The Power of the Truth

 Emily Forrester's daughter Leni was a perfectly healthy, happy toddler, meeting every milestone, when a routine genetic screening in the family led to a diagnosis nobody in the family had ever heard of: Sanfilippo syndrome, a form of childhood dementia. In this conversation, Emily explains what a diagnosis like this actually means, why childhood dementia affects as many children as childhood...

For the first time ever, the tables are turned. Lorna, of Lorna Ann Energy, has been a listener of The Power of the Truth for a while now, and she asked if she could step into the host chair and interview me instead. It felt strange agreeing to it, I'm far more comfortable asking the questions, but here we are. We talk about why I chose truth as the theme of this whole podcast, what it's...

Emily, of Emily and Her Stars, is a psychic medium, evolutionary and intuitive astrologer, and Akashic records reader, she's also my actual friend, which made this conversation feel a little different, in the best way. We talk about what it actually took for her to accept that she was a medium, a process she describes as "surviving," and why admitting it to herself felt more terrify...

  Description   "The lucky sperm club." That's what Chip Scholz calls the sons and daughters who inherit businesses they didn't build. He should know, he's spent nearly 30 years coaching leaders and organisations, much of it inside the particular chaos of family-run businesses. In this conversation, Chip and Fran trade stories from the front line, the emotional blackmail,...

In this episode I'm joined by Helen von Dadelszen, communications and vocal coach based near Geneva, Switzerland, and author of Courageous Action. Helen takes us from her theatre-filled childhood in New Zealand, through years working in the humanitarian sector, to a lightbulb moment watching brilliant HIV researchers fail to communicate their groundbreaking work on an international stage. Tha...

In this episode I'm joined by Christine Dillard, author of The Truth She Showed Me. Christine takes us back to the very first date that should have been a red flag, through 17 years of coercive control, and the three and a half year process it took to plan a safe exit while protecting her children. She's honest about the isolation, the moments that turned physical, and the devastating wa...

In this episode I'm joined by Rosie Moss, host of the award-winning podcast Widowed AF and author of the bestselling book Widowed As F**k. Rosie was 37, with three children under 8, when her husband Ben went missing on a routine scuba dive off the coast of Dover and was never found. She takes us through the day the police arrived at her door, the agonising legal process of having Ben legally...

In this episode I'm joined by Lisa Barwise, wellness alchemist, fitness feminist and bestselling author. Lisa takes us back to her edge-of-the-bed moment, the morning her legs simply gave out beneath her, and unpacks everything that had been quietly compounding underneath it. A narcissistic friendship with someone who was supposed to be like a sister to her. Unresolved grief, including losing...

In this episode I'm joined by Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne, former GB rower and Tokyo Olympian. Charlotte takes us from her early days chasing her older sister into the sport, through World Championship titles, a world record, and racing at the Olympics, right through to walking away from professional sport entirely and co-founding a women's health tech startup.  We talk about why she refuse...

In this episode I'm joined by Hannah Gee, founder of the Fairer Exams campaign, hypnotherapist and mum of three. Hannah shares the story of her son's dyslexia, his GCSE results falling short by a single mark, and the viral moment, sobbing in a car outside his final exam, that turned personal heartbreak into a national campaign.  We talk about the shocking statistic that one in three chil...

You Don't Have to Do It Alone: Cindy Burns on 15 Years of Grief and Finding Herself Again In this episode I'm joined by Cindy Burns, life coach specialising in grief and finding purpose, who lost her husband Dan to cancer in 2011 after 34 years together. Cindy shares the reality of grief that doesn't look like grief, years of barely existing, a stress-induced bleeding ulcer, and the...

Send us Fan Mail   No One Met Him But Us: Niky Hamilton on Full Term Stillbirth and the Truth About a Grief the World Doesn't Understand   In this episode I'm joined by Niky Hamilton, women's resilience coach, physiotherapist of over 20 years, and author of Selfish Leadership: How to Lead Without Losing Yourself . Niky shares the story of her son Baxter, stillborn in February 2014,...

