What happens when a leader names the invisible with strength, grace, and zero “therapy-on-stage”?

In this Suddenly Different conversation, Certified Speaking Professional Jacqueline Brooker shares how living with C-PTSD has shaped her life, leadership, and voice — and why vulnerability without scaffolding can harm more than heal. She revisits the suddenly different teenage moment when her brain simply stopped, explores the neuroscience behind that “snap,” and reveals how understanding self-trust as the variable in resilience changed everything.

Together we unpack storytelling done well: share only the moments that matter, shape them for the audience (not the ego), and return with the elixir — wisdom and insight.

Whether or not you ever stand on a stage, this episode is a masterclass in truth-telling with care: hold your words tightly, your people lightly, and let your story become a bridge — to connection, compassion, and healing.

Take a breath with us: What was your suddenly different moment — and how might naming it begin to change the way you move forward?

✅ Why it suits:

• “When the Brain Stops” captures Jacqueline’s pivotal story — her teenage brain freeze — and the neuroscience she explains later.

• “C-PTSD, Self-Trust, and the Stories That Heal” aligns with the core arcs of the conversation: trauma, recovery, leadership, storytelling.

• The description keeps the same rhythm and emotional resonance as your Suddenly Different brand — reflective, compassionate, and intelligent.

What happens when your body stops letting you participate in the world? When sound becomes pain, light is unbearable, and stress tips you into collapse?
In this deeply human episode of Suddenly Different, Leigh-Anne speaks with first-time podcast guest Jo Morton from The Good Energy Room—an embodied advocate whose life was hijacked by dysautonomia (including POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), chronic fatigue and widespread hypersensitivity.

Jo takes us inside the six-year slide into shutdown, the loneliness of being disbelieved, and the microscopic work of finding safety again—word by word, breath by breath. We unpack practical shifts that mattered (changing “How are you?” to “Nice to see you”), the role of nervous-system retraining, IV support, and why she followed an energy-based protocol that coincided with her cognition switching back on. There’s no silver bullet here—just observable change, heart-rate variability insights, and a family re-knitting itself around possibility.

Highlights:

• Dysautonomia, MCAS & POTS—how they can present and why they’re often missed

• Hypersensitivity & language: the nervous system “hears” your words

• Micro-wins: wrapping a child’s birthday present; the first stand-up hug; returning the wheelchair

• Choosing “yes” signals: food, movement, media, conversations

• Data, dignity & hope: tracking change and building capacity

If you’ve felt invisible in your illness, may Jo’s story give you the slow, steady kind of hope that rebuilds from the inside out.

Links:

The Good Energy Room

https://goodenergyroom.com.au

Dysautonomia resources

https://potsfoundation.org.au

https://dysautonomiainternational.org

Sometimes life doesn’t whisper — it stops your heart. For Eugene Moreau, a triple bypass became a defining moment. Recovery wasn’t just about healing a body stitched back together. It was about reimagining what it means to live, to love, and to lead with purpose.

In this episode, Eugene shares how he moved from being “mentally arrested” in hospital to deliberately reauthoring his life. We talk about legacy, ageism, faith, and the role of neuroplasticity in rewiring both brain and heart. We also explore how resilience grows in the ordinary moments of holding a grandchild, choosing presence, and focusing only on the three things only you can do.

If you’re navigating your own suddenly different moment, this conversation will remind you that scars can become stories and second chances can be compasses.