with other conditions such as diabetes and ulcerative colitis.

Saskia's story will help anyone with a chronic or mental health condition, the things that Saskia does daily to help manage her symptoms and take care of herself will help anyone living with a hidden disease.

Saskia talked about The Spoon Theory and how it's a useful way to describe your energy levels or lack of to others when you live with a chronic condition and how the book An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jameson really helped her understand her own Bipolar condition.

Saskia is also the CEO of a local domestic abuse charity called Cheshire Without Abuse. The charity is dealing with twice the amount of people needing their support at the moment due to COVID.

Visit their website if you would like more information about the services they offer and if you'd like to help, support or volunteer for the charity too.