The Support & Kindness Podcast

What happens when the body you live in no longer feels like the one you know? Maybe it changed after an illness, an injury, surgery, or years of pain. Maybe other people cannot see the change at all. Either way, “just love your body” can feel like a lot to ask. This week, I’m joined by Rich, Liam, and Sarah for an honest conversation about body image after your body has changed. We talk about the...

Maybe you thought life would look different by now. A different career. A closer family. Better health. More time with someone you love. Rich, Liam, Sarah, and I talk about grief for the life we expected, and the life we thought we had. We share personal experiences of brain injury, disability, recovery, caregiving, money worries, and regret. There are difficult moments, some laughs, and room for...

When You Can't Make Yourself Do Basic Things You need a shower. There's food to make and a letter you haven't opened. You know what needs doing, but getting started feels like too much. Then someone says, "It only takes five minutes." This week, Rich, Liam, Sarah, and I talk about the everyday tasks we struggle with and the shame that can come with them. We share what it'...

You care about people. So why can opening their messages feel so hard? An unread text. A missed call. A voicemail you keep putting off. Sometimes a phone notification feels like one more demand before you even know what it says. Greg, Rich, Liam, and Sarah talk honestly about phone anxiety, the pressure to reply straight away, and how avoidance can make a message feel bigger. We share different ex...

Episode 54: Are Influencers Ruining Kindness? Someone pays for a stranger's groceries. The help is real. But did the person want their difficult moment shared with millions of people? Greg Shaw, Rich, Liam, and Sarah talk about kindness videos, money, consent, and what happens when someone's private struggle becomes online content. We leave room for different answers, including why these v...

What happens when someone you love sees an important issue in a completely different way? A conversation at the kitchen table can turn tense quickly, especially when politics, values, and family history are all tangled together. I’m joined by Rich, Liam, and Sarah for a candid conversation about what happens inside us when we disagree, why it can hurt more with family, and how to listen without pr...

For the past year, The Support & Kindness Podcast has consistently released new episodes on Mondays. Because of changes in schedules and the demands of this season, we’re moving our regular release day. Going forward, look for new episodes on Wednesdays. Nothing else is changing. Greg, Rich, Liam, and Sarah will continue bringing you honest and supportive conversations about mental health, bra...

CONTENT NOTE This episode discusses depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide prevention. In the U.S., call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org for free, confidential crisis support. If there is immediate life-threatening danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Outside the U.S., find local support at https://findahelpline.com . What happens when medication and therapy...

Episode 51: The Cost of Survival — Money Stress, Disability Budgets, and Economic Shame A budget can be careful, detailed, and honest—and still come up short. In this episode, Greg is joined by Rich, Liam, and Sarah for an open conversation about disability, fixed incomes, rising costs, benefit rules, and the shame people are often expected to carry when the numbers simply do not work. Money stres...

Content note: This episode discusses undiagnosed illness, medical uncertainty, and the emotional toll of waiting for answers. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). You are not alone. Episode 50 of The Support and Kindness Podcast sits in a place that is honestly a little hard to name. Medical limbo, the space between knowing something is wrong and getting an...

Content note: this episode discusses emotional abuse, controlling relationship dynamics, and burnout. If you feel controlled or unsafe in a relationship, you are not alone. US: National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233,or text START to 88788. You ask someone to do a task they have done before, and it goes wrong every time, until you give up and do it yourself. That loop has a name: weapon...

Invisible Illness: When You Don’t Look Sick Content note: this episode discusses living with chronic illness, being dismissed by doctors and loved ones, and the toll of not being believed. Be gentle with yourself as you listen. “You don’t look sick.” Four words usually meant kindly — that can land like a door quietly closing. This week we widen the lens past any one diagnosis to the whole landscap...

Content note: This episode discusses chronic illness, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. If you're struggling, call or text 988 (US) for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Fibromyalgia is invisible on the outside and relentless on the inside - and still too often met with "it's all in your head." In our first-ever guest episode, occupational therapist and fibromyalgia coach L...

