RAW with J

Content note: this episode discusses suicide, mental health and grief. Please listen when you're in the right space, and come back later if today isn't the day. Support is below. When Jason King received a letter telling him he was a father, his daughter Jordan was already 18 months old. The first time he saw her, at Melbourne Airport, he looked into her eyes and thought: oh, there you are...

You are not broken. You are rebuilding. And what if the loneliest, hardest season of your life is the very thing that hands you your purpose? In this episode of Raw with J, I do something I have never done before. No guest, no co-host, just me, straight to the camera, telling bits of my story for the first time. I am Jacintha, though most people call me J. I am a family and child counsellor, art t...

You are not failing your child. And your child is not a bad kid. What if the behaviour that is driving you to your absolute limit is actually your child's way of telling you something they do not yet have the words for? In this episode of Raw With J, I sit down with Karen Young, psychologist, children's author and the brilliant mind behind Hey Sigmund, to have one of the warmest and most p...

What if someone had already invented the technology to keep your kids safe online and nobody in power was listening? In this episode of Raw With J, I talk to Ric Richardson, the extraordinary Australian inventor known as the man who sued Microsoft and won, to have one of the most important and urgent conversations I have ever recorded. If you are a parent trying to navigate the digital world with...

What if everything you were told about yourself was wrong? And what if the way you show up in your relationships, your patterns, your people pleasing and your self doubt all lead back to one place: your childhood? In this episode of Raw With J, I sit down with Dr Nicole LePera, world renowned psychologist and the mastermind behind The Holistic Psychologist, to have one of the most profound and per...

What if the moments your child struggles, fails or falls apart are actually the moments their brain is growing the most? In this episode of Raw With J, I chat  with Alexandra Eidens, founder of Big Life Journal, the children's growth mindset journal that has reached over 2 million families worldwide. Alexandra is warm, wise and deeply passionate about raising children who believe in themselves...

Separation is brutal. The grief is real. But what happens to your children while you are in the middle of it all could affect them for the rest of their lives. In this episode of Raw With J, I sit down with Gabriella Pomare, a family lawyer, author and co-parenting expert who has not only guided countless families through separation and divorce but has lived it herself. Together we get brutally ho...

Is Australia's social media ban actually protecting our kids or are we completely missing the point? In this episode of Raw With J, Jacinta sits down with Dr Ger Graus, one of the world's leading early childhood education experts with over 45 years of experience, to unpack why the social media ban won't work, what is really failing our children and what we should be doing instead. Dr G...

If you know what to do (set boundaries, stay calm, stop procrastinating) but cannot seem to do it, this is why. In this episode of Raw With J, Dr Chris Lee and I unpack why setting boundaries feels hard, why anxiety leads to avoidance, how phone addiction hijacks focus, and what actually builds mental resilience. We explore emotional intelligence through the lens of regulation, trauma responses, a...

The most powerful driver of your emotions has never been measured before. Until now. In this episode, Nic Gibson and I unpack the nervous system, vulnerability, and emotional intelligence and why so much of our behaviour is driven beneath the surface. If we want to change our patterns and strengthen connection, we need to understand the autonomic nervous system and how it quietly shapes everyday l...

Most parents believe their children are safe online, or they look the other way because “it keeps them quiet”. The reality is far more confronting. ⚠️Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide and sextortion. Please take care while listening and step away if you need to. In this episode of Raw With J, I sit down with Ben Gillenwater, The Family IT Guy, a former cybersecurity expert who has sp...

Parenting is not hard because you are doing it wrong. It is hard because it asks you to face parts of yourself you were never taught how to regulate. In this episode of Raw With J , I sit down with Dr Shefali, world-renowned clinical psychologist and author of The Conscious Parent , to explore emotional regulation, parenting triggers, and what conscious parenting really means in everyday life. Thi...

RAW With J is a podcast for parents and carers who are navigating the emotional reality of raising children while carrying their own unspoken struggles. Hosted by Jacintha (J), a family and child counsellor, mum, and founder of Happy Souls Kids, this podcast creates space for the conversations many parents need but rarely hear. The ones about burnout, emotional overwhelm, identity loss, loneliness...