We are joined today by Wendy Burt.

Wendy is mum to two handsome young men and has a few years of experience and knowledge to share.

Today Wendy talks about making informed decisions, making time for yourself, using your diary to plan work and me time and so much more.

Wendy is now part of the team at Essex Carer's Network.

Find out how she stays motivated and keeps the plates spinning on today's episode.

The first in a new series on the podcast, What's in the Bin?

We talk a lot about getting motivated, but this series explores the reasons why we are unmotivated. The issues within the system knocking us down again and again. The things we would throw into the bin if we could.

We asked three parent carers what one thing would they throw into the bin if they were in charge of the system for a day.

Donna Giles, Sandra Ramsey and Sharon Oliphant share one thing each and just for fun, you can head to the website and vote on which one of those things you would choose to throw into the bin too.

Adele is an amazing woman. We met when I was part of a project bringing together families who had loved ones in Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs) or hospitals.

For many, ATU won't mean much unless you happened to watch Panorama and Winterbourne View.

Somehow, after 10 years of what can only be described as trauma, Adele still manages to get on with life, ensuring her other children are happy, cared for and enjoying life.

In this episode, she talks about her tribe, how she unwinds at Sainsbury's, and how she uses digital calendars to help stay on top of her busy life.

Danielle Jata-Hall is a parent of three neurodivergent children and a blog writer at www.pdaparenting.com.

She has worked in education supporting many children with SEND and has run a support group for other parents. She is a public speaker, PDA advocate and an online campaigner. With the support of her local MP, Danielle has succeeded in tabling an early-day motion to get the PDA profile more nationally recognised.

She co-authored the children’s book I’m Not Upside Down, I’m Downside Up: Not a Boring Book About PDA and is currently working on a fictional novel for adults called Black Rainbow.

We're back for season two.

To launch our new season, we are joined by the very awesom parent, James Hunt. James is a parent carer to two gorgeous young boys who are both autistic.

Today James joins Debs and talks about how he stays motivated, how he gets back up after a bad day, how he keeps the plates spinning and more.

You can find out more about James and how to follow him on the show's page.

On the podcast today, I am joined by the very entertaining Emma Murphy.

Emma is a special needs teacher, a mum of two boys and has a crazy springer spaniel who drives her mad and saves her sanity in equal measures.

She juggles teaching part time with being a carer for her 10 year old who has complex medical needs and profound learning disabilities and she also occasionally guest lectures to health and educational professionals about how best to support families like ours.

She eats far too much cheese and enjoy more than the occasional glass of wine. She loves reading and writing but never does either of those as much as she'd like.

Emma talks about how she used to have notes on back of envelopes, on white boards, on her phone and random places around the house and how using the Bullet Journal method has helped her to stay on top of everything. She also shares the importance of always having a Plan B - something we don't all make time for.

Emma talks about allowing ourselves time to process the bad times, allowing ourselves to be sad so that we don't implode.

She also talks about her sheer laziness when it comes to exercise and always being able to find something else she would much rather be doing.

Have a listen as we talk Motivation, Productivity and more over on the podcast.

Find out more on this episode page - https://lifeas-pland.com/podcast-emma-murphy-always-have-a-plan-b/

This week I am joined on the podcast by Angela Kelly

Angela is a parent and step parent to five children - two biological children and three step children, Her step children are all grown up. She also has three step grandchildren - who are all fabulous.

Angela works as a counsellor and psychotherapist which she trained for later in life when she realised how early trauma impacts adult functioning and the huge importance of early intervention.

Angela then focused more on neuro diversity and how so many neuro diverse people experience early trauma and it prompted her to study for a postgraduate certificate in Autism. She is very proud to say she passed the course with a distinction in 2019.

Joining me this week is the lovely Emma. In the podcast we refer to Emma as Emma Barritt but she is now Emma Stoneman.

Emma is a midwife who qualified during Lockdown. She is a mum of three, a runner (although she doesn’t think of herself as a runner) and in today’s episode she shares with us how she has managed to get and stay motivated when studying for the last four years, how she unwinds and how she keeps the plates spinning.

She shares her tips for others and I love her story of how she starting running and hated every minute but now counts running in her self care habits.

Emma can be found on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/emma_j_stoneman/