The Way Forward

LGBT+ Empowering Change

Growing up gay in the 1970’s and 1980’s was incredibly tough. John Yates Harold lived that challenge daily, where being yourself was enough to experience abuse, violence and ridicule. This constant trauma has left it’s mark on the adult but rather than use it as a reason to retreat from society John has used it to fuel his passion for positive change for the LGBT+ community, but especially LGBT+ Youth.

John identifies as non-binary and many LGBT+ youth are facing a similar stigma to his 70’s/80’s experience because they too do not identify as a binary man or woman. John worked for decades as a schoolteacher and saw first-hand that although times do change, there is still a long way to go before a wider acceptance of someone’s authenticity is accepted by society.

Now working for Derbyshire LGBT+ as a project office they are dedicated to the rights, plights and wellbeing of LGBT+ Youth in Derbyshire and across the country today. John is heavily involved in Pride events and creates educational resources to ensure that the next generation are raised with understanding, empathy, compassion, and empowerment to be exactly who they are without prejudice, discrimination or fear.

Join us to find out more about the landscape the LGBT+ faces daily. If you identify as LGBT+ or love and support someone who is then this is the podcast Episode for you. Some thoughts on how to positively impact your own emotional and mental wellbeing right now are woven throughout this poignant and emboldening conversation – see you in there.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook: @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

John Yates Harold and Derbyshire LGBT+ can be contacted: www.derbyshirelgbt.org.uk

Instagram: @derbyshirelgbt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derbyshirelgbt

Link to Spanish Song Cycle: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66vtRUJAy7BunSLaQhUxDN?si=5f2ridNcRemKh8SoNZGuXQ

Tara Louise Luke – Happy ‘Birth -day’ - Empowering Birth

Have you/are you:

• Given/ Due to give Birth?

• Looking to become pregnant?

• Supported/Supporting a pregnant person?

If so then this is DEFINITELY the podcast episode for you because Tara Lousie Luke of Nest and Nurture is an experienced Doula, Birthing Facilitator and Empowerment superstar dedicated to ensuring you get to tell your birth story the way you want it remembered.

We will be discussing the role of a Doula and what benefits having one with you throughout pregnancy and birth can bring.

Why would someone choose to have a Doula in their lives when there is free pregnancy and birth healthcare widely available?

We dive deep into the choices that are often overlooked or neglected in a pregnancy and birth journey.

Tara gives YOU some advice and easy to implement tips to take away and start today that will positively impact your own emotional and mental wellbeing.

It does not matter if this is your 1st, 2nd or 6th birth – or even if you are yet to become pregnant or are someone in a supporting role – partners, families we see and salute you and your vital contribution to birthing people.

So grab a cuppa and some cake (because like me Tara is a self confessed baking fan – there’s not much in this life that cake doesn’t support!) and relax into an empowering exploration of the wonders of human pregnancy and birthing. It’s time for us to step into our power and reclaim our choices – and if you have any fears, worries or concerns I know just the Doula to support and guide you through that, holding your hand all the way.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Tara Louise Luke is available on: https://www.facebook.com/nestnurture

Instagram: nestnurture_bumpbirthbeyond

Website: www.nestnurture.co.uk

Hope (Pt 2) The 3-part Strategy to infuse Hope into your life.

OK so you’ve listened to Hope (Pt 1) and you know it is so much more than just a feeling.

BUT – Why would you even want to add more hope into your life?

Glad you asked – Hopeful people:

• Achieve more.

• Have better mental health.

• Have better physical health.

• Improved confidence.

• Experience more joy.

• Experience higher life satisfaction.

• Live with more ease

• Process stress better.

Sold on it yet? I really am! Who wouldn’t want all of that?!

This episode will delve into the structure of hope and reveal the 3 key components that ensure hope can be available to you whenever and wherever you call on it.

We look at C. R. Snyder’s Hope Theory and the strategy that anyone can utilise to engineer more hope in their lives.

I take you on my lived experience of hope, and how I was able to find hope even in the midst of grief and trauma. (Trigger Warning – episode mentions suicide).

We take a look at the emotions that hope, and hopelessness can evoke and how to empower yourself to work with them, rather than letting an emotional rollercoaster rule your life.

Sounds great doesn’t it – so give yourself 30 minutes and let me adventure with you to the promise of a tomorrow that can be better than today.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Hope (Pt 1) It's more than just a feeling.

Have you ever felt hopeful? How about hopeless? I bet you can think of at least one example in your life that ticks both boxes – and likely many more times once you think on it.

