Podcast: My challenges living in Antarctica. Special Guest David Wardle

It's not very often that you get to have a sit down chat with someone who has lived in Antarctica, so I was beyond eager to dive into David's lived experience on this one. I have always thought it would be like living on another planet to live in Antarctica, and hearing David's stories... I was not wrong. I also appreciated him sharing his personal struggles with living in such close quarters with fellow humans and away from his young family.

Thankyou so much David for taking this time to share your story. So many of the themes that pulse through your experience in Antarctica are relatable.

Enjoy everyone!

Quick Chat: Do you really have a bad memory?

A lot of clients say to me 'I have a bad memory', when it truth memory is a complex thing and their reported experience of their memory is very much in the realm of normal / typical... This may be an interesting quick chat for you to reflect on your memory (strengths and weaknesses) and for you to learn to work with your beautiful brain.

Podcast: Do you have to be psychologically minded to be happy? Co-Presenter Kristen Coggan

With our increasing focus on our mental health, our level of self awareness, and our psychological skillset, I ask the question of whether this is all essential to be happy? The question may appear obvious, but perhaps there are those that are smiling through life without much psychological intelligence.

Thankyou Kristen for fleshing this odd question out with me.

What do you all think?

Choices - the end of life. Bringing Voluntary Assisted Dying Legislation to QLD. Dr Harry Jacobs and Fiona Jacobs.

I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to chat with Harry and Fiona Jacobs. Through their medical background and their personal story of loss, they have taken action where action was urgent and overdue. Harry and Fiona explain with such clarity and sensitivity the various avenues involved with Voluntary Assisted Dying, they discuss when and how these choices need to be available to us, and the political terrain that they (and their colleagues) had to overcome to bring this end of life choice to QLD.

This podcast was such a valuable learning curve for me, I'm excited to share it. Harry and Fiona, my warmest heartfelt thankyou for sharing your personal story and challenging journey through this complex area. We Queenslanders now benefit from you providing us with choice at a time when we are our most vulnerable.

Those in the know come along to Couples Therapy to tweak and further strengthen their relationship. But most couples come along at absolute breaking point, where their long held patterns of behaviour have created a huge chasm between them that is difficult, but often not impossible to recover from.

We can learn from this. There is so much to learn about ourselves and our partners. There is so much misunderstanding and hurt to be resolved. I thought I'd overview the advantages of Couples Therapy for those who are curious. It definitely can be a life changing choice.

Podcast: Domestic Violence against men. Co-Presenter Kristen Coggan

It is estimated that 1 in 4 women (27%) experience domestic violence. Sadly, this is a known fact. What isn't known is that 1 in 8 men (12%) also experience domestic violence at the hands of an intimate partner. Men are routinely left in the shadows when they experience DV (coercive control, physical violence, psychological and emotional abuse, verbal abuse etc). Because men are considered the 'stronger sex', society can often not make sense of the fact that they too can be on the receiving end of a tormenting partner. Men are often not believed, which makes their trauma exponentially worse.

Plenty of women are controlling, manipulative and set on eroding their partner's self believe and choice. Let's take a moment to chat about the men on the receiving end, the hidden population.

Thanks Kristen for joining me as we shed light on this topic together.

Podcast: Transitioning our children with Autism into adulthood; a parent's perspective. Special Guest Dr Karen Glasby.

Karen wears so many hats when it comes to this topic. She is an academic, and an advocate for parents, but most importantly she is a mother of a young man with Autism. Karen, like many parent's, has been to hell and back with her son. Her family have watched helplessly as their son struggled with his adult independence, without the cognitive capacity to match this new life stage. As their son was an adult, he theoretically could make his own choices, but they as a family were left to pick up the pieces again and again.

Karen took her search for answers beyond her own front door, and into academia. Her research findings humble us even further. I will let her explain. Thank you immensely for your time Karen and for sharing your story and your wisdom. I truly appreciate the fire in your belly in trying to open everyone's eyes to this issue.

Are you critically judgmental or compassionate judgemental, there is a difference.

I have clients come into session worried that they are judgemental, that they are critical of others. This opens up a fascinating topic of what it means to observe your world and how you respond to what you see.

I thought I would add this topic out of interest because it always creates such interesting responses.

Have a think, where do you sit?