Rising From The Rubble

From the outside, Elliot Kay had a lot to be grateful for. He had a successful business an amazing family and on paper, life looked good. Yet inside, he was struggling with depression, constantly feeling that he wasn’t good enough. In this episode, Elliot shares what it was like to struggle with his mental health while finding it difficult to understand, let alone explain, what he was experiencing...

What do you do when you’ve spent years being told what is going to happen to your body, your health and your future? In this episode, I’m joined by Sue Woodriffe who has spent much of her life dealing with pain, injury, trauma and some pretty frightening predictions about what her future might look like. At just 12 years old, Sue injured her knee in a trampoline accident. What followed was years o...

What do you do when the struggles you’ve carried for years start to feel like they’re becoming who you are? In this episode of Rising From The Rubble, I’m joined by Nick Elston, an inspirational speaker who shares his lived experience of OCD, anxiety, burnout and the journey that ultimately led him to build a career around helping others. Nick talks openly about what it was like to spend years bei...

In this episode, I’m joined by Anna, who shares her honest story of reaching a point where she realised she had been sleepwalking through life. From the outside, everything looked good. She had a successful business, a beautiful home and a relationship that seemed to be everything she should have wanted. Yet deep down, something didn’t feel right. Anna shares what happened when she finally faced t...

And the scary part is, most of the time, you believe it. In this episode, I talk about the stories we tell ourselves when things don’t go to plan, and how quickly those stories can shape what happens next. Because it’s rarely the situation itself that keeps you stuck. It’s the meaning you attach to it. A missed opportunity, a rejection or a delay, on their own, they mean nothing. Yet the way you i...

You live like the person you believe you are. And most people don’t realise how true that is. In this episode, I talk about why there can be a gap between what you say you want and how your life actually looks. Because it’s rarely about effort. And it’s rarely about knowing more. Something else is going on underneath that most people miss. And it shows up in how you think, how you act, and what yo...

You know what you want. At least, you think you do. You want more freedom, more confidence, and more control over your life. You want things to feel different from how they do right now. So why hasn’t it happened yet? In this episode, I’m sharing the three things that often sit between where you are and where you want to be. They’re easy to miss because they’re not what you’d write on a to-do list...

Most of the stress people carry isn’t coming from what actually happened. It’s coming from what they made it mean. In this episode, I break down why small moments, like a short email, a blunt message, a tone you can’t quite read, can take over your whole day. You see, it’s rarely the situation itself that’s the problem. It’s the story that gets built around it. We’ve all experienced it: a situatio...

If you keep holding it together… eventually, something will break. In this episode, I’m talking to Anneli Johansson about what happens when you spend your life being the strong one — and the loneliness that comes with it. Anneli shares how a moment from her childhood shaped the way she showed up in the world. Always capable. Always smiling. Always the one others could rely on. On the outside, ever...

If you keep ignoring what doesn’t feel right… eventually, you won’t be able to ignore it anymore. In this episode, I’m talking to Cassie Watts about what happens when the life you’ve always known stops feeling like your own — and the courage it takes to walk away. Cassie was born into a high-demand religion. It shaped everything: her beliefs, her choices, her community, and her identity. On the ou...

If you keep giving… eventually, your body will make you stop. In this episode, I’m talking to Karen Bashford about what happens when life pushes you to your limits — and how a nervous breakdown became the turning point she needed. Karen grew up feeling unloved, experienced challenging relationships, and spent years giving everything to everyone else. She tried books, courses, and self-development,...

If one door closes… it doesn’t mean your story is over. Sometimes it’s the very thing that puts you on the path you were meant to follow. In this episode, I’m talking to Penny Hopkinson about what happens when life doesn’t go to plan and why that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Early in her career Penny was fired. More than once. She also didn’t have the qualifications people often say yo...

If you want things to change, then you need to change things.  Not someday.  Not when life calms down.  Now. In this episode of Rising from the Rubble, I’m talking about living intentionally and why doing more isn’t the answer. Changing how you do things is. So many of us move through our days on autopilot, reacting to whatever comes next, wondering why nothing feels different.  I’ve been there. ...

