Explore every episode of the podcast Mastering Change | The trauma, mental health & wellbeing podcast

What happens when the emotional pain we avoid begins to shape the way we treat ourselves and others? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta are joined by author and frontline practitioner George Stoimenov to explore unresolved trauma, masculinity and the possibility of breaking cycles of pain. 

Originally from Bulgaria, George has spent more than a decade supporting people facing significant adversity, from unaccompanied young asylum seekers and young people experiencing homelessness to men on probation. 

But his work is also deeply personal. 

George reflects on his own experiences of childhood trauma, the ways he once avoided difficult emotions and the transformative experiences that eventually changed his understanding of himself.

Drawing on his personal journey and professional work, he explores how unresolved pain can influence anger, relationships and destructive behaviour, and why meaningful change may require us to look beneath what someone does to understand what they have experienced.

The conversation also considers the wider consequences of disconnection, including how declining community ties and growing polarisation can make it easier to project our pain onto others.

We explore:

• How unresolved childhood experiences can shape adult behaviour
• Why avoidance can prevent us from recognising emotional pain
• What George has learned working with vulnerable young people and men on probation
• The relationship between trauma, masculinity, anger and violence
• How the father–son relationship can influence identity and emotional development
• Why connection and community matter for recovery
• How unresolved pain can contribute to conflict and polarisation
• What breaking cycles of trauma might look like in practice

Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, violence, criminal justice experiences and emotional distress. Please take care while listening if these subjects feel close to your own experiences.

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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When someone is struggling with infertility, we often encourage them to keep going, stay hopeful and try again. 

But what happens when that encouragement becomes part of the pressure they're already carrying? 

This week on Mastering Change, we're joined by reproductive trauma advocate Anita Guru, who shares her deeply personal experience of endometriosis, infertility, IVF and the psychological impact of a reproductive journey that unfolded very differently from the life she had imagined. 

Through years of treatment, loss and uncertainty, Anita came to recognise something that is still too often overlooked: infertility is not only a medical experience. It can also involve profound grief, shame, guilt and trauma.

One of the most powerful moments in our conversation comes when Anita describes reaching the point where she wanted to stop treatment, but was waiting for someone to give her permission.

Her story raises important questions about how we support people through reproductive trauma, why grief can go unrecognised when there is no visible loss, and how we can create space for different futures without diminishing the pain of letting go.

We explore:

• Why infertility and pregnancy loss need to be understood through the lens of reproductive trauma
• The emotional impact of endometriosis and fertility treatment
• How shame and guilt can shape someone's sense of identity and self-worth
• Why well-intentioned encouragement can sometimes deepen distress
• The often-unrecognised grief of ending fertility treatment without a child
• How earlier traumatic experiences can resurface during reproductive challenges
• Why feeling seen, heard and supported can make such a difference

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Everything is connected. Diversity is essential for survival. And living systems have feedback mechanisms that tell us when something is out of balance.

What might happen if we applied these principles of ecology to mental health?

This week on Mastering Change, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Joanna Cheek introduces us to the idea of an “ecology of health” – a way of looking beyond the individual to understand our wellbeing in the context of our relationships, communities, social structures and wider environment.

One idea particularly stayed with us: distress can be feedback.

In trauma-informed care, we have learned to move beyond asking “What’s wrong with you?” towards “What happened to you?” Joanna invites us to widen the lens further. What is happening around us? What systems are we part of? And could some of the feelings we are trying to eliminate actually be signalling that something is out of balance?

It opens up a fascinating conversation about where individual healing meets collective wellbeing – and whether caring for ourselves can ever be entirely separated from caring for the world around us.

We explore:

• What the principles of ecology can teach us about mental health
• Why distress can sometimes be understood as feedback rather than dysfunction
• How “What happened to you?” can widen to include the systems around us
• Why focusing solely on the individual can leave important causes of distress unseen
• The relationship between our individual and collective wellbeing
• Why diversity and connection matter for healthy living systems
• What changes when we see self-care and collective care as interconnected

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Much of what we understand about trauma recovery is rooted in psychology, neuroscience and the nervous system. 

But once enough safety and capacity have been established, what helps people make sense of what they have experienced? 

This week on Mastering Change, Araminta is joined by trauma educator Vanja Popovic and archetypal psychologist Lawrence Hillman for a wide-ranging conversation about archetypes, astrology, spirituality and the human search for meaning after trauma. 

They explore how symbols, stories and archetypal patterns can offer different ways of understanding our experiences and why meaning-making may become particularly important as people move towards post-traumatic growth. 

Rather than viewing astrology as prediction or personality typing, Lawrence describes archetypal psychology as a language for understanding the deeper patterns that shape our inner lives. Vanja explains how these ideas can become valuable during post-traumatic growth, helping people make sense of their experiences once enough safety and capacity has been established.  

The conversation also examines where ancient wisdom might sit alongside modern psychology and neuroscience, why science and spirituality may not be as far apart as they first appear and what our rapidly evolving relationship with AI can reveal about our very human search for connection and meaning. 

We explore: 

• What archetypes are and why they appear across cultures 
• Why meaning can become important after trauma 
• Where ancient wisdom, psychology and spirituality intersect 
• How archetypal thinking may contribute to post-traumatic growth 
• What our relationship with AI reveals about human needs and relationships 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Have we forgotten some of the ways humans have always sought to heal? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Dr Keisha Siriboe are joined by Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones, co-founders of Afro Flow Yoga, for a conversation about healing through movement, music and community. 

Drawing on nearly two decades of creating embodied healing experiences, Lesley and Jeff explore why trauma recovery can involve more than talking. Together, they discuss the role of rhythm, ancestry, breath and movement in helping people reconnect with themselves, their communities and their bodies. 

The conversation explores agency, belonging and the idea that healing may sometimes be less about learning something new than reconnecting with practices that have existed across cultures for generations. 

We explore: 

• Why movement can reach places words cannot 
• The relationship between trauma, music and rhythm 
• What ancestral practices can teach us about healing 
• The role of community in recovery 
• How safety and agency can create conditions for healing 
• Reconnecting with the body's innate wisdom 
• Moving from suppression to expression 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Can trauma and psychological stress actually influence how quickly our bodies age?

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta are joined by Professor of Biochemistry Gordan Lauc to explore the emerging science of glycans – molecules that can provide insight into inflammation, immune function and biological ageing.

Gordan explains why psychological stress may play an important role in accelerated glycan ageing, particularly in younger people and how trauma and chronic stress may become reflected in our biology.

But these biological markers are not necessarily  fixed. Gordan shares striking examples of people's measured glycan age changing following major shifts in their lives and explores whether biomarkers could one day help us understand not only when something is wrong, but whether the interventions we're trying are working.

We explore:

• How psychological stress can influence biological ageing
• What glycans reveal about inflammation and immune health
• Why trauma affects different people differently
• How fight-or-flight changes immune, reproductive and digestive function
• Whether biological markers could help measure therapeutic progress
• Why physiological changes can begin long before disease appears
• What this emerging science could mean for more personalised approaches to health

Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, serious violence, mental health and other potentially distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

A major UK trial has just put a radically different approach to mental healthcare to the test.