Content note: This episode discusses cyberbullying, online harassment, and scams. Nothing is graphic. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 anytime — the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free and available 24/7. We treat online life like it’s less real than the rest of our lives — but there’s a real person on the other side of every screen, and a post can outlast the moment that made it. This...

Episode 45: Are People Really Getting Ruder? Public Etiquette in a Distracted World Nearly half of Americans say people have gotten ruder since the pandemic — but 84% say they personally know exactly how to behave. Both can’t be true. This week Greg, Rich, and Sarah ask whether people are really getting ruder, or whether “rude” is mostly about perception, expectation, and capacity. We reframe rude...

Episode 44 Content note: This episode discusses suicidal thinking and the ways some AI tools have responded poorly to people in crisis, including young people. If you're struggling, you're not alone. In the US, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. International listeners: please contact your local crisis line. It's 2 a.m. Your chest is tight, your mind is racing, eve...

This week we skipped the script for a real fireside chat. Greg, Rich, and Liam talk about what it actually takes to get by when money is tight — and why needing help is nothing to be ashamed of. With costs climbing and grocery budgets shrinking, more of us are leaning on food pantries, benefits, and community help than ever. Liam shares how treatment for alcohol quietly changed his life and connec...

Hold a door. Wave a car in. Text an old friend out of nowhere. Small kindnesses — but that same gesture can mean something completely different three time zones away. In Episode 42, we travel the world to ask one question: does kindness look the same everywhere? The heart of it does. The shape of it doesn't. Greg, Rich, Liam, and Sarah trace the word for kindness through six faith traditions,...

Content note: this episode discusses rejection, shame, and self-harm. If you are struggling, you are not alone. In the US, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. That sinking feeling when one small piece of feedback lands like a punch? There is a name for it: Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, or RSD. In Episode 41, Greg, Rich, Liam, and Sarah talk plainly about what RSD is, why it can...

Episode 40: The Cost of Kindness Content note: One segment includes a personal story of childhood family violence. If you’re struggling, you’re not alone: In the US call or text 988, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. We almost always hear “ the cost of kindness ” as a warning. This episode flips it: the real cost isn’t being kind — it’s holding kindness back. Greg and th...

You wrote the plan down. You even put it on your phone. By 10 a.m. you’d started four things and finished none — and that same old voice was asking what’s wrong with you. If that’s familiar, this one’s for you. In Episode 39, Greg and Rich have an honest, personal conversation about adult ADHD: what it actually is, why it’s so easily missed, and what real support looks like. ADHD isn’t the kid who...

It’s late, you’re scrolling, and there’s a low hum under everything — the headlines, the economy, the things you can’t fix. You’re not upset about one thing; you’re just heavy, tired, and small. Episode 38 is about that feeling, and about finding where your power actually lives. Greg, Rich, Derek, and Sarah define agency (the felt belief that what you do shapes what happens next), name the differe...

Welcome back to the Support and Kindness Podcast, I'm your host, Greg Shaw, and I just wanted to let you know that we're not going to actually air a podcast this week. We've got some people who are sick this week, some people who are on vacation, and some people are just playing hooky. Rich and I did record an episode for you, but unfortunately, yours truly had the audio settings wrong...

Content note: This episode discusses mental health crisis, panic attacks, and suicidal thinking. If you're struggling, call or text 988 (US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). International listeners: please use your local crisis line. When you cut your finger, you reach for the first aid kit. But what do you reach for when your heart is breaking, when anxiety floods you at 3 a.m., or when grief m...

Episode 36: Cruelty of The Inner Voice What would you do if a stranger spoke to you the way your inner critic does? Most of us would walk away. Some of us would speak up. Some of us would call someone for help. But when that same cruelty comes from inside our own heads, many of us accept it as truth. In this episode of The Support and Kindness Podcast , Greg, Rich, Derek, Liam, and Sarah talk hone...