The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 

⚠️ This episode discusses addiction and suicidal thoughts. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Dan's dad taught him to gamble before he was old enough to understand what it was. Fruit machines as birthday presents. Horse racing meetings as father-son days out. It was the only way the two of them knew how to bond — and it also planted the addiction that would nearly destroy Dan's life.

By 25, he'd spent close to £50,000. He was stealing to fund bets, pawning his own laptop, gambling through work shifts, and staying up until 5am chasing losses he'd never win back. A year ago, he watched a video Tom posted about losing his brother Liam — and it became the turning point that got him into his first GA meeting.

This episode is Dan's first time telling this story in full — the environment that shaped him, the father he lost, the rock-bottom night with a bottle of gin, and what it actually takes to rebuild a life around vulnerability instead of secrecy.

What we get into:

Growing up around gambling — and how it became the only language he and his dad shared
Placed in an environment "constantly around it," and why he doesn't blame his parents for it
The first bet with real money at 16 — and the £500-a-day habit he built at university
Stealing, pawning laptops, and running out of people to borrow from
The night before he decided to stop: a laptop, a bottle of gin, and "one more, one more, one more"
The breakdown in his mum's doorway at 11pm — and finally saying "I can't gamble ever again"
Walking into his first GA meeting at 25 and not knowing how he'd ended up there
Why he says he lost time, not money — and how gambling stole his presence from every relationship he had
The moment watching Tom's video about Liam gave him the push to actually change
Losing two relationships to the person gambling made him — inconsistent, absent, unreliable
His dad's sudden death after a routine hospital procedure, and the guilt he still carries over a decision he couldn't have changed
Working in social media for a gambling company while secretly relapsing — and what finally broke the cycle
The biggest lie every gambling addict tells themselves: "I can win it tomorrow"
Nearly a year gamble-free, and building Podcast Room Brighton with his two best friends — the space that's now helping him give back

Plus Tom on losing his brother Liam to a ketamine addiction, the argument he still regrets, and how showing up vulnerably on this podcast has quietly changed someone else's life without him ever knowing it — until now.

An honest, at times funny, and genuinely moving conversation about addiction, grief, fatherhood, and what happens when you finally stop hiding.

If gambling is affecting you or someone you love, support is available through GamCare: 0808 8020 133

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It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.

Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them.

⚠️ This episode discusses child loss and suicidal thoughts. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

Hugh was born on his dad's first wedding anniversary. He had the bluest eyes, the blondest hair, and a personality to match. Two weeks after his sixth birthday, he died - after a ten-month battle with a rare form of cancer that took hold in the middle of a Covid lockdown, while the family hid the diagnosis from almost everyone they knew.

Six days before Hugh passed away, he made his dad promise something: "Go run it, daddy. Go get the medal." Ceri kept that promise - running the London Marathon days after burying his son, crying for five and a half of the six hours, then placing the medal around Hugh's neck at the funeral home himself.

In this episode, Ceri sits down with Tom for one of the most raw, unflinching conversations this podcast has ever had - about watching a child fight cancer with more bravery than most adults could summon, the total absence of support for parents in that situation, and how he turned devastating grief into a campaign that's already changing UK employment law.

What we get into:

The moment a routine "tummy ache" became a cancer diagnosis, and the surreal 3am phone call that started it all
Life on a children's cancer ward - the bravery, the "beads of courage," and why Hugh accumulated over 2,400 of them
Why the physical treatment isn't the hardest part - it's the complete lack of support given to parents while their child is dying
The promise made six days before Hugh passed, and running the London Marathon with his son's shoes tied around his neck
Burying Hugh with the marathon medal - and what "turning pain into purpose" actually means when you live it
Founding the charity "It's Never You" - and the specific ways it supports parents financially and emotionally, including 48-hour crisis counselling
Hugh's Law: the campaign to give parents of seriously ill children the legal right to be at their bedside - and why it currently doesn't exist for children over one year old
The businesses (including Premier League football clubs) already backing the campaign, and what's blocking it from becoming law
Why nearly 50% of couples who lose a child split up - and how Ceri and his wife stayed together
The disclosure most parents are afraid to say out loud: is it selfish to ask for help when your child is the one who's sick?
What he wishes he'd known in Hugh's final two weeks, and the one thing - Legoland - he still regrets not doing
Giving up drinking, going to trauma therapy, and the small, physical tools he still uses to manage PTSD years later
What a "good life" means to him now, and the advice he gives every grieving parent who reaches out

Plus Tom on losing his brother Liam, the words he still regrets, and why he believes life happens for you, not to you.

This conversation will stay with you. Whether you've experienced loss, know someone going through it, or just need to hear from someone who found a way through the unthinkable — this is essential listening.

If you found value in this episode:
👍 Like the video
💬 Comment your biggest takeaway
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations that matter

Subscribe for weekly conversations with inspiring guests sharing real stories about resilience, growth and overcoming life’s challenges.

It would mean the world to me if you were to like, comment, subscribe on my videos whilst I share my ongoing journey.

Check out my website: https://toms-talks.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram:   / toms.talks__ 

Proudly sponsored by: https://osiofficefurniture.co.uk/

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Check out my website: toms-talks.co.uk
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Jack was five years old when he was diagnosed with Perthes disease - a rare condition that stops blood flow to the hip joint. By eighteen, his hips had essentially given up on him. He was told he'd need a double hip replacement eventually - but not until he was in his forties. He wasn't willing to wait that long. He couldn't.

In this episode, Jack takes us through five years of chronic pain, being turned away by specialist after specialist, and the moment he broke down in an appointment and finally heard a surgeon say yes. He's brutally honest about what nobody tells you — the physical grief of learning to walk again, the mental collapse that hit once the physical pain finally lifted, and why "but you're so young" might be the most frustrating sentence he's ever heard.