Open Dialogue puts relationships, collaboration and the individual's own voice at the centre of care. Now, findings from ODDESSI, the first randomised controlled trial of the approach, have been published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta Jonsson are joined by consultant psychiatrist and Professor of Relational Psychiatry Russell Razzaque to explore what they found and what it could mean for the future of mental healthcare.

ODDESSI followed 494 people presenting to NHS mental health services in crisis over two years. The findings were striking: people receiving Open Dialogue were less likely to be admitted to psychiatric hospital or referred back to crisis services and reported improvements in recovery, quality of life and satisfaction with care. Russell also shares one particularly striking figure: 54% fewer days spent in hospital.

But the conversation goes beyond the numbers. Russell explores what changes when clinicians are no longer the  sole experts in the room, families and support networks become part of care and therapeutic relationships are treated as fundamental rather than an afterthought.

We explore:

• What Open Dialogue actually looks like in a mental health crisis
• What the ODDESSI trial found and what the results could mean for mental healthcare
• Why relationships may be one of the most powerful tools in mental healthcare
• What changes when people become active participants in their own care
• Why continuity and trust matter when someone experiences another crisis 
• The surprising relationship between Open Dialogue and mindfulness
• What it could take to implement this approach across the NHS

Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, serious violence, mental health and other potentially distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.

Russell Razzaque at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026

Russell will take this exploration of relationships further at Transform Trauma Oxford this September in Open Dialogue & Mindful Listening: How Healing Happens in Relationship. 

In this experiential session, he will explore how the quality of our attention can help people feel safer, understood and more connected and why learning to listen rather than immediately solve or fix can strengthen the healing potential of relationships.

Through mindfulness, practical teaching and experiential exercises, participants will have the opportunity to practise these skills themselves and explore how they can be brought into therapeutic conversations.

Russell will be speaking alongside leading experts Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk, Kristin Neff, Dan Siegel, Jack Kornfield, Ruby Wax, Rangan Chatterjee and many others.

• In-person ticket: £995
• Virtual ticket: £395

Get tickets here

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What can childhood trauma tell us about why some people become violent?

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma and Araminta are joined by forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead, who has spent decades working with both perpetrators and survivors of serious violence.

Gwen explores the significant overlap she has encountered between trauma and violence, while challenging any simple assumption that trauma causes violent behaviour. Instead, she asks what we can learn by looking beyond categories of “victim and perpetrator” or “good and bad" and understanding the complex pathways that can lead someone towards violence.

Drawing on her work in hospitals, prisons and therapeutic groups, Gwen explores what happens when people who have committed serious violence begin to understand their own histories, confront shame and take responsibility for their actions.

We explore:

• Why childhood trauma can be one factor on the pathway towards violence – but never tells the whole story 
• What people who have committed serious violence actually confront in therapy 
• Why understanding someone's history does not mean excusing their behaviour 
• Why Gwen believes dividing people into “victims and perpetrators” or “good and bad” can be unhelpful 
• How shame, isolation and social exclusion can shape recovery 
• Why being able to understand and articulate your own mind may be a privilege we underestimate 
• What working with violent offenders has taught Gwen about responsibility and change 
• Why preventing future trauma may require supporting the adults who are struggling to care safely for children

Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, serious violence, mental health and other potentially distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.

Gwen Adshead at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026

Dr Gwen Adshead will be speaking at Transform Trauma Oxford this September in her session, Unspeakable: Trauma, Language and Therapy. 

Bringing together neuroscience, narrative identity and psychotherapy, Gwen will explore why trauma can leave people struggling to put their experiences into words, how it can shape autobiographical memory and the stories we tell about ourselves and how the therapeutic relationship can help people discover a new voice.

If you are interested in learning more about Gwen’s work, her Oxford session offers an opportunity to explore the science of trauma and language in greater depth alongside hundreds of practitioners committed to advancing trauma-informed care. 

Gwen will be speaking alongside leading experts Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk, Kristin Neff, Julia Samuel, Shi Heng Yi, Jack Kornfield, Matthias Barker, Rangan Chatterjee, Ruth Cohn and many others.

• In-person ticket: £995 
• Virtual ticket: £395

Get your ticket here: https://mastersevents.com/oxford-2026/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=GwenAdshead%2FTraumaAndViolence%2FAugust2026

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Can we really train our brains to respond differently to our thoughts? 

Ccomedian, author and mental health campaigner Ruby Wax joins Emma and Araminta for a characteristically funny and candid conversation about mindfulness, depression and the science of changing our minds. 

Drawing on her own experience or recurring depression alongside her studies in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy at Oxford, Ruby explores what mindfulness actually looks like in practice and why understanding it intellectually is very different from doing it. 

For Ruby, mindfulness is training. Our attention wanders, we notice it and bring it back. Then we do it again. Or, as she puts it: "Just like you get a six-pack if you keep going to the gym." 

From neuroplasticity and attention to loneliness, compassion and recurring depression, the conversation explores what happens when we stop expecting our minds to behave perfectly and start learning how to work with them. 

We explore: 

• Why Ruby's experience of depression led her from comedy to studying the mind at Oxford 
• What she has learned about recognising another depressive episode and why she no longer tries to fight it 
• Why a wandering mind doesn't mean you're bad at mindfulness 
• What neuroplasticity tells us about our capacity to change deeply ingrained patterns 
• Why understanding mindfulness intellectually isn't enough, even with a master's degree in it 
• What Ruby has learned about loneliness, compassion and our need for genuine human connection. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Ruby Wax will be joining us at Transform Trauma Oxford this September for two sessions exploring mindfulness, trauma and the power of lived experience.

Get tickets here: https://mastersevents.com/oxford-2026/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=RubyWax%2FMindfulness%2FAugust2026

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What makes someone a great trauma therapist? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta Jonsson are joined by trauma specialist Dr Sarah Woodhouse for a conversation about what truly supports healing after trauma. 

Drawing on more than twelve years of trauma research and extensive clinical experience, Sarah explains why she believes no single therapeutic approach can meet everyone's needs. She explores the importance of staying curious, understanding different trauma models and building the kind of therapeutic relationship in which healing can take place.  

The conversation also explores the gap between research and clinical practice, why recovery extends far beyond the therapy session, and the often-overlooked role of nature, spirituality, play and connection in supporting recovery and helping people build richer lives beyond trauma. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• Why no single therapeutic approach works for everyone 
• What research can teach us about effective trauma therapy 
• Why the therapeutic relationship matters 
• Why healing extends beyond the therapy room 
• The role of nature, spirituality and connection 
• Why trust, play and everyday practices matter  

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Join Dr Sarah Woodhouse at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 

Dr Sarah Woodhouse will be speaking at Transform Trauma Oxford this September for her session, Reclaiming Inner Knowing & Restoring Self-Trust: Why Intuition Matters in Trauma Healing.

https://mastersevents.com/oxford-2026/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=SarahWoodhouse%2FWhatmakesagreattherapist%2FAugust2026 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Therapist, author and anti-oppressive practitioner Myira Khan believes that healing cannot be separated from identity, culture, faith or belonging. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Dr Keisha Siriboe explore how these different dimensions of our lives shape the way we experience the world, our relationships and our wellbeing. 

At the heart of the conversation is Myira's Rubik's Cube metaphor for identity. Rather than seeing identity as something fixed, just as different faces of the Cube come into view as it turns, she explains how different aspects of ourselves come into focus depending on the people around us, the environments we are in and the experiences we carry. It is a simple but powerful reminder that no one can be understood through a single label. 