Sometimes we see the warning signs early on. We notice them. Then we talk ourselves out of them. In this episode, I’m chatting with Helen Goad, and she shares her story of leaving a relationship that lasted more than 20 years. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, not long after, she also lost her mum. Life really didn’t hold back. Helen talks honestly about the red flags she noticed along the wa...

Sometimes we stay in situations far longer than we should. Fran knows this all too well. She lived alongside her husband while he battled PTSD, giving decades of her life to support him. She loved him, she cared, she tried everything. And yet, there came a point where love alone wasn’t enough. In this episode, Fran shares her story with honesty and a little bit of heartache. She talks about the ti...

Ever met someone who proves that your starting point never gets to decide your finish line? That’s exactly what this week’s conversation delivers. In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with the resilient and talented Kenny Archer. A man who grew up hearing he wasn’t good enough, on repeat, like a terrible soundtrack no one asked for. For years, he believed it until he realised the truth:...

Ever had life throw something at you and your first thought is, this isn’t how it’s meant to be ? You know that moment where everything seems steady, then out of nowhere you’re hit with something you never imagined would land on your doorstep. The kind of thing that makes you pause, breathe and wonder how on earth you’re supposed to hold it together while still pretending you’ve got some sort of m...

Ever had one of those moments where you look up at the sky and think, “Seriously? Why me? Why now? What on earth did I do to deserve this?”We’ve all been there. In this episode, I sit down with the brilliantly honest Iain Girling, who knows that feeling all too well. Iain found himself unceremoniously fired. No fanfare, no warning, just… out. One minute he’s part of something, the next he’s standi...

You know that moment when you suddenly realise you’re spending all your time making someone else rich… and you think, hang on a minute – what about me? That’s exactly where Charlie Clarey found herself.  After years of working her socks off to build someone else’s dream, she hit that point of no return. You know the one — where your soul just gives you the look and says, “Enough now.” In this epis...

What if the thing your child is going through feels too big to even put into words?  The kind of thing that makes your heart ache in a way you didn’t know it could.  In this episode, I talk to the incredible Sally Panks , who opens up about her experience of discovering her daughter was self-harming at a very young age. Sally shares what those first moments were like, how she found her footing whe...

Ever felt like life just decided to throw you into the deep end with no warning?  Kevin Harvey knows that feeling all too well.  In this episode, he opens up about hitting rock bottom, which included losing his job and navigating depression.  It’s raw, it’s honest, and it’s the kind of story that makes you nod along and think, “Right, so I’m not completely losing it then.” We chat about how life’s...

Ever had one of those days where a single comment makes you question everything?  Sally had one of those days. Her boss said she was late, when she wasn’t and that was it.  That’s all it took.  In that moment, something inside her snapped. She decided to leave her job, pack up her life and move somewhere new. She left with her two children and the goldfish. Sounds dramatic? Sounds terrifying?  Yet...

What if I told you that the situation you’re dreading is actually neutral? It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s just there, until you give it meaning through the story you tell yourself. In this episode, I talk through how it’s not the thing that’s overwhelming, it’s the way we talk about it to ourselves. That inner script that either keeps us stuck or sets us free. If you’ve ever caught yourself say...

Ever made yourself a promise so strong, you were sure you'd never break it? In this episode, I sit down with the brilliant Robyn Harris who, as a young girl, watched her parents’ marriage fall apart and swore blind that if she ever tied the knot, she’d never get divorced. Fast-forward to adulthood and there she was. Facing the very thing she thought she’d never have to. Robyn shares what it wa...

Let’s be honest, we all have those unhelpful thoughts. You know the ones.  They sneak in, whisper nonsense and leave you second-guessing everything. Let me tell you now, you’re not broken. You’re not failing. You’re human. In this episode, I’m talking directly to you about how to handle those mental curveballs without letting them hijack your day or throw you off track. I’ll share five simple acti...