Truthbook

Tasmanian author, mother and all round country girl, Rachael Treasure, tells her story of being launched from a toxic patriarchal society into single parenting, how she deals with anxiety and maternal guilt and connects with mother nature. Heads up, Rachael doesn’t hold back with her truthbook confession

If Rachael’s reference to numnuts confuses you, check out the first episode where my husband explains all…

Check out the links from the show...

 BSc in Regenerative Agriculture

 Rachael Treasure

 Down the Dirt Road

The Artists Way, Julie Cameron

Mama Gena

Here we are, with Christmas only a few sleeps away only it looks a little bit different this year. Thank goodness Santa is an essential worker and is COVID safe to deliver presents!

So, with many of us not spending Christmas how we normally would, with family & friends, I’d like to try & connect through shared stories.  Thank you so much for sharing your words on what Christmas means to you, Santa stories and the Elf on the Shelf antics, Christmas mishaps and what Christmas will be like for you this year…

This podcast is accompanied by the wonderful Pippa Reid Foster, playing a Christmas Medley on harp. Pippa is an acclaimed musician and teacher based in my home town, Helensburgh, Scotland. She has embraced lock down teaching on line (I have been getting whistle lessons in Oz over facetime!) and writing music. Here's  Pippa’s website and links to where you can buy her music...

http://pippareidfoster.com

Merry Christmas and I look forward to bringing more Turthbook episodes in 2021...

Here I am chatting to Suzy- a friend and fellow podcaster. Like my audio on this occasion, we talk about how you don’t get it right every time and life is about trial and error.  And I made a promise to Suzy, when we are back in our homeland….

Suzy became a friend when we met on a ski holiday and threw ourselves straight into honest conversations about mental health, as well as down the ski slopes!.  Suzy is an acclaimed writer, speaker, performer, podcaster. She is the women behind Big Juicy Creative Podcast, author of Wondering Woman; a true story of one struggling mum’s search for her inner superhero and wrote her own play ‘Ecoanxiety”.  She is also mum to Torrin 9 and Toby 12, married to Phil (a Muay Thai fighter; not Suzy’s favourite sport to watch, but she’ll take the 6 pack that comes with it!). She is an everything outdoor lover and has the lochs and hills on her doorstep living in the Cairngorms in Scotland.  Meeting Suzy is like opening a big craft box; loads going on and you can’t help but feel excited and inspired.

Suzy was full of fantastic tips, good reads and listens...

• Suzy'sPodcast: Big Juicy Creative
• Suzy's Book: Wondering Woman: a true story of one struggling mum’s search for her inner superhero
• That film! Dead Poet Society
• Poem: On Joy and Sorry by Kahil Gibran
• Suzy's son's Podcast: Blood Thirsty Battles Podcast, Toby Haworth
• Creativity in Schools: Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity
• Mindfullness Bible: Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat Zinn
• Morning Pages: The Artists Way, Julia Cameron

And for those that want to read Wordsworth to their children, here we are…

I wondered lonely as a Cloud, by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

 For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I'm chatting to Kate who lived in Helensburgh in Scotland for two years back in 2017, the town I call my home. And now I live in Brisbane, the city Kate calls her home! Kate is a midwife, working with aboriginal families, mother to James (who is a proper grown up now and a semi-professional musician!), Zala her teenager and Xavier her rapidly growing up 8 year old. Her husband, Clint, had me in stitches as the first person to say ‘g’day mate’ whilst flipping a burger on the BBQ.

We chat about moving your family to other side of the world, bouncing back from failure, working with aboriginal mothers and how being compassionate can help to restore us when we are feeling stretched. As well as a good dose of laughter…Although Kate, was a little worried that her dark sense of humour might not be everyone’s cup of tea! 

Susie Ranford, is multi-faceted; a PhD physicist who has naturally found herself in management roles in the engineering and renewable energy sectors. She is also passionate about running and adventure; she was the chief scientist with the British Exploring Society on expeditions to Svalbard, Greenland and Arctic Norway and has written a book ‘Scottish Trail Runs’ now in its second edition. We met ski touring, where a conversation about Susie needing some desk space led to her joining my husband’s design engineering team, 4c, and going on to manage it when we moved to Australia. She has since moved on from that role and is now a Business and Technology Development Consultant. Susie is also mum to Nina 4, and Eric 6, and married to Dougal, whose is one of the only people I know who does kite skiing, in Scotland! 

In my chat with Susie, we talk about her experience pf providing 24/7 care when her sone broke his femus (whilst he sat back and enjoyed hospital food, with no veggies), finding a new joy in getting outdoors with kids and the never ending disruptions that come wth parenting. You’ll also here passionate words about achieving equity rather than equality between men and women. And how Susie gets in touch with her inner child…

Check out these links… 

Susie’s book: Scottish Trail Running

Company she took over management of: 4c Design

What took Susie to amazing places in the world: British Exploring Society

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Alana is mum to Clancy aged 8 and Genevieve 10. From early on Alana thought their development was normal, she had nothing to compare them to. After being increasingly told by well-meaning friends and then professionals in child development that they had concerns, they were diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Then later on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Alana receives support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, introduced in Australia in 2013, that has been a life saver for her and her family.

Alana is a professional public speaker and works as a wedding and funerals celebrant. She is also a professional party starter (a title I would love to claim!). She describes herself as a ‘tragic creative’. 

On todays episode,  Alana talks about the thrive and survive moments of home schooling,  screen time ‘cocaine’ and what it was like being told both her kids had autism. She talks openly about her own mental health, being the mum who picked her kids up in the same pyjamas she dropped them off in, how she swings between letting it go and connecting with friends for support. And she has a confession about cheesecake, their pet chicken…

Links...