Together they discuss anti-oppressive practice, faith-sensitive wellbeing, power, privilege and why creating genuinely inclusive spaces requires more than good intentions. Throughout the conversation, Myira invites us to replace assumptions with curiosity and to recognise the complexity that exists within every person we meet.  

We explore: 

• What anti-oppressive practice looks like in everyday care 
• Why identity shifts across different relationships and environments 
• The role of faith in wellbeing and healing 
• What creates genuine belonging 
• Why curiosity matters more than assumptions 
• How lived experience shapes the way we understand others 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Myira Khan at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026

This September, Myira Khan will join us at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 for her session, Radical Healing: Integrating Anti-Oppressive Self-Care, Spirituality, Social Justice and Relational Growth for Well-being. 

Drawing on research, clinical practice and lived experience, Myira will explore how identity, spirituality, relationships and anti-oppressive practice can support sustainable wellbeing for both practitioners and clients. She will also take part in several panel discussions throughout the conference.

If you'd like to explore these ideas in greater depth, this is an opportunity to experience Myira's work in person, alongside leading experts Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk, Tara Swart, Prentis Hemphill, Rangan Chatterjee, Linda Thai, Shi Heng Yi and Jack Kornfield.

Now get 20% off with code SUMMER20 at checkout. The discount applies to tickets only – accommodation and evening events are priced separately.

GET YOUR DISCOUNTED TICKET NOW

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

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Frontline workers are trained to stay calm in the middle of extraordinary situations. But trauma does not always show itself during the crisis.  

In this episode of Mastering Change, clinical psychologist and researcher Nicola Cogan explores the hidden psychological impact of frontline work. Drawing on both research and clinical experience, she explains why repeated exposure to suffering can accumulate over time, why many professionals struggle to seek help and what organisations can do to better support the people who spend their lives supporting others. 

We discuss: 

• Why trauma often emerges after the crisis has passed 
• The hidden impact of cumulative stress and repeated exposure 
• Burnout and the physical toll of caring 
• Why many frontline workers wait years before seeking support 
• Creating psychologically safer workplaces 
• Supporting families as well as frontline workers 
• How digital tools may help increase access to support  

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Why do we crave sugar when we are stressed? Why does coffee sometimes feel essential? And why can changing our diet feel so difficult even when we know what is "healthy"? 

This week on Mastering Change, Emma speaks with nutritionist and somatic practitioner Luis Mojica about the relationship between food, trauma and the nervous system. 

Drawing on his Food Therapy approach, Luis explains why many cravings are about far more than physical hunger. Instead, they may reflect how our nervous system is trying to regulate stress, seek   safety or meet unmet emotional needs. Rather than viewing food through the familiar lens of willpower, restriction or “good” and “bad” choices, Luis invites us to think about our relationship with food itself. What if our cravings are not something to fight, but something to understand? 

One of the most thought-provoking ideas in the conversation is that healing is not always about changing what we eat. It may begin with understanding why we reach for certain foods in the first place. 

We explore: 

• How trauma and chronic stress influence eating patterns 
• What cravings can reveal about emotional and physiological needs 
• How food can help regulate the nervous system 
• The role of stimulants, depressants and balancing foods 
• Why our relationship with food reflects the state of our nervous system 
• Why feeling safety is more than being safe 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Many of us think of healing as something we do on our own. 

We focus on understanding ourselves, regulating our nervous system and working through our patterns in private. But what if healing is not something that happens outside of relationship? 

This week on Mastering Change, writer, therapist and somatic facilitator Prentis Hemphill explores why connection is not simply something that supports healing but an essential part of it. 

Drawing on their work in embodied leadership and collective healing, Prentis explains how trauma can disrupt our sense of safety, belonging and connection with others. Healing is not only about changing what happens within us. It is also about learning how to remain present, authentic and connected with those around us. 

One of the most thought-provoking parts of the conversation explores friendship. Together, we discuss why so many adults find friendship unexpectedly vulnerable, why longing for connection can feel uncomfortable and how fear, self-protection and defensiveness can shape the way we relate to others. 

In this episode, we explore: 

• Why trauma is fundamentally relational 
• Friendship, vulnerability and belonging 
• Love, control and self-protection 
• Rupture, repair and accountability 
• How defensiveness shapes our relationships 
• Everyday practices for building deeper connection 

Prentis Hemphill is also joining us at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026. In their keynote, The Three Body States, they will expand on many of these ideas, bringing together stress science, embodiment and spiritual awareness to explore how clinicians can help people access the internal, relational and spiritual resources that support lasting healing.  

Secure your tickets here

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

For most professional athletes, sport is not simply something they do. It becomes part of who they are. 

Years of training, competition and sacrifice shape their identity, relationships and sense of purpose. Success and failure are experienced publicly. The routine is familiar. The goal is always clear. 

But what happens when that identity no longer fits? 

This week on Mastering Change, Emma and DK are joined by Robbie Tubajon, Vice President of Leadership Development at Pro Athlete Community, to explore the psychological transition many athletes face when their sporting careers come to an end. 

Robbie explains why retirement from professional sport can feel less like a changing career change and more like the loss of a part of yourself. Together, they discuss the grief, uncertainty and disorientation that can emerge when the role that has shaped your life for decades suddenly disappears. 

One of the most striking ideas in the conversation is that the very qualities that drive elite performance can become challenges in the next chapter of life. The inner critic, relentless discipline and constant pursuit of achievement do not always disappear when the game ends. 

We explore: 

• Why life after sport can feel like a loss of identity 
• The emotional impact of transitioning out of elite performance 
• How fear, shame and uncertainty emerge during major life changes 
• Why community plays such an important role in rebuilding identity 
• Rediscovering purpose beyond achievement 
• What high performers can teach us about resilience, growth and belonging  

A conversation about identity, transition and who we become when performance no longer defines us. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

When we think about trauma recovery, most of us think about talking therapy. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, the human rights psychotherapist and dance movement therapist Amber Gray, explains why movement may be one of the most overlooked aspects of trauma recovery. 

Drawing on decades of work with torture survivors, refugees, indigenous communities and people affected by conflict and disaster, Amber explores how trauma lives in the body and how movement can help people reconnect with themselves, others and the world around them. 

One of the most thought-provoking ideas in the conversation is that movement is far more than exercise or dance. It exists on a continuum that begins with breath, posture and the subtle ways our nervous system responds to the world around us. 

The conversation also explores the influence of Polyvagal Theory, the importance of bearing witness to suffering and why healing is not always about processing the past. Sometimes it's about helping people survive what they are still living through.  

We explore: 

• Why movement exists on a spectrum from breath to dance 
• How Polyvagal Theory helps people understand trauma responses 
• The relationship between trauma, isolation and belonging 
• Why healing does not always mean deep trauma processing 
• Dance movement therapy and nervous system regulation 
• The role of rhythm, community and collective healing 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Psychedelic therapy is attracting more attention than ever before. 

But amidst the growing excitement, an important question often gets overlooked: what actually helps people turn these experiences into lasting change? 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with psychotherapist and Inward Bound co-founder Rob Coffey, who has spent years supporting people through psychedelic retreats, trauma recovery and deep personal growth.  