So, what is hope? We often think of hope of a feeling – that something is possible, and while it is true that hope does recall a feeling in our hearts, or sometimes stomachs – it is NOT an emotion……….

You may have a hard time believing me, because the opposite of hope is to be hopeless and sense despair. That definitely evokes that brick in the stomach, closing in the throat, heavy sensation. Surely then it must be an emotion. NOPE!

This episode explores:

• What hope is

• Why we feel hopeless.

• What optimism is

• How we can be hopeless and optimistic

• Where emotions come into it

And it ends with a rather delicious revelation – that hope is a 100 % teachable skill set, accessible to anyone – you just need to understand the steps involved to get there.

So when I say this 2 part series on Hope has the potential to completely revolutionise your life – I am not overstating things.

Learning how to engineer hope in your life will positively impact EVERYTHING you do.

I HOPE you will prioritize you and your future by setting aside just 30 minutes to begin your transformation.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Crohn’s and Colitis – Getting to the bottom of life with IBD

This episode is for you if:

• You have Crohn’s or Colitis or any form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• You know someone with one of these conditions.

• You have troubling and ongoing gut symptoms.

Sarah Sleet took some time out of her incredibly busy schedule to talk to me about Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Sarah is the CEO of the Charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK. The charity supports the almost half a million people in the UK diagnosed with one of these conditions. It is also there for those who have ongoing and troubling gut and bowel symptoms but as yet have no diagnoses as to what the problem could be.

So, we put the current picture of life with these conditions under the microscope (which is ironic really as my Collagenous Colitis was in fact only discovered when a biopsy of my bowel was literally put under the microscope!) It is time we started being less fearful, embarrassed and unaware of IBD. It affects 1 in every 123 people – so chances are you know someone or are someone with it.

Sarah has decades of experience at the highest level across the health profession and gives a fascinating insight into:

• Symptoms

• Treatment Options

• Wellbeing Support

• Community

Living with IBD can be tough – living on the loo is not a pleasant experience! It doesn’t end at that either – chronic joint and muscle pain, sores, ulcers, sickness and more add to the picture of an uphill struggle. BUT – there is hope, with the right diagnosis, medication and support life can return to a much more pleasant affair. As Sarah explains getting an early diagnosis is crucial and the online symptom checker can guide you towards the right path in minutes. So don’t delay – listen away and let’s cut the crap when it comes to IBD!

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Crohn’s and Colitis UK: www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk for information, support and LiveChat messaging support.

For their symptom checker head to the website and follow this page sequence: Info and Support/ Symptoms/Symptom Checker

Helpline: 0300 222 5700 – For someone to listen to your situation, signposting to relevant organisations and connecting you with a supportive community.

Career Change – It’s NEVER too late.

Ever found yourself daydreaming of a different career, job – you know that thing you do for money?! It is usually followed by a sudden pang of terror and with good reason. Changing your career – especially if it is something you have been doing for many years is a scary idea. However, my guest Suzy Stanton proves that it really is never to late to tune in to your intuition and follow that dream.

Now Suzy is awesome, but she is not imbued with magical powers – and this is what I mean when I say she is an ordinary human – just like you and me.

Having worked in the Legal world for over 2 decades she started to notice signs that something was not well aligned for her.

• Stress

• Fatigue

• Insomnia

• Dread

• Burnout

And so many of us experience these feelings too – it is our super clever bodies way of telling us that something needs to change! This is where Suzy became curious and really brave.

She decided to leave that well paid, secure, and reliable role – for the unknown world for self-employment. No guarantee of business, of money or of improved emotional health. I should add to the picture that Suzy has a family, she lives with her husband and 2 daughters whom she had via Adoption – so there were a lot of moving parts in her personal world.

So, let’s make a leap of our own and jump in to listening to her story. She gives us an honest account of the emotional rollercoaster, why listening to our intuition is essential and some tips and advice on how to start making some changes of your very own.

ENJOY!

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram and Facebook @codesignwithfliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Suzy Stanton is available on Instagram: @wemadeawishadoptionmagazine and online www.wemadeawish.co.uk

Sexual Assault – It’s NOT your fault.

Sexual Assault comes in many forms and unfortunately affects too many people at some point during their lifetime *: 1 in 4 women

1 in 6 children

1 in 18 men

Experience some form of sexual abuse from rape through to online grooming and workplace harassment.

I am blessed to sit down with 3 health professionals from the Derbyshire SARC (Sexual Assault Referral Centre). Emily, Claire and Hannah are here to make sure that nobody feels alone, in fear or helpless in the aftermath of a sexual assault.

