What happens when the life you thought you had planned suddenly changes?
Siobhan Freegard OBE is the founder of Netmums, a serial entrepreneur and one of the most influential voices in building communities for women. Over the past 25 years, she has helped millions of women feel less alone — but her own journey began with a profound personal struggle.In this episode of Health Applied, Siobhan opens up about becoming a mother, postnatal depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts and the enormous identity shift that comes with motherhood.She also shares why she believes women don't simply return to who they were after major life changes, whether that's motherhood, perimenopause or another period of transformation. Instead, we become something new.
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Chapters:
00:00 – Meet Siobhan Freegard OBE
00:45 – When motherhood changed everything
02:48 – Siobhan's experience of postnatal depression
03:08 – Matrescence: the transformation of becoming a mother
04:17 – Why motherhood changes your identity
05:10 – You don't go back to who you were
05:31 – Perimenopause: becoming someone new again
06:42 – Finding the fun woman you were before
07:01 – What Siobhan thinks about postnatal depression now
08:03 – Why mothers need a village
09:17 – Where is the community?
10:00 – The intrusive thoughts mums are afraid to talk about
11:40 – Why intrusive thoughts can feel so terrifying
12:05 – How Netmums began
14:20 – Building Netmums before social media
16:13 – Building it without funding
17:05 – “I was just a mum”
18:10 – The mums who said Netmums changed their lives
19:15 – How big did Netmums become?
20:00 – The vision behind Netmums
21:30 – Why having a vision matters
23:00 – Pain, purpose and solving a real problem
24:00 – Why you can only control what you do today
25:00 – The next chapter: Chatmum.ai
27:00 – Can AI really support mothers?
29:00 – What women actually need from technology
31:00 – Turning personal experience into purpose
33:00 – Motherhood, ambition and identity
35:00 – Relationships, divorce and starting again
38:00 – Knowing when something isn't working
40:00 – The importance of self-care
42:00 – Why women put themselves last
44:00 – Supporting women through difficult times
46:00 – Siobhan's work beyond Netmums
48:00 – Finding purpose in the next chapter
50:00 – What Siobhan has learned from 25 years of supporting women
53:00 – The power of community
55:00 – Siobhan's advice for women today
57:00 – Final thoughts
2026/08/251 時間 5 分
46 分
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