While much of the conversation around psychedelics focuses on the medicine itself, Rob takes a different view. He argues that the most important factors are often what happens around the experience: preparation, safety, integration and the relationships that help translate insight into everyday life.  

One of the most thought-provoking themes in the episode is the role of community. Drawing on both indigenous traditions and years of retreat work, Rob explores why community matters. He suggests that connection with others can be just as important as the psychedelic experience itself.  

We explore: 

• Why psychedelics are not a magic cure 
• The importance of preparation and integration 
• Group healing versus one-to-one approaches 
• Ethics and safety in psychedelic spaces 
• Reconnecting to nature, community and a deeper sense of belonging 
• Why healing can happen through joy, not just suffering 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Can something as simple as laughter help us heal? 

When we think about therapy, humour is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet according to clinical social worker and addiction counsellor Glenn Maloney, it may be one of the most overlooked tools available to us. 

This week on Mastering Change, Glenn explains that humour is far more than comic relief. He explores its role in therapy, trauma recovery and addiction treatment and argues that far from distracting from difficult emotions, it can help reduce isolation, support nervous system regulation and offer new ways of relating to challenging experiences.  

At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: humour is fundamentally about connection. When used thoughtfully, it can help people feel safer, more understood and more able to engage with challenging experiences. 

We also explores the complexities of humour. Sometimes it helps us engage with difficult emotions. Sometimes it becomes a way of avoiding them. The skill lies in recognising the difference. 

We discuss: 

• Why humour is fundamentally about connection 
• How laughter can support nervous system regulation 
• The role of humour in addiction recovery and trauma work 
• When jokes become a form of avoidance 
• The risks of humour used poorly 
• Why therapists may need more training in the basic skills of human connection 

This is a thoughtful conversation about laughter, connection and why healing is often more human than we imagine. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

How do you move forward when something feels impossible to forgive? 

Forgiveness is often misunderstood.  

When many people hear the word, they think it means excusing what happened, condoning harmful behaviour, or letting someone off the hook. 

This week on Mastering Change, Clara Naum offers a different perspective. 

Drawing on her work across therapy, coaching and personal development, Clara describes forgiveness not as something we do for the person who hurt us, but as a tool that helps us move from survival into possibility.  

Rather than presenting forgiveness as an obligation or a requirement for healing, she invites listeners to consider it as one possible route towards releasing the hold that past experiences can continue to have on our lives.  

We discuss: 

• Why forgiveness can be misunderstood 
• The difference between forgiveness and condoning harm 
• How unresolved hurt keeps us stuck 
• Why the body remembers what the mind tries to forget 
• Acceptance, self-forgiveness and personal freedom 
• How forgiveness can help us regain choice 

This conversation offers a thoughtful exploration of healing, freedom and loosen the grip of the past. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

The rise of GLP-1 medications has changed the conversation around weight, health and body image. 

But what happens when weight loss is mistaken for wellbeing? 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Charlotte Ord – a counselling psychologist specialising in body image and eating disorder recovery, with a background in fitness, strength and conditioning, NHS bariatric and weight management services.  

Charlotte reflects on the complexity of this moment. GLP-1 medications may have an important place for some people, but she warns that the current conversation around them risks pulling us backwards into diet culture, weight stigma and the pursuit of thinness.  

For people with poor body image, disordered eating or eating disorder histories, suppressing appetite may remove one visible behaviour without addressing the underlying wound. As Charlotte explains, health is not simply about eating less or changing the body’s appearance – it also includes body trust, nourishment, movement, metabolic fitness and psychological safety.  

We discuss: 

• The impact of GLP-1 medications on body image and eating disorder recovery 
• Why weight loss is not the same as health 
• How diet culture is re-emerging in new forms 
• The importance of body diversity and representation 
• Why we need to see bodies valued for what they can do, not just how they look 
• What a more meaningful definition of healthy weight could look like 

This conversation offers a thoughtful, compassionate look at one of the most urgent and complicated topics in mental health today. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What if culture is not just tradition or identity – but trauma repeated over time? 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Dr Yemi Joy Penn – a self-described “pracademic” – who is challenging how we understand trauma, culture and belonging.  

Her work sits at the intersection of lived experience, research and storytelling. Through her PhD, Yemi explores how cultural trauma is formed, how it is sustained, and how it can be transformed – using documentary filmmaking as both method and medium. 

At the centre of the conversation is a powerful reframe: what we call “culture” may often be a set of behaviours, beliefs and patterns that have emerged in response to unprocessed collective trauma. 

We discuss: 

• How trauma becomes embedded in culture 
• Why identity is more complex than labels or geography 
• What it really means to belong 
• How people make meaning after suffering 
• Why storytelling and witnessing are central to healing 
• The limitations of traditional academic models 

This is not just a conversation about trauma. It is a wider exploration of identity, systems and what it means to be human in a complex world. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

See Dr Yemi Penn’s session Transforming Cultural Trauma with a Decolonised Lens, at this year’s Transform Trauma Oxford – 4 days, 100+ speakers, up to 40 CE credits

Connect with Yemi via the below links 

• www.yemipenn.com 
• https://www.instagram.com/dr.yemipenn/?hl=en 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Trauma recovery is not only about what happened. It is also about rebuilding the capacity to know what you feel, what you think and what you need. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Amelia Kelley – a therapist, professor and writer whose work sits at the intersection of trauma, relationships and neurodivergence.  

Amelia’s work centres on empowerment, particularly for survivors of abuse, domestic violence and interpersonal trauma. She explores how trauma can erode emotional individuation – the ability to have your own opinion, your own experience and your own boundaries without feeling unsafe. 

This becomes especially important for neurodivergent clients, many of whom have grown up being corrected, redirected or misunderstood. Amelia highlights research suggesting that children with ADHD receive more than 10,000 additional redirections by puberty – messages that can quietly shape self-worth, confidence and relational safety.  

We discuss: 

• How trauma, relationships and neurodivergence intersect 
• Why empowerment is central to recovery after interpersonal trauma 
• Emotional individuation and the ability to safely disagree 
• ADHD, rejection sensitivity and people-pleasing 
• Why highly sensitive men are often underrepresented and unsupported 
• How empathy can become a pathway to compassion 

This conversation offers a grounded lens on trauma recovery – one that begins with relationship, but ultimately helps people say: here is who I am. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Show notes: 

Website:
https://www.ameliakelley.com  

Podcast:
The Sensitivity Doctor
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sensitivity-doctor/id1649511241  

or  

https://www.ameliakelley.com/podcast  

Trainings & Speaking (PESI):
https://www.pesi.com/speaker/amelia-kelley-577330?srsltid=AfmBOoru1Cejk2pRHGE3CZPRXxmw1FO_XzVYlcF1y64VAr8Jw_2LBTY5 

Social Media: 
Instagram: @drameliakelley 
Facebook: @drameliakelley 

About Dr Amelia Kelley: 
Dr Amelia Kelley is a trauma-informed therapist, author, psychology professor, and trainer specializing in high sensitivity, ADHD, and relational trauma. Her work integrates neuroscience, somatic approaches, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, and Brainspotting to help individuals move from burnout and self-doubt toward empowerment and sustainable change. 

