Military Life

This week I talk to Brooke about finding her feet as a new spouse and navigating all that comes with being a defence family.   We also talk about:   Her husband's decision to join the military and why it was important it was a joint decision  The pull her husband felt between his young family and training whilst they all lived on base  Making use of any and all available support services as soon a...

In this weeks podcast episode I talk to New Zealand Navy spouse Rose about what it's like to do an international posting in Australia. We also talk about her career goals taking a backseat and the positives that have come from that and accessing support for your children and yourself when you are classed as New Zealand Navy in Australia but still have the same needs as any other Defence family.  ...

This week I talk to Amelia about her spouse journey, defence life and following her heart to pursue her passion. After giving birth to her 3rd daughter, while on an overseas posting in Canada, Amelia decided she wanted to write children's books. Fast forward to now and Amelia is an author with two books on shelves and another 4 on the way! Amelia talks about how spouses can do anything they put th...

Partner employment, if it was a relationship on socials it would be listed as "its complicated."   It's an area that almost all ADF partners will face challenges in at one point or another whether it be because of relocation, unconscious employer bias, the extra responsibilities we take on that may restrict us and our capacity and the list goes on.   The last ADF families survey showed 14% of part...

This week on the Podcast Part 2 of Sarah's story. In Part 1 Sarah talked about how her last minute decision to join her Husband in a regional location ended up resulting in a diagnosis for her son and uncovering his "mysterious" medical condition. Sarah walked us through the process of becoming recognised as a family with special needs and what happens when they post. We also talked about Sarah's...

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Sarah about how her last minute decision to join her Husband in a regional location ended up resulting in a diagnosis for her son and uncovering his "mysterious" medical condition. Sarah walks us through the process of becoming recognised as a family with special needs and what happens when you post. We also talk about Sarah's determination to continue her...

In this weeks episode, as part of Domestic Violence Prevention month, I talk to Domestic Violence Case Manager and Military spouse Jess about the cycle of violence DV victims experience and how military life sometimes adds to the isolation they go through. We also talk about how a spouse can safely leave a DV relationship, what supports they can access and why DV victims can't "just leave" an abus...

Welcome to something a little different!⁣ ⁣ Today's episode is made up of some of the best moments from past episodes in celebration of the podcasts 50th episode. This week we also hit 20k downloads and this month marks ONE year since the MWL podcast started.⁣ ⁣ So, so, so much to celebrate but what those milestones actually mean is that for one year the MWL community has been supporting me and ha...

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Clare about the red tape and cost that comes with posting to different states when you're a Lawyer. Clare also talks about how she manages a chronic illness and the importance of having a support network and interests outside of defence and her career. Ready to join the MWL community? Click through the link to get connected xx www.militarywifelife.com.au

This week on the Podcast I talk to Lisa about what it's like to be a spouse with 30 years of Military life under your belt. Lisa talks about how she is navigating having to post away from her adult children, the transition back to spending time with her Husband and being a couple again and how she found it going back to work without a defined career path and now that she is older.   Ready to join...

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Courtney about first postings, moving and managing chronic illness. We also talk about how she navigates knowing her Military member will be at sea a lot and her decision to move to be closer to family and friend supports while her Husband is deployed.   Ready to join the MWL community? Click through the link to get connected xx www.militarywifelife.com.au

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Suze about how she moved past a bad first deployment and decided to learn the skills and coping mechanism needed to not just survive but thrive future separations and deployments. Suze talks about how some bad advice from others to not tell her partner that she wasn't OK, affected her mental health. We also talk about finding employment, accessing Open Arm...

This week's podcast episode is the third in a series dedicated to bringing you current information relevant to you, as a spouse and as part of an ADF family, during COVID19.      This week I talk to Military spouse and Nutritionist Katherine Ramsden about all things nutrition, food and our health. How can we best navigate this time while making sure we're still looking after ourselves despite limi...

This week's podcast episode is the second in a series dedicated to bringing you current information relevant to you, as a spouse and as part of an ADF family, during COVID19.    This week I talk to Vonnie Balmer, Coordinator of the Gallipoli Barracks Community Centre about what they're doing now that spouses can't actually physically make use of their community centre. We talk about how they, like...

This weeks podcast episode is the first in a series dedicated to bringing you current information relevant to you, as a spouse and as part of an ADF family, during COVID19.    Support, info and services are changing and adapting to try and meet our needs which is why I thought it was important to bring you as much updated and useful information as I could at this time.    This week I talk to Natio...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Clinical Psychologist Dr Jodie Lowinger about how we can thrive as Military spouses. Whether we are just entering the role of a spouse or have been doing it for years and years, Jodie talks about how being kind to ourselves, understanding that our best is good enough and focusing on the certainty within the uncertainty can help us cope with the ups and downs of s...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Army spouse Bec about a service dog called Gus and how he saved her husband, her marriage and her family. Gus was matched to her Husband through the Defence Community Dog Program, a program that is funded by the Defence Bank Foundation. The DCD program provides highly trained service dogs to serving and ex-serving ADF members who need support to deal with injurie...

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Hannah about her first posting, the isolation you can feel even though you might be living in a City, accessing couples counselling through Open Arms and the plan for her Husband to possibly transition out of Defence. Ready to join the MWL community? Click through the link to get connected xx www.militarywifelife.com.au

This week on the Podcast I talk to Claire, a Navy partner who is using her personal and business experience to make a difference for all of us. Claire has a passion for supporting woman achieve their goals through coworking spaces (her coworking program is currently underway in Canberra). Think a space and place you can go to and work alongside other's with onsite childcare. For many of us spouses...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Army spouse Bec about what it's like to post in and out of the same few locations while juggling mum and work life, separation and deployments. Bec also talks about the day she was told her Husband, who was just a few weeks into a deployment overseas, had been diagnosed with Cancer and the years that followed that diagnosis. But the one constant Bec talks about i...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Shayne Vining, Deputy Director of National Operations at the Defence Community Organisation to get the low down on what DCO do and when and why we should access information and support from them. We touch on the broad range of programs and services focusing on the 24 hour Defence Family Hotline, the SMART programs, PEAP (Partner employment assistance program) and...

This week on the Podcast I talk to spouse Anastasia about how she brushed off a bad first deployment. Anastasia talks about how she started to resent her military person and felt she didn't cope with the 6 month separation very well. She became depressed and really felt like she was in a holding pattern while her partner was away. But Anastasia was determined to go into a second 6 month deployment...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Jess about the pros and cons of working for yourself when you're a Military spouse. Setting up your own business is often an appealing option to a lot of us due to the nature of the Defence lifestyle and needing to be able to take your work with you from state to state. Jess lets us in on just what goes into moving your family and your business across country.  ...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Kat John, speaker, coach and someone who's mission is to help us master our minds so our souls can come back to life! This episode is about us focusing on sparking that connection with what WE really want out of life. We talk about how we can follow through with the vision for our life despite the brick walls we come up against and the lack of control we might fe...

This week on the Podcast I talk to Shari about what it's like to be the spouse of a Submariner. We talk no communication for months on end, the tight knit community that Shari calls the Navy within the Navy and how that community and Defence rallied around their family when their 16 year old son was diagnosed with a brain tumour.   Ready to join the MWL community? Click through the link to get con...