The Road Back Home

Amanda introduces her guest Maria Ortega, a transdisciplinary poetry therapy practitioner and educator. Together, they explore the profound intersection of  journaling, poetry & self-discovery . Tune in to hear How creative expression serves as a vital tool for  verbal and visual processing , particularly for those navigating late-diagnosed ADHD or childhood invisibility. How using  metaphor a...

Sometimes the bravest thing is admitting the year kicked your ass, and you're still here. After months of silence, Amanda and Melanie reunite in Jupiter, Florida for their first-ever family Christmas in 30 years; and the most honest conversation they've ever recorded. You've been wondering where they went. Why the podcast went quiet. What happened. Here's the truth: Life happened....

Silly season is upon us & for many, this also means enduring the increased stress & anxiety that often accompanies the holidays. We discuss the common stress triggers & offer you our best tried & true ideas to help you navigate it all with more ease and joy. Whether your challenge is tricky family dynamics, towering expectations or managing your own energy, we discuss creative ways...

June Curtain joins Amanda for a conversation that will completely redefine how you think about kindness - and why you might have given up on it for all the wrong reasons. You've tried being kind. You've bent over backwards for people. You've given until it hurt. And what did you get? Taken advantage of. Unappreciated. Burnt out. So you decided kindness doesn't work. People don't deserve it. You're...

"I know I should leave this WhatsApp group because it's draining me, but what if they think I'm a terrible person?" Sound familiar? Amanda breaks down the exhausting pattern that's probably running your life without you realising it. You stay in conversations that drain you because you don't want to seem rude. You keep saying yes when you mean no. You override your instin...

After 16 years of iterations, false starts, and "almost there" moments, Amanda finally reveals what's been trying to be born through her all along. You know that feeling when you've been trying to solve the same problems for years? Reading every self-help book, listening to every podcast, trying every method, but nothing sticks? Here's what no one tells you: Information isn&#...

School taught you that creativity, individuality and questioning authority were problems to be solved. But in today's world? Those are the exact skills that make you unstoppable. Laura Canavan Hayes joins Amanda for a raw conversation about everything the education system got wrong - and how to reclaim what they tried to strip away. In this deeply personal episode, Amanda and Laura unpack: Wha...

Today's guest didn't show up. So Amanda spills the tea on the ONE thing that's kept you stuck your entire life. You think the problem is your partner. Your weight. Your boss. Your bank account. Plot twist: You've been trying to solve the wrong problem. Amanda lost 100lbs TWICE and was still miserable. She tried the geographic cure more times than she can count. Same drama, different zip code. Here...

This one's for everyone who's tired of feeling like they have to keep pulling rabbits from a hat to deserve a seat at the table. In this unscripted solo episode, Amanda challenges herself to just talk. No outline, no plan, no trunk full of wisdom to unpack. What emerges is a beautiful meditation on recovery, control and the radical act of being enough exactly as you are. Fresh from re-ente...

Ashleigh Tobin is a master storyteller who uses words as colours and her voice as a paintbrush. As a hormone health coach, registered nurse with 35+ years experience and TEDx speaker, she helps women navigate the profound transformation of midlife not as decline, but as awakening. In this conversation, we dive deep into the four stages of womanhood: maiden, creative, enchantress, and sage. That th...

Photographer and yoga teacher Tara Morris sits down for one of the most honest conversations about what it actually means to be free; not when you're "perfect," but right now, exactly as you are. Fresh from losing her mother after 25 years of Parkinson's & navigating her own profound grief, Tara speaks with raw honesty about being "face down in the arena" while stil...

This one's for everyone who's ever felt like they had to choose between being authentic and being professional. Jean Evans is a Networking Architect , but this conversation isn't about collecting business cards or LinkedIn strategies. It's about something much more essential: how authentic connection becomes life resourcing, especially for women rebuilding their worlds. After being...

Amanda met Michelle at a professional speaking event, where she stood before a room & declared: "Every single person has something to offer. Everybody has value." Then she challenged everyone to prove it, right there, in real time. In this conversation, Amanda unpacks with her, the inner panic that quickly ensued. Michelle, aka THE PEOPLE READER , is an expert in human behaviour, president of...