Upcoming Work:
Dr Amelia Kelley has a forthcoming article in Psychotherapy Networker exploring rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) and ADHD. She is also under contract with W.W. Norton for an upcoming book. Her Women-Centered ADHD Treatment (W-CAT) model training will be launching for the first time this June through PESI. She also speaks internationally on W-CAT and regulation-based integrative therapy for ADHD in women. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

In times of increasing isolation, how we listen matters. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Paul Browde – psychiatrist, storyteller and couples guide – whose work explores how listening shapes what can be said, and how the stories people tell shape how they live. 

Paul reflects on the changes he has seen since the pandemic. More fear. More loneliness. A growing difficulty for many people to engage in ordinary human conversation. In this context, listening becomes more than a skill. It becomes the foundation for connection. 

He also challenges how couples often arrive in therapy. When a relationship is framed as a problem, both people become stuck inside that story. When it is approached as something to face together, new possibilities begin to open. 

In this episode: 

• Why listening and telling are inseparable 
• What has shifted in how people relate since Covid 
• Listening as a full-body experience, not just words 
• How secrecy can limit what becomes possible in therapy 
• Why relationships may be better understood as something to face, not fix 
• The role of the therapist in holding possibility alongside pain 

A thoughtful conversation on connection, therapy and the stories we live inside.

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support.

Show Notes:

–  Free Live Event (June 2nd) – Paul Browde's upcoming course with the Academy of Therapy Wisdom: On June 2nd 2026 free 90-minute introductory session: The Heart of Elderhood: How to Age Consciously and Help Others Do The Same:

– Esther Perel's Sessions Live: Paul will be participating in this event.  

Use code Browde100 for $100 off the in-person event registration or code Browde50 for $50 off a virtual ticket. 

– Four Directions of a Queer Man - Men’s Retreat: This retreat in California still has spots available: 

– Transform Trauma Oxford 2026: 
 Paul Browde will be speaking at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 alongside Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk, Dan Siegel, Ruth Lanius, Janina Fisher and many more.

– Website: www.paulbrowde.com 
– Instagram: @pbrowde 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Trauma therapy often begins with the past – but what if that’s the problem? 

This week on Mastering Change, psychologist Carla Shohet challenges the way trauma is commonly approached – arguing that many therapeutic models move too quickly into processing, without first building the capacity to hold what emerges. 

Carla’s work centres on nervous system regulation as the foundation for healing. Because without that foundation, trauma work can become overwhelming, ineffective – and in some cases, re-traumatising.  

Drawing on her own experience of nervous system shutdown, Carla developed the NTN model – Now, Then, Next – a cyclical framework that prioritises building capacity in the present before revisiting the past or moving towards change. 

We discuss: 

• Why nervous system capacity must come first  
• How trauma work can reinforce patterns if done too early  
• The risks of relying on talk therapy alone  
• What it means to move from surviving to thriving  
• Why healing is not linear, but cyclical  

This conversation offers a reframe of trauma recovery – one that begins not with the story, but with the state of the nervous system. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Healing trauma is not only about understanding the story. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with BG Mancini, a neurodevelopmental specialist working across integrative medicine, primary care and brain-based healing. BG’s work sits at the meeting point of research and daily life – translating what we know about the nervous system, sensory input and the gut-brain axis into practical ways of supporting healing.  

Her central argument is simple but significant: therapeutic work lands differently when the body is less inflamed, less overstimulated and less defensive. In other words, healing is not only psychological. It is also biological.  

She explores how everyday sensory inputs – light, noise, screens, food and other environmental stressors – can quietly shape our nervous system state, often without our awareness. And she makes the case that creating more cues of safety in the body can make people more available for therapeutic change.  

We discuss: 

• Why the nervous system is the gateway to healing 
• How sensory input can become a hidden source of stress 
• The relationship between the gut, the brain and the vagus nerve 
• Why trauma healing must address both story and biology 
• How therapists and integrative practitioners can work more closely together 

This conversation offers a grounded, whole person lens on trauma – and a reminder that helping someone heal may begin with making their body feel safer to live in. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

We’re living through a loneliness epidemic – and it’s not for lack of connection. 

On this episode of Mastering Change, Francesca Tighinean explores why, despite being more digitally connected than ever, so many people feel increasingly isolated and unsure how to build real relationships. 

She points to a deeper shift. 

With constant exposure to social media, global events and information, many people – particularly younger generations – no longer feel safe enough to take the risks that connection requires. Instead, self-protection takes over. 

Increasingly, people are avoiding discomfort altogether – cutting others off rather than working through conflict. Francesca challenges this directly, discussing what it actually takes to build connection today – and why it’s often less comfortable than we’d like. 

She also touches on a quieter, underlying issue: purpose. 

We explore 

• Why connection feels harder in the modern world  
• The shift towards avoidance in relationships  
• Why nuance matters more than ever  
• What community really requires  
• A quieter, underlying issue: purpose. 

This episode is a timely reflection on how we relate and what it might take to reconnect. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Flow state is a rapidly growing topic in media – trending across social platforms, as well as in professional, self-development and wellbeing spaces. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Josh Dickson, psychotherapist and founder of Resurface, who is exploring how flow can be used to support therapeutic change. 

‘Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where you feel and perform at your best.’  

Josh explains that activities like surfing are not the intervention itself, but a way of creating the conditions for it. Because when those conditions are right, something shifts – attention sharpens, distractions fall away, and people become more open to the work that follows. 

We discuss: 

• What flow actually is – beyond the trend  
• The conditions required to access it  
• Why modern life disrupts our ability to focus  
• How flow can prepare the brain for therapeutic work  
• The risks of chasing the state itself  

This conversation offers a different lens on flow – not as a productivity tool, but as a state that may help create the conditions for meaningful change. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

See Josh Dickson at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Early Bird Tickets here. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

On this episode of Mastering Change, we explore one of the most rapidly evolving and widely discussed areas in mental health: psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

Neuropsychopharmacologist Rayyan Zafar joins us to explain how new treatments – particularly psychedelics – are changing how we understand trauma and addiction. 

Rayyan’s work focuses on neuroplasticity – and he challenges a common assumption: more plasticity isn’t always better. In addiction and trauma, the brain can become stuck in deeply reinforced patterns that are difficult to shift through conventional approaches. 

Psychedelics, he explains, appear to do something different. 

Rather than simply managing symptoms, they may temporarily disrupt rigid brain networks, opening a window for change and healing. What makes this especially significant is that this window of plasticity can endure after a single dose – something not seen in other areas of medicine. 

We explore 

• What neuroplasticity actually is – and why it can be helpful or harmful  
• How psychedelics may interrupt rigid trauma and addiction patterns  
• Why a single dose can create an enduring window for change  
• What hormesis teaches us about stress and resilience  
• Why integration remains an open scientific question  
• How precision mental health could reshape treatment 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

See Rayyan Zafar at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Early Bird Tickets here. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Anxiety doesn’t begin in your thoughts – it begins in your nervous system. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, breathwork educator Jamie Clements explains how conscious breathing can directly regulate the autonomic nervous system and help shift anxiety at its root. 

Jamie shares how breathwork became central to his own recovery from panic attacks, and why he now teaches a structured approach that distinguishes between micro regulation practices and macro transformational work, including Conscious Connected Breathing. 