Send us Fan Mail Claire Karitzis is a professional dancer, mum and psychic intuitive healer. She trained at full-time ballet school from the age of 16, danced with Kylie and Justin Timberlake at the MTV Europe Music Awards, choreographed for X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, and at 29 was diagnosed with breast cancer. But underneath all of that was a truth she had been carrying since childho...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a criminal defence lawyer decides that justice is about more than winning cases? In this episode I sit down with Shazia Ali, CEO of Scarsdale Solicitors, whose approach to law is anything but conventional. Warm, direct and utterly human, Shazia shares the story behind her drive to help people, from running free legal clinics at food banks to supporting women esca...

Send us Fan Mail Please note: this episode contains open discussion about suicide, child loss, and grief. If you are struggling, please reach out to Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org   In 2015, Chris Coulter lost his 14-year-old daughter Maddie to suicide.  What he has built in her memory and the parents he has helped along the way, is one of the most moving stories I have had the priv...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever felt your voice wobble when your truth is trying to walk tall, this episode will steady your stride. We dive into the quiet power that rises when your words, your body, and your mindset finally stop arguing with each other and start telling the same story. Truth isn’t just noble; it’s profitable. And, as you’ll hear, it’s the cornerstone of communication that actual...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you stop performing your life… and start telling the truth?  In this episode, Fran Willoughby sits down with psychic medium, intuitive life coach, and author Mary Beth Thomsen to explore her upcoming book Burn The Ships: The Power of Telling the Truth to Yourself and the World.   From spirituality and neuroscience to social media masks, limiting beliefs, and the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Fran sits down with Peter Greedy , an optometrist-turned-coach whose life took an extraordinary turn when he became part of the UK religious group Antioch in 1983. Peter spent 15 years inside its tightly controlled world, communal living, patriarchal teachings, no-dating rules, love-bombing, and an intense culture of obedience. He shares how he was first drawn in...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply honest episode, Fran Willoughby sits down with Katie Costello -  soul midwife, funeral celebrant, and death educator - whose work brings compassion, clarity, and humanity back into the end-of-life experience.  Katie shares how her path into end-of-life support grew from early encounters with death, a strong spiritual thread, and over a decade working in care and hos...

Send us Fan Mail Darren Barden's story: Surviving a Mistaken-Identity Hit, PTSD, and Turning his trauma supporting others to aid Suicide Prevention On The Power of the Truth podcast, Fran Willoughby interviews Darren Barden, CEO of iTalk and author of “Let’s Skip to the Good Bits,” about surviving a brutal mistaken-identity attack at his home in 1996, in which he was stabbed over 20 times at...

Send us Fan Mail Host Fran Willoughby welcomes Victoria Vanstone of the Sober Awkward podcast, an author and sobriety advocate living in Australia, to discuss alcohol, honesty, and motherhood. Victoria describes her weekend binge-drinking pattern after becoming a mum, the anxiety and guilt of hangovers with young children, and a defining moment of admitting she couldn’t moderate and needed help; t...

Send us Fan Mail Host Fran Willoughby interviews Willie Nicol on the Power of the Truth Podcast. Willie shares his journey from 31 years as a police detective to an unexpected second career in coaching after leaving policing. About Willie After graduating with a Law degree at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, Willie had a 31 year career as a Police Officer, followed on retirement by nearly seve...

Send us Fan Mail In this powerful episode of The Power of the Truth , Fran speaks with worthiness coach Ebi Diete-Spiff - a woman who rebuilt her life from the inside out. Ebi shares the turning point in 2014 that shattered the illusion of confidence she had carried for decades and led her into a deep journey of self-awareness, healing, and what she calls self-mastery . Her story spans continents...

Send us Fan Mail Tipped as a future Second Sea Lord, Commodore Duncan Lustig-Prean, the holder of three Commendations for Leadership, was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1995 because of his sexuality. He went on to lead the campaign to lift the ban of gays in the military and challenged the UK in the European Court of Human Rights. In 2000 the ban was abolished with new rules and support mechanis...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Power of the Truth Podcast, Fran interviews Maike Mullenders, a yoga teacher, author, and volunteer group facilitator for Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide. Maike shares her childhood growing up with a father with undiagnosed mental health issues who repeatedly attempted suicide and died by suicide when she was 21.  Book: The Confession: A Journey to Accep...