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"Happiness is a choice." Morgs Cox on the hard truths most people don't want
to hear — about discipline, money, your environment, and why getting in shape
is 90% mental.

Morgs is a fitness coach who built his brand from offering free sessions at 22
to running a team and coaching business out of Dubai. He's also one of Tom's
closest mates, which is why this one gets more honest than most.

We get into the mindset shift that changed everything for him, why he stopped
chasing the outcome and started obsessing over the inputs, and why he believes
the biggest investment you'll ever make is your own health. We talk about
outgrowing friendships when you're on a different path, what actually happens
to people who set New Year's resolutions, and the entrepreneur's curse of
never feeling like you've done enough.

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Claire Throssell lost both her sons, Jack and Paul, in the most unimaginable way — after a family court granted their father contact. This is her story,
and her warning.

⚠️ Content warning: this episode contains discussion of domestic abuse, coercive control, and the deaths of children. Please look after yourself while listening.

In this episode Claire sits down with Tom and talks with extraordinary
honesty about what she survived, what she lost, and what she has spent the years since fighting to change.

We talk about how domestic abuse actually begins — not with violence, but quietly, in ways that are almost impossible to see from the inside. Claire
explains coercive control and love-bombing in a way that will make a lot of people recognise their own relationship. We talk about being disbelieved. About what the family court did, and why she has campaigned so hard to change it. And about how she carries Jack and Paul with her every single day.

Claire's campaigning helped change the law. If you take one thing from this conversation, let it be that the warning signs are subtle — and that saying something early matters.

This is one of the most important conversations we have had on this podcast.

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"There will be times where I sit there and go — I can stop now, and nobody would know or probably even care."

That’s the moment most people quit. And according to Josh, it’s the exact moment discipline really starts.

Josh is a competitive bodybuilder and online physique coach who walked out of a cinema at 16, called a boxing club the next morning, and has trained ever since. He came dead last at his first bodybuilding show. Ten years later, he’s competing as an open heavyweight — and he’s learned a lot about discipline, mindset, body image and what the fitness industry gets wrong along the way.

This conversation goes beyond motivational quotes and hustle culture. We talk about what real discipline looks like when nobody is watching, the sacrifices behind competitive bodybuilding, the pressure to constantly improve your physique, and where the line sits between healthy discipline and becoming your own harshest critic.

Because sometimes the habits we call “discipline” can come from a much more complicated place.

An honest conversation about ambition, self-worth, body image, resilience and what it really takes to keep showing up.

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Everybody saw what happened on the ride. Nobody ever asked what happened in their parents' living room.

On 2nd June 2015, Leah Washington and Joe were on one of their first proper dates when The Smiler crash changed their lives forever. Leah lost her leg, Joe suffered life-changing injuries, and both were trapped four metres in the air for four hours.

Now, 11 years later, they're married. In this powerful episode, they share the untold story behind the headlines - from the impact on their families and relationship to the long road of recovery.

Joe also opens up for the first time about his recent mental health struggles, including depression, therapy, and the conversation with his dad that changed everything.

A raw, honest conversation about trauma, resilience, love, and hope.

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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 

Richard Chapman was an area director at HSBC. He had five sons, a beautiful house, and by his own admission, a perfect life. Then one evening after a round of golf, a stranger in a pub offered him a line of cocaine and he said yes.
That yes cost him seventeen years, a million pounds, and very nearly his life.
In this episode, Richard takes us through the full arc of his addiction with staggering honesty - from recreational weekends to using 26 grams a day, sitting in a supermarket car park for 36 hours straight, and reaching the point where he'd planned to end his life in a hotel room. It was a WhatsApp message from his 11-year-old son that changed everything.

Today, Richard is six years clean and runs Ark House - the very rehab centre he walked into as a broken man in 2020. He now dedicates his life to helping others find the way out he found.

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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them. 

Sian Lord was 24 years old. It was her second day in New York. She was on the pavement, drink in hand, talking to her best friend - exactly where she was supposed to be.
Then a taxi driver mounted the kerb.
He severed her left leg below the knee, never got out of the cab to check if she was alive, and was never charged. Sian spent six weeks in hospital in America, had four back-to-back surgeries, and flew home to rebuild a life that looked nothing like the one she'd planned.

Twelve years on, Sian is a model, motivational speaker, and one of the most honest voices on disability, body image and resilience you'll find. In this episode she holds nothing back — the physical recovery, the mental battle that was harder, the years of hiding her leg, and the moment she finally stopped.

Plus Tom opens up about motivation, discipline, and why without a reason why most people never follow through.
Whether you're going through something that's changed your body, your plans, or your sense of self — or you just need to hear from someone who's been through the worst and come out the other side - this one is for you.

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The Tom's Talks Podcast is a place where we speak to a vast array of people from different walks of life and find out what makes them them. We will speak about their unique journey and delve into the highs and the lows which ultimately define them.

Lewis' Brand New Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/024164683... 

Lewis Raymond Taylor was told by his own mother that he wouldn't make old bones. By his mid-twenties, he'd been to prison three times, spent seven years addicted to cocaine, and had an identity built entirely around chaos and destruction. He didn't just believe he was a bad person - he'd been told it his whole life.

Then one night in a prison cell, staring at a piece of scratched metal that passed for a mirror, something shifted. And everything changed.
In this episode, Lewis, a diagnosed psychopath, life coach, documentary subject and author, sits down with Tom for one of the most honest, thought-provoking conversations the podcast has ever had. This isn't a redemption story dressed up in motivational language. It's a raw, unflinching look at identity, trauma, accountability and what it actually takes to rebuild yourself from scratch.

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