THRIVING MINDS PODCAST

Raising children is not something families should have to do alone. It takes a village: parents, grandparents, educators, health professionals, community workers, neighbours and friends who can offer practical help, calm advice and a reminder that no one needs to have all the answers. In Episode #5 of Big Feelings Growing Brains , we explore the everyday moments that can feel big for families: sup...

Simple food and lunchbox ideas for big feelings, growing brains Feeding children is rarely just about food. It can be about time, cost, tiredness, sensory needs, routine, allergies, lunchboxes that come home untouched, and the pressure families can feel to get every meal right. In Episode #4 of Big Feelings Growing Brains , we heard many thoughtful, practical ideas from educators, health professio...

School avoidance is becoming an increasingly common challenge for families, schools, and communities. For some children, walking through the school gates can feel overwhelming. Anxiety, bullying, social pressures, learning difficulties, emotional distress, and feeling unsafe can all contribute to school refusal and disengagement. In Episode 3 of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, we explore what may si...

Why do some children seem calm one moment and completely overwhelmed the next when it is time to switch off a screen? In Episode 2 of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, we explore what is really happening in the developing brain when children move from highly stimulating digital environments back into everyday life. Together, parents, educators, and wellbeing leaders discuss why screen transitions can...

Why Children Melt Down When Screens End Why do simple moments like “time to turn it off” so often end in tears, anger, shutdowns, or emotional explosions? In the first episode of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, neuroscientist Professor Selena Bartlett brings together educators, parents, and wellbeing voices to explore what is really happening in the developing brain during screen-time transitions. F...

Anxiety in children and teenagers is rising, but are we always helping in the right way? In this powerful conversation, with clinical psychologist Dr Danielle Einstein to explore what anxiety really is, how modern parenting, social media and screens may unintentionally reinforce it, and why avoidance can quietly strengthen fear over time. Drawing on neuroscience, clinical psychology, and real-worl...

What does it really mean to raise a screen-smart child in a world that is designed to capture their attention? In this important and timely conversation, I sit down with Dr Mark Williams to discuss his new book with Gavin McCormack, exploring the science, the reality, and the responsibility we all share when it comes to children and screens. Drawing from their new book Screen Smart Children , we g...

If we are honest, we know we are not one fixed version of ourselves. We can be generous and self-interested, patient and reactive, all within the same day. In this episode, we explore that uncomfortable truth and what it reveals about human behaviour. I sit down with Benjamin Knight to discuss Contained , a powerful immersive experience that brings you inside the reality of youth detention. It ask...

What if the pickleball court was the beginning of a movement? Not a fitness trend, but a genuine response to one of the most significant public health challenges of our time: the slow erosion of the social fabric that holds communities together and keeps people well. I was sharing an Uber Pool on my way to speak to a room full of local council leaders when the woman sitting next to me started talk...

Kindness Tim Tams: A World a Little Better Because of Rachel Robinson, MySummits In this episode of Thriving Minds , Professor Selena Bartlett speaks with Rachel Robinson, Director of Adventure-Based Therapeutic Solutions (ABTS) and co-founder of MySummits, about the transformative impact of connection and outdoor adventure for young people. Rachel shares a story from one of her camps where offeri...

"I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message. " In 2026, many parents, teachers and coaches are asking the same question. What is happening to our children? Across schools and communities, we are seeing more aggression, faster escalation of conflict, online humiliation spilling into classrooms, and y...

This week on Thriving Minds , I’m joined by Associate Professor Tara Walker , Senior Research Associate at the Queensland Brain Institute (UQ) — and co-host of the trail running podcast Trail Tales with Tara and Bryce. Tara and I are both neuroscientists, and we both love running. In this episode we explore the science and the joy of trail running — what it does for brain health, mental health, co...

What happens when we mistake compliance for strength? In this episode of Thriving Minds , Professor Selena Bartlett explores a powerful and confronting conversation with a man who was proud of the physical punishment he received as a child. He believed it made him disciplined. He believed it taught him consequences. He believed it made him better. But beneath that story lies a deeper question: whe...

