Happy and Childless

Rachel Cordon is a people centred and goal focussed certified breath and body worker. Rachel has a fascination with body psychotherapy and how unconscious minds operate in our lives. In this episode, we will be exploring the power of breathwork in releasing the emotion and grief of being childless not by choice and discussing how transformative this journey has been for Rachel. Rachel now helps ot...

Henri is childless not by circumstance and talks openly and so eloquently about the challenges of being single together with being childless not by choice. She talks about the multiple losses she has faced - the loss of the father of her children who she never met, her children she never had, the loss of her as a mother, her future, her grandchildren and sense of security. We discuss the importanc...

In this episode, I am delighted to be speaking to Carrie Hauskens who has been a huge inspiration to myself. Her journey involves incredible loss and adversity with the still birth of her precious daughter, Clementine due to a rare liver disease. Throughout all of her journey, Carrie has shown an incredible strength and openness to the possibility of happiness despite the challenges faced. She is...

In this episode, I am speaking with Dr Krystal Wilkinson and Dr Robin Hadley around the topic of childlessness in the workplace and the absent narratives which need to be addressed. We discuss the fact that being childless not by choice is a stigmitised and taboo subject in the workplace and how the legitimacy of childlessness is a real issue compared to parenthood where policies and government le...

Ruth Corden co hosts the podcast Finding the Funny which in just over 2 years has had 1 million downloads. Ruth is childless not by choice and has struggled for years with PCOS and endometriosis and through those years so desperately wanted to have a family. In this episode we discuss Ruth's decision to finally stop trying and to move forward in life being intentional about finding joy. We al...

Sam Walsh is the founder of The Non Mum Network and has recently been on the front page of the Daily Mail and on Woman's Hour discussing the challenges of being childless in the workplace. In this episode we discuss the challenges faced being childless in the workplace and we talk about how we can raise awareness, educate and help those who are earlier on in their journey of being childless n...

In this episode we discuss how we both are feeling on the run up to Christmas and how we have coped over the years with holidays in general being childless not by choice. It certainly is a challenging and triggering time for so many for so many different reasons. We talk about the challenges but focus on how we have created our own magic again in life and Christmas!

This is the last episode of the 3 part series on grief with Karin Enfield de Vries. We discuss our lives now having transitioned through the worst of our grief and how we navigate the challenges that life throws our way and how we utilise all that we have learned through years of acceptancec, personal growth and healing. Karen talks so beautifully about how we must "tend to our gardens"...

In this second episode of the 3 part series on Grief, Karin Enfield de Vries and myself discuss acceptance of our childless not by choice situation. Both of our stories are very different but there is so much commonality in our emotions, journey to acceptance and future outlook. We explore the next stage in the journey and ask if we can or need to reach acceptance in order to move forward. Karin w...

Karin Enfield De Vries is a grief and loss counsellor offering her services through her business, Pure Transformations. She is also a well being coach and is passionate about supporting the childness not by choice community. Karin has not only had to overcome the loss of being a parent but in 2011 she was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo a hysterectomy. Through all of this adversity, her s...

Rianna Hijkema is a a multi-passionate serial entrepreneur who has started a consulting practise and co founded a coaching company. She has been living a nomadic life for 12 years and all she owns fits into her back pack. She struggled for 6 years juggling her nomadic lifestyle with fertility and decided enough was enough 12 months ago when she acknowledged her situation and made a decision to bec...

Steph is the Founder of World Childless Week which aims to raise awareness of the childless not by choice community and enable every childless person to share their story with confidence. In this episode, we discuss childlessness from the perspective of being further along in the childless journey having accepted and worked through the worst of their grief. We talk about how we felt at the start o...

Tanya Hubbard is a registered therapeutic counsellor and coach specialising in supporting childless not by choice men and women. In this episode we delve into the role that acceptance plays within our childless journey. On surface level acceptance is spoken about from a position of just accepting not having children but on a much deeper level acceptance spans across so many areas of our lives. We...

Coping with childlessness and numerous unsuccessful IVF attempts takes enormous courage and strength. Add this to swimming the English Channel and climbing Mount Everest and you have the most incredible Jessica Hepburn. We discuss how so many aspects of life and nature are completely out of our control which has lead to a form of acceptance that this is the case. We openly discuss the very differe...

80% of childless people are childless by circumstance. In this episode we address ambivalence and the role this plays in so many of our lives. Katie, like myself, is childless by circumstance and as a therapist she works tirelessly to bring childlessness "into the room" recognising the need for more awareness around both therapists and clients who are childless and who may not feel they...

Living through a global pandemic being childless and single has it's own unique challenges. Sarah Bagg is a qualified life coach and a passionate artist. Her blog Life, Love and Me shares Sarah's experience of egg freezing, coping with being childless and how she has managed to move forward and embrace life. In this episode we really dig deep into the challenges of ending a relationship...

Lana Manikowski is a fertility survivor, dog mum and guide to women looking to create meaningful lives without motherhood. Lana is living proof that you can indeed be "Happy and Childless" and she is sharing tips and techniques which she used to help others. This is centred around practising self awareness and deliberate thinking. In this episode we chat about the things which helped us...

For ten years Aisha was consumed with infertility and trying to conceive - she underwent surgery for endometriosis, had numerous failed rounds of IVF and multiple miscarriages. Aisha's strength to walk away from infertility and instead embrace a childless life is truly inspirational. We discuss how our stories are so different yet we are united in the same feelings, experience and now ability...

Joe Vitale is an international best selling author, musician and actor. Joe is famous for appearing in 24 movies including “The Secret”. He has worked for 35 years helping people create the lives of their dreams. In this episode we discuss Joe’s “dark night of the soul” moments in his life and how he has focused his thoughts, energies and actions to create a successful life, continually achieving...

Marc Reklau is an international best selling author who has written 11 books and sold over half a million copies. We talk about his journey in the last 8 years, from jobless to living his dream life. Marc provides insight into the tips and techniques he uses to access happiness now which involves creating habits and taking action each day. What are we here for? Why are we here? Marc believes it is...

Tansy accepted her childfree life, which was not by choice and moved on from an 8 year journey through a gruelling and emotional adoption process. We talk about what life looks like now, how a weight has been lifted and the joy and excitement which has returned to her life. This derived from acceptance, re-finding her passions and allowing new and purposeful experiences and events to enter her lif...

Marilisa Beatty is a shining example of how to not just survive but to thrive post an infertility struggle. Further to years of frustration, Marilisa and her husband decided to “choose life” and embrace their next chapter in life.  Marilisa is CEO of 2 businesses and was crowned Mrs Pennsylvania 2020. Her outlook in life is to work hard and go for your dreams but the key is you are in control and...

Katy Seppi is designing an unexpectedly childfree life after infertility. After her hysterectomy in 2017, Katy started Chasing Creation to provide support, resources and community for those who are involuntarily childless. In this episode, I will be talking to Katy about the decision to walk away from IVF and what life looks like now. We will discuss how life does look exciting again following yea...

Jody is the British Founder of Gateway Women, the Global friendship and support network for childless women with a social reach of circa 2-million. Jody is the author of “Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning & a Fulfilling Future Without Children”.  In this episode, I will be speaking to Jody about what happiness looks like to her and how she has embraced her life being Happy...