Alana’s Wedding Celebrant business:

https://www.brisbanesmallweddings.com.au

https://www.facebook.com/whizbangweddings

National Disability Insurance Scheme

https://www.ndis.gov.au

Great videos from Alana explaining autism
Ky's Story
Things Happen
Autism Sesame Street

Welcome to Ruth's Truthbook. Ruth made New Zealand her home 12 years ago, but I know a bit of her heart will always be in Scotland where we became friends through adventure. She is mum to 4 year old Oliver who melted my heart when he came flying down the hill on his balance bike shouting “I’m going tremendously fast”, married to Neil whose lack of tolerance for being in 4 walls means they are off on an adventure every weekend.  She is a town planner and after recently returning to work after a year off can see both sides of the full time mum/part time fence. Her skills have seen her being involved in redeveloping Christchurch after the earthquakes.

Ruth and I talk about the joy of slowing down during lockdown and trying to hold on to that calm as life gets busy again. The bold decision to take a year off to be with her son and how returning to work has been a positive thing. We get a sense of Ruth’s drive to seek adventure when she talks about cycling the length of NZ south island unsupported, and how exposing our kids to freezing ski fields and hail storms in pursuit of adventure will hopefully build resiliency. And Ruth has a naughty secret, but how long until Oliver finds 
out…

Links
Blog on cycling the length of South Island
Variety Bikes for Kids

My first podcast interview, with Vanessa Bell 😆 Vanessa is mum to three girls; 12,11 and 8 years old. She set up her own tax business 18 months ago, after 20 years of working for someone else and a 5 year gap from working, being full time mum. Our paths crossed when Vanessa started doing the accounts for my husband and she has also supported and encouraged me setting up my own business running parent workshops.

We were both nervous but soon forgot the microphones and delved into some really honest conversation. 

We talk about those parenting moments you wished hadn’t happened but you have learnt from, the glow you feel when you hear your child has been kind or well behaved, how she values being a working mum but at the same time feels guilty. And we discover an unknown truth about Vanessa…

Links:
See more about Vanessa's tax business @ https://www.bellandco.com.au

Welcome to Truthbook. You have the joy of hearing my husband, Robin, interview me about Truthbook. Lets be honest, this took several takes, I wanted it done my way, Robin wanted it done his way, but I think we are both pleased with how it went. I was able to edit out Robin’s bad jokes!

First truthBook with Vanessa Bell- "Parenting moments and Working Mum Guilt' on 13th September

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• Come on Truthbook; your stories could be someone else's survival guide.

Is it just me, or have you ever felt that all the other families are managing so much better than you, that other families are happier, doing more and having more fun…? 

I am going behind the scenes of family life, to hear the best and worst parenting moments, the sadness and the joy, the success and the failures. Hear how Truthbook is going to help us be more connected with one another and more compassionate towards one another. 

Subscribe ands share now and join me on what is going to be an amazingly refreshing journey into true family lives....

Launching Sunday 13th September...

A bit more about Truthbook...

How was Truthbook conceived? What brought it to life? Why should you tune in? 

Looking back, the seedling of an idea was planted when I started to feel the impact of social media on how I perceived my family life. I remember taking a photo of the spiderman cake I had so proudly made for my son’s 5th birthday. I was about to post it on facebook when my husband commented ‘I thought you hated it when folk post pictures of their amazing cakes- it’s awesome, you don’t need lots of likes and comments! He was right. But I sneaked it in anyway!! I needed the endorsement of friends, to prove I was up there with cake making! 

Then there was the first time I experienced someone saying ‘wow, you are always doing cool stuff at the weekends! And I thought ‘what??’, no we’re not. We spend loads of weekends wondering how on earth to fill the time, arguing over who gets some time off… And I would be thinking everyone else was having an awesome weekend.

Then, in my job as a Child Clinical Psychologist in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team, I would see family after family describing similar challenges, but all feeling isolated in their suffering, unable to tell friends and family what was really going on. I would think, if only you could meet the other families that are having the same struggles.

Parents did start to meet, when I ran a workshop. The resounding feedback was how helpful and empowering it was to hear other people’s stories, to know you are not on your own. 

And my training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helped me to understand the impact of this ‘happiness trap’ we are caught up in, fuelled by social media’s constant flow of happy images of family life.

I started to think ‘we need an antidote to facebook’! I have seen it start to happen-there is the odd post that offers both sides of the happy family holiday. And they are well received with comments such as ‘thanks for being so honest’, ‘we need more posts like this’….

So the idea was sown, but it lay dormant and my inner critic remained dominant telling me it would never happen...

Truthbook was brought to life from my own struggle; catapulted from the comfort of certainty, routine and family and friends, I landed in Brisbane, Australia, with my husband and kids in July 2019. My husband’s work brought us here and it was supposed to be for a year, after which we would return to said comfort and I would return to my NHS job and career. Fast forward a year, where I experienced intense homesickness and loss of professional identity, battled with being a supportive wife and mother and pursuing my own work and passions and blamed my husband for all of this! Throw in COVID 19 which amplified isolation, left room for nothing but 100% mum and took a massive slice out of the ‘cake of life’ putting me totally off balance. 

I had to find something I could become passionate about, that used my clinical psychology training to regain my connection with the profession and that helped others.

I hope Truthbook will give us a different perspective. When we consider what we have in common, it can promote connection and understanding rather than distance and envy. When we recognise other people’s vulnerability, we can be more com