In this episode of Thriving Minds , Professor Selena Bartlett is joined by Ellie Murphy , founder of Storitiv , to explore why authenticity is becoming one of the most important human skills in an AI-mediated world. As technology makes it easier than ever to generate polished language, profiles, and narratives, many people are sensing a growing gap between how they present themselves and what feel...

The podcast episode featured a conversation with Professor Sharon Lawn about mental health systems, lived experience, and the importance of humanising care for individuals with mental health challenges.  We discuss the need for more person-centered, compassionate approaches in mental health services and the value of incorporating lived experience perspectives into research, policy, and practice. T...

Episode #207 marks a moment of deep gratitude and reflection. In this special episode, I look back on the journey that shaped Thriving Minds from the early days of questioning how the brain works, through decades of neuroscience, to the new era we are stepping into together. This episode explores how early life experiences shape the nervous system, why connection is a biological regulator, and how...

2025 has felt like a turning point. Across this year’s Thriving Minds conversations—from brain health and dementia, to stress, team flow, near-death experiences, and the “neuroscience of two”—one message keeps rising to the surface: We are only just beginning to understand how powerful we are for each other’s brains. In this special reflection episode, I explore what we learned in 2025 and where T...

Thriving Minds Podcast Deep Dive: Building a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Team Hosted by Professor Selena Bartlett Expert : Feather Berkower, Author of Off Limits: A Parent’s Guide to Keeping Kids Safe from Sexual Abuse The top 5 things to keep children safe in the digital age. Feather challenges the outdated belief that children should be responsible for protecting themselves. Instead, she empow...

Neuroscience now shows us that human connection changes the brain. Walking high above the forest floor on the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk in Western Australia, I felt what real strength looks like. The giant tingle trees reach for the light, but their power doesn’t come from standing alone. Under the soil, their roots and fungi form a living web, sharing water, nutrients, and information. Ea...

Today on Thriving Minds, I’m sharing a special replay of my conversation with Dr. Renee White on her Science of Motherhood podcast, where we explored what I wish I knew then—now that I know this—about screens, resilience, and protecting our kids’ mental health in the digital age. Screens are part of everyday life, but learning how to manage them while protecting our children’s mental health can fe...

“The brain wave is not just a scientific object—it’s a cultural one.” – Dr. Caitlin Shure What is a brain wave? How “brain waves” became a metaphor for mind control, telepathy, and spiritual resonance. That’s the question we explore in one of the most surprising and thought-provoking episodes of the Thriving Minds podcast to date—with science journalist and technologist Dr. Caitlin Shure , whose P...

For most of my career in neuroscience, I believed the brain alone governed who we are—shaped by genetics, evolution, and early life experiences. I trusted in the power of brain imaging and genomics to reveal the answers. But after decades spent mapping neural circuits, a deeper truth emerged: We are not isolated minds in skulls. We are wired to connect. In this episode, I explore the revolutionary...

🎧 Thriving Minds with Professor Selena Bartlett welcomes Dr. Bruce Greyson, a pioneering psychiatrist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, for a profoundly moving and scientifically grounded conversation on near-death experiences (NDEs) and the nature of consciousness. In this episode, Dr. Greyson reflects on his 40 years of research, the development of the Greyson NDE Scale, and...

Can you be both a scientist and a mystic? In this extraordinary episode, Professor Selena Bartlett speaks with Dr. Anona Blackwell — a Lancet-published academic, former consultant physician, and author of From Medic to Mystic — about the turning point where evidence-based medicine no longer had all the answers. Raised in rural poverty in Wales and rising to the heights of British medical academia,...

In the rush to do more, fix more, and be more, we often forget the simplest truth: Sometimes what we need isn’t another push… It’s a hand to hold. A moment to breathe. A reminder that we belong. When I sat down recently with Amanda Cooke—poet, writer, and creator of Reunion Songs —what unfolded wasn’t just an interview. It was a reconnection. A weaving back into something ancient and alive. Someth...