One of the biggest challenges for victims is that they often feel ashamed or some guilt around what has happened to them. These three women assure me that the message here is clear: Sexual Assault is NOT your fault – ever.

We need to open up the conversation on:

• What types of sexual assaults are there?

• When or where could this happen?

• How you may be feeling if this has happened to you?

• How someone you know may feel if it has happened to them

• What to do if you have been sexually assaulted (recently or years in the past)

• Where you can get support and what that support looks like

• Why choice is your number one weapon in re-empowering.

• How are services accessible and inclusive?

• Where police involvement factors – if at all.

So please, I urge you – however hard you may think the discussion of sexual assault may be – the reality of living with it and doing nothing about it is a million times harder and more damaging long term.

Look at those statistics again – chances are if you haven’t been sexually assaulted, someone you know may have been. The only way we start to reduce the occurrences of sexual assault and improve the likelihood a victim accesses support is to usualise the conversation around it. No stigma, no shame, no fear – just honest, practical, and empowering conversation.

A huge thank you to SARC’s up and down the country who are leading the way in supporting those who have been affected by sexual assault – these organisations and all of their staff are leading the way in ensuring that sexual assault is not a taboo subject and that there is real help available whenever and wherever you need it.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Derbyshire SARC: https://millfieldhousesarc.co.uk/

NHS Helpful Information https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/help-after-rape-and-sexual-assault/

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram @codesignwithfliss.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Statistics from Rape Crisis England and Wales * www.rapecrisis.org.uk

Comparison – Winning the War and Living Well (Pt 2)

We know more about how Comparison likes to lurk and hide in our lives and start the rot in our relationships to others and to ourselves. The question is – how do we take down this hidden assassin? Well, I am thrilled to tell you the answers are right here in this second part of the Podcast on Comparison.

• We look at positive emotions that can actually be born out of Comparison.

• We put Freudenfreude/ Shoy/ Admiration and Bragitude under the microscope.

• I gift you 6 top tips to make positive choices and combat the negative effects of Comparison when it does inevitably show up in your life.

• We leave with a plan of how to heal your relationship to yourself, to others and to situations so that you can start on a continuum of harmonious emotional and mental wellness.

And of course if you are really ready to prioritise yourself and want to take a deeo dive into your self awareness and accelerate the easeful and optimal living into your life – message me at: [email protected] or DM me on socials and we can talk personally about how we can work together to make your 1 precious life the very best it can be.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram @codesignwithfliss.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Comparison – The Hidden Assassin of your Emotional Health (Part 1)

To compare is human – to compare without noticing is deadly!

Comparison can underpin a lot of the emotional pain, unease, distress, and difficulty in your life – don’t believe me, listen to this episode and find out how it goes unseen…….

• Find out where we subconsciously go when we compare.

• Understand why we can’t stop the comparison entirely but why it is what we do next that matters.

• Find out how comparison negatively affects your future outcomes!!!

• Put some major emotions under the microscope (Envy/ Jealousy/ Resentment/ Schadenfreude).

• Explore a better way to cope when these feelings arise.

You can make the choice to do things differently AND you can stop comparison sabotaging your life – I am very joyful to be bringing you the tools and weapons you need to win the war on comparison and remember you are never alone. Contact me via the information below and let’s start living our most optimal lives.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram @codesignwithfliss.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977

Be Your Own Valentine – Self Compassion and Self Love

Love is in the air, but let me ask you this – how comfortable do you feel about loving yourself?

It is SO important that we show ourselves the same level of compassion and love that we regularly afford to others. But where to start? Well, this episode of the Podcast in your one stop resource shop to get you well on your way to feeling more at home with loving YOU!

• I will take you through some of the ways we actively deny ourselves love.

• Examine our perception of ‘worthiness’ and where we see ourselves in relation to worth, how do we measure it, what is enough?

• Discover the 3 elements that can move you towards feeling enough, worthy and even abundant.

• Hear about my brand new course ‘The Joy Mindset’ which you can read more about at www.codesignwithfliss.com and join a growing community of empowerment committed people.

• Deliver you 3 tips you can implement in your life TODAY for free to start connecting with your self love.

The result? More easeful living, a more positive outlook, increased energy and success – what’s not to LOVE!

Happy Valentine’s Day my darlings, I’m so glad you are here – thank you for choosing to be with me today.

With Love and Empowerment

X Fliss X

Find Fliss and more Emotional Empowerment over at www.codesignwithfliss.com

Or connect on Socials.

Instagram @codesignwithfliss.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551862146977