He explains how deeper breathwork can intentionally create safe “prediction error” experiences – moments where the body learns it is safe in situations it once perceived as threatening – allowing new neural pathways to form. 

But this isn’t about intensity for its own sake. Jamie emphasises preparation, containment and integration as essential parts of the process. 

We explore: 

• How breath influences the autonomic nervous system 
• Why anxiety is often a conditioned physiological response 
• The role of Conscious Connected Breathing in deeper healing 
• The difference between daily grounding and expanded-state work 
• Why integration matters as much as the experience itself 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

See Jamie Clements at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Early Bird Tickets here.

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Trauma doesn’t only create fear – it often creates isolation. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Lucas Casanova explores trauma as a fundamental rupture in safety and belonging. A Buddhist and transpersonal therapist, Lucas integrates secular Buddhist practices with neuroscience and embodied therapy to help people reconnect – not just cognitively, but physically and relationally. 

He explains that belonging and safety are biological needs. When trauma disrupts them, thinking alone cannot restore them. The body must feel safe first. 

“Trauma makes you lose your faith and trauma makes you feel disconnected.” 

Lucas differentiates spirituality from religion – framing spirituality as lived experience rather than belief – and introduces the concept of spiritual safety: the felt sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves. 

Drawing on his work with refugees and displaced communities, he describes how meditation, breath and embodied practices can rebuild connection from the inside out. 

We explore: 

• Trauma as disconnection from body, community and self 
• Why safety must be embodied before cognitive healing begins 
• Spirituality versus religion in therapeutic practice 
• Secular Buddhist practices as tools for regulation and reconnection 
• Belonging as a core human need 

A powerful conversation about rebuilding safety where trauma once fractured it. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

When trauma takes you out of your body, rebuilding safety and connection can take years. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Karen Whelan shares her lived experience of sexual abuse and the long, gradual journey of healing that followed. She speaks openly about self-hate, disconnection and the profound loss of safety in her own body – and how therapy, spirituality and embodied practice helped her slowly rebuild trust in herself. 

Karen reflects on a powerful moment of forgiveness that left her feeling “no longer a hostage to my own trauma story.” She is clear that forgiveness was not a shortcut or solution, but part of a much wider process of reclaiming her life. 

Now a psychotherapist and spiritual practitioner, Karen guides others through a 21-day awe-based self-love practice. She describes awe as “the bridge between the human knowing and the divine encountering” – and explains how cultivating awe and gratitude can help people reconnect with their bodies and sense of the sacred. 

We explore: 

• Rebuilding safety after sexual trauma 
• The relationship between spirituality and embodied healing 
• Self-love as an ongoing practice 
• The role of awe in shifting self-perception 
• How reconnecting to the body supports recovery 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support.  

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Many of us weren’t optimally seen, held or supported as children – and the adaptations we made to survive can quietly shape how we relate, connect and protect ourselves as adults. 

This week on Mastering Change, Maya Vaughan, Director of the Trauma Training Institute (TTI), explains the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) – a non-pathologising, relational approach to healing developmental trauma. 

Rather than focusing on diagnosis or “what’s wrong,” Maya describes NARM as “profoundly relational and non pathologizing” and “very kind of present process.” 

In a NARM session, the starting point is deceptively simple: 

“What is it you most want for yourself?” 

From there, the work follows what she calls a red thread – exploring what gets in the way of that longing by tracking what’s happening in the present moment. 

“As they see what they do to themselves, so much agency comes online.” 

If you work with developmental/relational trauma – or recognise its patterns in yourself – this conversation offers a grounded, practical lens on restoring safety, connection and self-regulation. 

We explore 

• What makes NARM different from traditional trauma models 
• Why starting with “what do you most want?” changes everything 
• How fear of attachment loss drives survival adaptations 
• Why NARM doesn’t label or pathologise 
• How agency returns through present-moment awareness 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support.  

Dr. Laurence Heller, founder of NARM, releases his new book Healing Shame and Guilt on 12 May. Learn more: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804584/healing-shame-and-guilt-by-laurence-heller-phd-and-stephan-k-niederweiser/

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Many of the behaviours we label as “dysfunctional” may actually be attempts to survive.

In this episode of Mastering Change, we’re joined by Mike Niconchuk, whose work is shaped by personal and intergenerational trauma linked to his family’s experience during the Guatemalan civil war, as well as years of humanitarian work in active conflict zones.

Mike did not enter this field through clinical training. Instead, his questions emerged through lived experience and direct exposure to overwhelming pain, where he became deeply interested in how trauma shapes the body, the brain, and our relationships with others.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple but challenging idea:

“The primary goal of the brain is to help us stay alive.”

From this perspective, the brain is not organised around happiness or wellbeing. Behaviours that can appear confusing, harmful or self-defeating often begin to make sense when understood as short-term strategies for safety. Mike explores how trauma interacts with ordinary cognitive and neural processes, including empathy, and how the legacies of war can continue to live on socially and politically long after violence ends.

This episode offers a reframing of trauma that extends beyond the individual, particularly in contexts where there is no clear “after” and no guaranteed space for reflection or healing.

We explore:

• Trauma as an embodied, social and political experience
• Survival rather than wellbeing as the brain’s organising principle
• How trauma can shape empathy and social behaviour
• Shame as a powerful and often overlooked factor in PTSD and trauma
• What trauma looks like when there is no “post”
• Why reflection and healing are not universal privileges

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support.

See Mike Niconchuk at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Early Bird Tickets here.

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

For people living with trauma or chronic stress, the brain can feel like it’s working against them.

In this episode of Mastering Change, Dr Kate Truitt introduces brain partnership – a trauma-informed approach that reframes the brain as a protector rather than a problem. She explains how fast threat pathways in the amygdala and hippocampus form to keep us safe, and why those same pathways can later drive hypervigilance, dissociation or shutdown.

Kate explores how chronic stress reduces access to the thinking brain, reinforces survival responses, and fuels shame when symptoms don’t resolve. Rather than forcing change, she describes how compassionate inquiry and body-based regulation help bring systems back into the present – creating the conditions for neuroplastic change.

This episode offers a practical and deeply human lens on trauma, anxiety and nervous system dysregulation, especially for those who feel stuck despite insight or effort. 

We discuss

• Brain partnership as an alternative to “fixing” the brain
• How threat pathways develop and persist
• Why judgment increases dysregulation
• The role of the body in calming fear responses
• Supporting safety as a foundation for change

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support.

See Kate Truitt at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Super Early Bird Tickets here.

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

For many people, healing can feel stuck. Symptoms persist, patterns repeat and change itself can begin to feel unsafe. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Raoul Goldberg, founder of the PATH Method, explores why what we often describe as “chronic” may not be purely medical – but psychosocial and spiritual in nature. He shares how his work helps people reconnect with a sense of wholeness by strengthening the parts of themselves that are capable of change. 

Raoul walks through the core elements of the PATH Method: forming a clear wish, connecting with a felt sense of one’s “best self,” embodying that state and learning to step outside habitual perspectives. Practised over time, this process helps people build enough internal strength to face trauma rather than remain trapped by it. 

Rather than creating something new, Raoul describes PATH as helping people reconnect with something that already exists within them – a capacity for agency, empowerment and growth. 

