Words in the Wilderness

When faced with an empty nest, Kari Gillespie decided to spread her own wings. She gave up a job that she loved and set off to walk across Spain and then she wrote a book about it called Pilgrim. I loved the book and am excited to share this conversation with you. In this episode I started with my poem I start from where I am today.

Leslie Davies, author of ‘You can’t eat love: learning to love yourself can change your relationship with food’ is here to talk about her relationship with food and how she realised that the emptiness that she was feeling inside and trying to fill with food was to do with her relationship with herself. She shares how she used her relationship with food as a signpost for changes that she needed to...

John was the son of a heroin dealer, and he himself ended up falling into drugs and alcohol and became homeless. In 2012 he sold his own drug treatment facility for $45 million dollars and he has helped 1000s of people in their own addiction recovery. In this episode, we discuss addiction and the story behind the label of being an addict. John shares how he turned his life around from growing up a...

In this episode about belonging with Vanessa Belleau I started with my poem The Secret to Belonging. We discuss the evolution of diversity and inclusion as buzzwords to the necessary action that's needed in order to help people feel like they belong. Vanessa shares her own personal experiences of the importance of representation from a random man on the street to her own mum, and how that can be l...

In this episode on creativity, we began with my poem, Nothing rhymes with purple. Caro Gomez shared her creative path which involves tenacity, grit, criticism, self doubt, and concrete blocks, metaphorically, not literally. I think that the take out of this episode is the importance of consistency and perseverance and that we cannot not be creative. When creating there are no endings, just detours...

Joining me on The Therapeutic Poet podcast today is Jenny Alexander. Jenny is a prolific author and some of the books that she has written about tackle the subject of bullying. Some of these are for children, like her book '70 ways to bully proof yourself’, and others for adults, such as ‘When you child is bullied: an essential guide for parents’. Jenny explains why she wrote a book about bullying...

Today on The Therapeutic Poet podcast I am joined by neuroscientist, science communicator and storyteller Dr. Paula Croxson. Paula is also an open water swimmer regularly swimming marathons, a flautist with the band Marlowe Grey, senior producer of the science based storytelling platform Storycollider and, she is also my cousin! We started with my poem ‘As I stood on the shore of my memories.’ We...

Something that none of us want to experience, and yet we all do, is suffering. In our western mostly secular society it is easy to see why we see suffering as an affront to our human rights. We all want to live tidy, prosperous, fulfilled lives and can see why we would regard suffering as a threat to that and that it needs to be controlled and managed away as quickly as possible. Some may say, "ho...

In this episode I am joined by For Women Who Roar founder Megan Febuary. She describes how writing a poem to reconcile the silence of her rage and grief lead to the creation of a movement to help other women tell their stories. We spoke of the importance of the healing process through writing, rather than focussing on the finished piece. How we can let our writing write us, shedding our defences t...

How are you with boundaries? Do you know how to set them and how do you deal with the consequences when your boundaries are pushed or crossed? Are they something you shy away from or embrace with gusto? Whatever your experience with boundaries so far you are in for a treat today because I am joined by Kari Kwinn, author of the book Better Boundaries: You don’t have to be broken to be better. We st...

Joining me today is professional declutterer Belinda Knox Spinks. On her website Home of Hidden Treasures Belinda says ‘I help people find the hidden treasures of space, time and happiness. We start with my poem ‘All at Sea’

Today I am joined by Susan Earlam. Susan has been a very successful blogger in the past and her short fiction has appeared in publications and anthologies including Pure Slush, Feminist Surrealism Journal, The Debutante, Mslexia, Reflex Function and Cabinet of Heed. This year she released her debut novel Earthly Bodies, a dystopian eco horror story that spans the ages, where strangers reveal their...

Joining me to talk about trauma and how we can thrive despite, or perhaps because of the trauma we have endured is trauma specialist Lou Lebentz. Lou is founder of the group ‘Trauma Thrivers’. Lou’s mission is to make trauma therapy accessible to all and go beyond that to thriving in life. She has been a therapist specialising in trauma, eating disorders, addiction and EMDR for nearly 20 years and...

Today we talk about grief, something that Clover is very familiar with. Her mum was brain damaged in a horse accident when Clover was 16 and her mum died 22 years later. Clover has also lost her dear sister Nell to breast cancer. We look grief in the face in this episode and I hope that it gives you some encouragement to allow yourself to grieve in the way you need to, or to help support someone e...

Brad is co-founder and clinical Director of Evoke Therapy Programs. Evoke’s evidence based Wilderness Therapy is based Oregon and Utah and works with the outdoors, reaching deep and accomplishing growth that just can’t be achieved in a therapist’s office or hospital setting. Thousand of Adolescents, parents and families have benefited from the work done there. Brad also hosts his own podcast calle...

Do you or someone you know have dyslexia? Then listen up! In this podcast I speak to Michelle Catterson. Michelle is not only executive head at the Moonhall schools in Surrey, she is also a Vice Chair of the British Dyslexia Association. Moonhall school specialises in teaching children with dyslexia.

I speak to Harriet Brown about her book 'Shadow Daughter: a memoir of estrangement' which details Harriet’s own account of the destructive relationship with her mother and how this led to their estrangement.

I’m so delighted that joining me on the Therapeutic poet podcast today is the proprietor of Onsite, Miles Adcox. Miles is an extraordinarily kind, thoughtful, and humble leader, entrepreneur and speaker.

In this podcast I talk to award winning poet Terrell Lewis. Terrell only started writing poetry a few years ago as a way to handle his feelings during an isolating time. Inspired by his writer mum he soon found that he had a talent for expression through poetry.

Show notes: The poem I reference is 'how to be alone' by Pádraig Ó'Tuama. Books I reference: 'Together' by Vivek H Murthy Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton Articles: Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience 2010: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316 Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation by RS Weiss Inform...

All Episodes Delete Edit In conversation with Judy Apps about the art of communication. July 09, 2021 Jacky Power Season: 1 Episode: 8 Description Judy Apps is a professional voice and communication coach and has spent many years unravelling the secrets of how great leaders inspire others, and now teaches these skills to people from all walks of life – from executives on the board of major interna...

This is a meaty episode! I speak to clinical psychologist Anne Darcy (bio below) who works in a personality disorder unit. We talk about what is problematic about a mental health diagnosis; labelling people with ‘disorders’. Anne has been using an alternative approach called The Power Threat Meaning Framework. A group of senior psychologists (Lucy Johnstone, Mary Boyle, John Cromby, David Harper,...

Joining me today to talk about their journey to embrace their own unique differentiation is the gorgeous Jude Guaitamacchi. Jude is a non-binary, speaker, LGBTQi+ awareness trainer, consultant, social campaigner, activist and writer. Their career started working in mental health and resilience, working closely with the Amy Winehouse Foundation in the charity’s early days. More recently they have a...