What happens when you stop being a "square peg trying to fit in a round hole"? Interior architect Stephanie O'Sullivan spent over a decade in corporate creative roles, masking her neuro-divergent nature and slowly having "anything good about it sucked away." Then came the breakthrough that changed everything and led to a complete reimagining of what it means to be creative, authentic and unapologe...

What happens when a "big voice" changes the trajectory of your entire life? In 1988, Emer Halpenny was holding her eight-week-old son, about to take him home from his foster family, when something extraordinary happened. A voice, clear as day—landed on her: "What do you think you're doing? You know this is not for you. Put that baby down." Thirty-six years later, that baby...

Sometimes the most life-changing revelations come from the most ordinary moments. In this deeply personal solo episode, Amanda shares how adopting her new dog Molly six weeks ago led to a stunning realisation that "turned everything I had been insisting was true on its head." What You'll Discover: The profound difference between control & love. How our past traumas can distort se...

What if 'me time' wasn’t a luxury, but a lifeline ? This episode is an invitation to step out of productivity culture and into something deeper: the quiet, profound magic of art journaling and creativity as a way home to yourself . Whether you’re in recovery, in transition, or just feeling disconnected , this one is for the part of you that knows there’s more wisdom inside, but can’t quite get to...

Amanda brings listeners along for a real-time walk through the Irish countryside with her newly adopted dog, Molly. Recorded on a winding bóithrín in Co Tipperary, this intimate 'walk and talk' offers an immersive sensory experience, reflections on grief and healing and an invitation to reconnect with the natural world; and ourselves. Tune in to hear: 🌿 How a simple walk became a metaphor for hea...

Amanda & Mel reunite after a break & unpack the emotional & practical realities of re-entering 'normal life' after time off . Whether you're coming back from a vacation, a creative break, or just a disrupted schedule, this episode explores why re-entry can feel so rough & how to handle it with self-compassion. They talk about: Why everything feels harder without routine...

In this special episode, Amanda sits down with her beloved teacher, mentor, and spiritual guide, Carmel Boyle of An Chroí Wisdom Institute . Their conversation offers a rich and moving exploration of healing, transformation, spiritual unfolding and the deep human longing to return home to ourselves . Amanda shares how she found the Wisdom Institute, and Carmel, the morning after her father’s death...

[nb: The audio for the 1st 2 mins or so (Amanda's intro) isn't great - please bear with it, it gets better] If you’ve ever struggled with food, body image, or that nagging voice that says you’re not “sick enough” to get help, this episode will speak directly to your soul. Amanda introduces to The Road Back Home, Jacqueline Campion from the Marino Therapy Center to talk about recovery from eating d...

What really happens behind the scenes of a live podcast launch? We spill it all. In this episode, we take you behind the curtain of our first-ever live recording of The Road Back Home and yes, it was every bit as nerve-wracking, soul-stretching and joy-filled as you’d imagine. We talk about: What it felt like to sit on stage with no 'exit plan' Why Mel, a seasoned stage pro, felt a bit out...

What if your happiness isn’t selfish… but generous? In this very special live episode recorded at Nenagh Arts Centre , Amanda & Mel take the stage to unpack a bold idea: your happiness is not just a personal pursuit, it’s a gift to everyone around you. With heartfelt honesty, laughs & a little Grace-over-drama realness, they get into: What “your happiness is a gift” really means Why inner...

What do you say to your 18-year-old self after 45 years of marriage and four children? Eileen Grace, aka 'Eilo', joins Amanda and Mel for a deeply personal and heartwarming Mother’s Day special; this time, not as the wife of the legendary Brendan Grace , but as the woman who quietly held the family together. In this very special episode, the sisters turn the spotlight on the woman who raised them,...

🧩 What if your personality isn’t who you are, but just a habit you’ve developed over time? What if it was there was a key to understanding the hidden patterns shaping how you think, feel, and react? In this episode of THE ROAD BACK HOME PODCAST, Amanda & Mel offer you a primer on how personality forms, why we over-identify with it &  how to break free from the ways it limits us. 🔎 Inside...