We explore 

• Why long-term symptoms may reflect blocked psychosocial change 
• How the PATH Method helps people feel safe enough to change 
• The role of embodiment and perspective in breaking old patterns 
• Why trauma work requires strength, not just insight 
• How reconnecting with wholeness supports healing 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

See Raoul Goldberg at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Super Early Bird Tickets here. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

How do you rebuild a life when your earliest memories are of profound and extreme loss? 

That’s what Richard McCann explores in this episode. When he was just five years old, his mother was murdered – an event that later became national news and that influenced every part of his childhood. 

Richard describes how this grief showed up in ways he didn’t have words for at the time – hypervigilance, fear, constantly scanning for threats – and how teachers were among the first adults to recognise what he was going through and what he needed most. 

He shares how this early experience influenced his adult relationships and how he eventually found meaning and strength through spirituality and post-traumatic growth. 

Despite everything he faced, Richard believes that there is always a way forward, even from the most painful beginnings. Today, he uses his experience to support others navigating trauma. 

We explore 

• What extreme Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can look like 
• How trauma shows up in children – and what adults can look out for 
• The crucial role of teachers and early recognition 
• How childhood trauma continues into adulthood 
• The part spirituality played in Richard’s healing 
• Why he believes there is always hope, even after unimaginable loss 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

So much of what happens in healthcare is shaped by trauma – yet most clinicians are never taught what trauma is or how to recognise it in themselves or their patients. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Susanna Petche, a GP with 25 years’ experience, who shares how her own misdiagnosed depression eventually revealed an underlying trauma response. That realisation changed her life – and her medical practice. 

Susanna reflects on the reality that trauma is everywhere in the healthcare system: in people’s symptoms, in their behaviour and in the overwhelm that brings them to a GP or hospital. However, doctors receive no formal education about trauma, no supervision and little support in navigating the emotional impact of their work. 

She shows how much difference simple, trauma-aware tools can make – from acknowledging how frightening a hospital environment can be, to helping patients regulate their nervous systems in moments of stress. Small shifts like this, she argues, can meaningfully improve care long before large-scale system change becomes possible. 

We discuss  

• Why trauma underpins so many physical and mental health presentations 
• How the lack of trauma training leaves clinicians without essential tools 
• Why simple, everyday interventions can improve patient safety and connection 
• What genuine practitioner wellbeing requires - beyond slogans about resilience 
• How AI could support care if implemented with sensitivity 
• Why even one hour of trauma education could transform healthcare 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What makes someone feel so bonded to a group that they’d sacrifice almost anything for it – and how does that same force help us heal? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, cognitive anthropologist Dr. Martha Newson unpacks ‘identity fusion’ – an extreme form of social bonding where self and group identities merge, creating family-like ties and powerful loyalty.  

Drawing on years of research with football fans, prisoners and festival communities, Martha explores how ritual, shared challenge and moments of perceived transformation strengthen these bonds. She explains why people can feel trapped in damaging groups – families, institutions, even cult-like communities – because losing that belonging can feel physiologically unsafe, not just emotionally painful.  

Martha also advocates for collective healing spaces – from 12-step groups to choirs and walking clubs – explaining that they are essential companions to individual therapy. 

We explore: 

• What identity fusion is – and how it shows up in everyday life 
• How shared rituals, sport and festivals create deep feelings of “we-ness” 
• Why leaving harmful groups can feel more dangerous than staying 
• How trauma, when held in community, can shift from stagnation to transformation 
• The role of collective spaces (12-step rooms, choirs, sports, retreats) in trauma healing 
• How internalised community, ancestors, nature and a sense of “higher self” can sustain people who spend time alone 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Therapists, clinicians and helpers often tell themselves they’re “fine” – even as the work wears down their nervous system. 

In this conversation, palliative care doctor Dr. Rosie Weir offers a compassionate guide to trauma stewardship: the practice of staying present to other people’s pain without losing yourself in it. 

Drawing from her years on the frontline of end-of-life care, Rosie explains how practitioners can unconsciously carry the emotional burden of others long after a session ends. 

‘If you're a painter and you're painting all day, you come home covered in paint. And that's what it's like doing this kind of work – you come home covered in other people’s emotional material.’ 

Rosie shares the practices that help her stay grounded and slow down, while challenging the belief that self-care must always be ‘active’ or fast paced to be effective. 

We discuss 

• The emotional residue practitioners carry and how to recognise it 
• Why slowing down is often more regulating than speeding up 
• Building a relationship with yourself as a foundation for resilience 
• How hobbies and joy act as protective factors 
• Why healing work must include the wellbeing of those who deliver it 

A reflective, grounding episode for anyone doing work that asks you to hold other people’s pain. 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

For people who have spent years in survival mode, joy can feel uncomfortable.  

Here, Melita Stancil explains why (as well as how we can experience joy more readily). She is the creator of Anthelum, a framework designed to help people move out of survival mode by looking at families, schools, workplaces and communities as interconnected parts of healing. 

A central theme in her work is joy. She shares how hypervigilance and stress can make exposure to joy difficult, and why practicing joy becomes essential for long-term wellbeing. She explains that many people, especially those with trauma histories, spend more time scanning for what’s wrong – not because they’re pessimistic, but because their brain is still trying to keep them safe. 

She also describes why healing must include families and systems, not just individuals. Joy, she argues, grows through connection – and the environments around us play a crucial role in whether recovery is sustained. 

We explore 

• The Anthelum framework and how systems shape healing 
• How hypervigilance restricts access to joy 
• Why joy is a skill we must practice and protect 
• The role of connection in helping people thrive 
• Why healing happens in systems, not silos 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Have you ever noticed how some stress seems to not just dictate your mood, but your whole sense of presence? That’s because, according to craniosacral therapist Lulu Ferrand, we’re operating on a spectrum of vibrational frequency. 

On this week’s episode, Lulu speaks to us about how what we engage with, moment to moment, can raise or lower our sense of freedom, safety and connection. 

She explains how she understands craniosacral therapy (CST) as working not only with the nervous system but also with the body’s subtle energetic field – helping people access states where old emotional and physical patterns can release. She emphasises that CST isn’t about ignoring or dismissing the difficult, lower-frequency experiences people may be living with; rather, it helps clients recognise that the more time they spend in lighter, more regulated states, the more they can be gently ‘pulled up and out’. 

She also shares how even the smallest moments of beauty or presence – like ‘noticing that a particular flower is looking beautiful’ – can create meaningful shifts in the system. 

We discuss 

• How engaging with ‘higher’ or ‘lighter’ experiences can support emotional and energetic regulation 
• Why highly sensitive people and empaths may feel drained or overwhelmed by others 
• How CST supports the body’s natural capacity to let go of held patterns 
• How sensitivity can show up early in life – and why attuned support makes a difference 
• Practical ways to ground and protect your own energy 
• How small, everyday moments can shift how we feel in profound ways 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Sometimes, talking therapy isn’t enough. 

This week on Mastering Change, we speak with neurofeedback specialist Stuart Black, whose work focuses on trauma, PTSD and the patterns the nervous system can’t shift through traditional talking therapy alone. 

Stuart explains how neurofeedback helps a dysregulated nervous system re-regulate, especially when trauma has left people stuck in survival mode. He describes how it can support the processing of traumatic memories stored in the emotional brain that otherwise couldn’t be accessed. 
 
“We can enable you to process any traumatic memories which are stuck in your emotional brain… so you're controlling those memories rather than those memories controlling you.”  

We explore 

• Why a dysregulated nervous system can block therapeutic progress 
• How neurofeedback helps the brain access and process traumatic memories 
• Why trying to “fix brain chemistry” misses the root cause 
• Why there is no such thing as an average brain 
• The importance of the therapeutic relationship – and why neurofeedback isn’t “just a machine” 
• Why educating people about neurofeedback could drastically speed up the therapy process 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Christmas can intensify grief. Familiar rituals, memories and traditions can exacerbate the feelings of absence and bring more emotional pain to the surface. 

In this episode of Mastering Change, psychotherapist Julia Samuel shares what years of supporting grieving individuals have taught her about love, loss and the support people need most. She explains how grief is held in the body, how the brain struggles to catch up with the reality of loss, and why “pain is the agent of change” in helping us adjust. 

Julia describes the dual process of grieving – moving between feeling the pain and intentionally taking breaks from it – and why slowing down is key for staying grounded during overwhelming moments. She offers concrete guidance for navigating the festive season: having honest conversations with family, creating rituals that acknowledge the person who has died, taking sensory breaks to regulate, and setting aside time to remember so the person “doesn’t die twice.” 

She also introduces the Griefworks app, with practical tools, meditations and reflective exercises to help people meet their grief with compassion. 

We explore

• Why grief is so physical 
• How slowing down supports emotional regulation 
• Practical steps for coping with grief at Christmas 
• The importance of continuing bonds and remembering 
• How guided tools like Griefworks offer support when it's most needed 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Why are so many women only discovering their ADHD in adulthood? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Dr. Samantha Hiew, founder of ADHD Girls, explores the gender bias in psychiatry and the ways in which hormones, stress and trauma intersect with neurodivergent experience. 

Through her own story and research, Samantha reveals how hormonal shifts and perimenopause can alter stress tolerance, why diagnosis can be a powerful act of self-recognition, and how understanding our neurobiology can transform how we see ourselves. 

“Diagnosis, when done right, isn’t about labels – it’s about understanding yourself, and validating your lived experience.” 

We explore: 

• The gender bias shaping ADHD diagnosis in women 
• How hormones and perimenopause affect emotional regulation 
• The connection between trauma, autism and stress sensitivity 
• Why every neurodivergent mind has its own truth 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

Perimenopause is often described as a hormonal shift – but what if it’s also a neurological and emotional one? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Paula Rastrick, founder of The Brain-Body Method, explores how trauma, stress sensitivity and hormonal health are intricately linked. 

Paula explains how our stress profiles begin developing in the womb, shaped by our mother’s nervous system and early attachment experiences. Through her neuro-bio-psycho-social lens, she shows how unresolved trauma can re-emerge during perimenopause, when fluctuations in cortisol and GABA bring stress patterns to the surface. 

“There's a lot of talk within the trauma world of nervous system dysregulation – but I think we're not understanding the biochemical neurological aspect of that.” 

We explore: 

• The brain-body connection in perimenopause 
• How early adversity shapes stress sensitivity and hormonal response 
• Why perimenopause can re-trigger unresolved trauma 
• The role of cortisol and GABA in emotional regulation 
• How nervous system awareness supports hormonal balance 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What happens when the part of us that wants to heal becomes the thing that gets in the way? 

In this episode, we speak with Laura Patryas, a nondual IFS practitioner who sees our inner parts as expressions of awareness rather than problems to fix. 

Laura explains how trauma disconnects us from presence and how, in both therapy and life, healing begins when we can rest in awareness rather than try to control it. She describes how nondual IFS expands traditional IFS by integrating spiritual insight, compassion and connection to the whole. 

“Having parts isn’t a problem. It’s just like waves on the ocean – different expressions of the same awareness.” 

We explore: 

• What nondual IFS is and how it differs from traditional IFS 
• The role of presence and awareness in trauma healing 
• The difference between empathy, sympathy and compassion 
• How to work with the therapist’s own “parts” during sessions 
• How this approach supports both personal and collective healing 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

How do we talk about trauma without retraumatising? Through animation might be one answer. 

In this episode, we speak with Quint Boa, founder of Synima, a production company creating short-form animation for mental health communication and education. 

Quint shares how metaphor in animation allows us to explore emotional and traumatic experiences safely, helping people engage with difficult material without being re-exposed to distressing imagery. He discusses the practical benefits too – how animation can reach wide audiences, support therapy and education, and provide a cost-effective way to open new conversations around mental health. 

“Animation allows us to explore emotional or traumatic experiences in a way that’s metaphorical rather than literal. That’s what makes it safe.” 

We also explore: 

• The use of animation in trauma education and prevention 
• Why metaphor supports accessibility and safety 
• How animation can complement therapy and public health communication 
• Quint’s example of an animation about anger and its design principles 

Find Quint Boa's website here. 

Find Quint Boa's animations here: The 'Understanding' Series

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What happens when the person in crisis isn’t the only one who needs help – but the entire family system? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Louise Stanger – known as “the family whisperer” – shares her trauma-informed approach to working with families in addiction recovery and crisis intervention. 

Louise explains that healing often begins before any formal session takes place: by preparing families, helping them feel safe, and inviting them back into connection. 

“The most important thing we have to do is be in connection, be open and listen to each other’s hearts, because all our hearts are different.” 

She describes how her work is systemic and relational meeting each family where they are and recognising the role of story, culture and spirituality in recovery. 

We also explore: 

• Why interventions should be invitational, not confrontational 
• How to meet families with empathy, not judgement 
• The role of spirituality in recovery and resilience 
• What it means to see the whole system – not just the symptom 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive topics related to addiction, family crisis and trauma. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

How can therapists help clients give voice to what the body remembers, when words fall short? 

In this episode of Mastering Change, Dr. Tian Dayton explores how psychodrama can become a powerful trauma-informed tool for healing. 

“When trauma happens, the story is held in the body – it doesn’t get fully told. In psychodrama, we give the body a chance to tell its part of the story.” 

Tian shares how she has adapted psychodrama for addiction and trauma, guiding clients to safely express emotions, explore body sensations and reconnect with themselves through movement and role play. 

She explains the importance of safety and engagement, “warming up” before entering deeper states, and allowing clients to step into roles that help them witness their story from new perspectives. 

We also explore: 

• What trauma-informed psychodrama looks like in practice 
• Giving voice to body parts that hold emotion 
• How role work can restore empathy, connection and repair 
• Practical guidance for using psychodrama with trauma or addiction recovery 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details. 

What does it feel like to live without support – not emotionally, but physically, in your body? 

This week on Mastering Change, Betsy Polatin, somatic educator and breathwork specialist, explores how trauma takes away our sense of being supported – and how to reconnect with the forces that hold us. 

“Trauma takes away our universal support. When we feel ourselves be supported, we don’t need to hold ourselves up on our own.” 

Betsy explains how clients often describe the absence of support as tension in the shoulders – and walks us through a grounding exercise to begin rebuilding that felt sense of safety.  

We also explore: 

• What “support” feels like in the body 
• How trauma changes posture and breathing patterns 
• Reconnecting with the physical environment to regulate the nervous system 
• The power of letting go – and allowing yourself to be held 

Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd

Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.