Explore every episode of the podcast The Thrive Programme Podcast

This week, Kayane Watson joins Lucy to share her inspirational story of getting herself through a sudden life and death situation. Using the knowledge and skills she had learned having done The Thrive Programme a couple of years before, she was able to approach a really scary situation with a sense of calm and control. 

Kayane explains the moment she discovered something was wrong and there was a risk to her and her baby’s life. She talks through how she responded to her initial fear and was able to calm herself down and focus on the things she could control. And finally, how she processed the situation in the days, weeks, months afterwards in order to come out of the experience stronger, which prevented her from creating PTSD. 

Key takeaways:

• Knowing you have the power over how you think, feel and respond in any situation is key
• Learning how to master your emotions is something everyone can (and should) learn
• If you focus on things you can’t control, you’ll feel powerless
• If you focus on things you CAN control, you feel powerful
• How you process an event afterwards will determine your experience of it – you have the ability to shape it 

If you’d like to learn the skills to master your emotions and equip yourself with the ability to cope with difficult situations in life, get in touch with us today. 

This week, Lucy is joined by Irene Diego Garcia – a Thrive Programme Coach originally from Spain, but now working and living in the UK. Irene explains how her perfectionism affected her for years. A very qualified, hard-working vet, yet she was in a constant state of not feeling good enough, feeling like an imposter and creating daily anxiety and overwhelm.   

Perfectionism is a response to not feeling good enough. Not feeling good about yourself isn’t a nice feeling, so understandably people put their efforts into trying to feel enough – working harder, taking on more, wanting to please others to get them to like you, setting unrealistic expectations and standards for yourself, focussing on the things you don’t do ‘well enough’, playing down your achievements and successes. Not surprisingly, this has a huge effect on a person’s self-esteem.  

Irene and Lucy discuss the intricacies of perfectionist thinking and how it affects people. Most importantly they talk through how you can overcome it: 

1. Educate yourself – gain the understanding into how your mind works, how and why you created the habit of perfectionism. Self-awareness is the first step. 
2. Practice self-acceptance and self-compassion – treat yourself with the same unconditional kindness and acceptance that you would offer to other people. Taming that inner voice and learning to see yourself in a kind and charitable light does wonders for your self-esteem.
3. Stop equating your self-worth to your achievements. Re-define your evaluation of success. You are enough, you are worthy, you are lovable irrelevant of what job you do, how much money you earn, whether your house is clean, what size clothes you wear. Base your self-esteem on who you are on the inside and every day process your experiences and the role you’ve taken in making them happen.

We’re here for you, so if you’d like some help, get in touch and we’ll be with you every step of the way. 

Despite how it might feel, it's not the past event ‘making you’ feel the way you do. It's the way you're thinking about it in the present moment.  Changing the way you think about the past will have a massive impact on your future. 

In this episode, Lucy is joined by Jodi Stones – a Thrive Programme Coach based in Northern Ireland, who was told she might not survive when there were complications during her pregnancy. Not only did she survive, she learned to thrive and now looks back on her experience as her superpower!  

What you'll hear in this podcast:

• Jodi’s real life past experience
• How it impacted not only her life but the whole family
• How Jodi’s unhelpful thinking styles created a really unhelpful and negative response
• What Jodi learned that changed the way she thinks
• How Jodi lives her life today

Key takeaway: 

Life doesn't always go to plan, and it’s certainly not perfect. By accepting you can't change your past, but you can take responsibility for your future will be the most empowering thing you ever do.

No matter what the experience, this is something anyone, any age can do. The more you learn and understand why you think the way you do and that it’s your underlying beliefs and thinking habits that are holding you back, not the situation itself, the easier and better your life will be.

Don't let your past hold you back anymore, learn to think in a powerful way and live the life you want from today. 

Parenting, in general, can feel like a daunting task! Every parent wants to raise happy, mentally fit, thriving children...but where do you start? There are many attributes that parents can foster in their children in order to ensure they are thriving. In this week’s episode, Thrive Programme Coach Dom Marcotte joins Lucy to share a little about her own parenting journey; how she supported her daughter in overcoming anxiety, and how she learned to become a more thriving parent by challenging some unhelpful thinking.

Key discussion points in this podcast:

• The importance of resilience – how to build resilience in children 
• How to support children in developing an internal self-esteem, so that they don’t rely on external validation to ‘make them’ feel good
• The importance of parents being positive, thriving role models for their children

This week, Lucy is joined by Matt Christofaro - a Thrive Programme Coach based in America, who previously struggled with frequent panic attacks—especially in important work meetings and interviews. In this episode, Matt explains the underlying thinking styles and beliefs that were causing him to create such big emotions and also how he overcame it – what he needed to know and then do to rid himself of panic for good. 

Despite how they feel, panic attacks don’t ‘happen to’ you. They are your response ‘to’ an event, situation, thought, feeling, urge, sensation. It is the work meeting, viewed through your own unique set of filters (your beliefs and thinking styles) that creates your experience of it — including whether or not you panic in certain situations. The key is understanding that panic isn’t some external force ‘attacking’ you (even though the name makes it sound that way)—you create it by how you respond ‘to’ the situation. 

What you'll year in this podcast:

• Why panic attacks feel random — but aren’t.
• Why some people stay calm under pressure while others spiral into panic.
• The common thinking styles and beliefs that create panic.
• Why trying to avoid the feelings actually keeps them alive.
• How your brain mistakes discomfort for danger.
• The simple mindset shift that stops panic from escalating.
• Top tips for the next time you’re panicking.

Key takeaway:

Panic isn’t something that happens ‘to’ you — it’s an emotional overreaction to a perceived threat. Whilst you may not be able to control the situation, you absolutely can control the way you think and feel about it. 

You don’t panic about making a cup of tea. Why? Because you feel powerful and skillful in that area of your life. You only create panic, stress and worry about situations you think in a powerless way about. It’s a thinking problem, rather than a work meeting problem. 

Panic attacks feel unpredictable, but they’re not. Once you understand what’s really happening, you can break the cycle and take back control just like Matt and all the other people who have overcome panic attacks for good.   

This episode is all about changing the narrative around vaginismus. No more outdated advice, ineffective quick fixes, or feeling like you're the only one struggling. Instead, you'll gain a fresh, empowering perspective, practical strategies, and real success stories—proving that effective help does exist.

What is vaginismus?

Vaginismus is a condition that makes sexual penetration painful or impossible. Women who experience it often struggle with distress, embarrassment, shame, and frustration. The severity of symptoms varies—some women can tolerate insertion, albeit painfully, while others cannot insert anything at all. For many, even the thought of penetration triggers anxiety.

Meet Cara Mason

Cara Mason is a Vaginismus Coach, author and the creator of the Vaginismus-Free Programme. With over 25 years of experience, she fully understands the challenges women face and, more importantly, what’s required in order for women to achieve comfortable penetration. 

What You'll hear in this podcast

• The main cause of Vaginismus – It’s not what you think, and it’s not scary or complicated!

• Myth-Busting – Did you know that your vaginal muscles are not spasming? There’s no evidence for it.

• Understanding the root cause – Vaginismus is often NOT caused by sexual trauma; Its nearly always something simpler and not sinister.

• Why many common vaginismus treatments fail – Treatments that focus only on the physical symptom are ignoring the crucial role of the mind.

• The first steps to take for comfortable penetration – Learn how to process positive penetration experiences so they truly count in your recovery.

• How to make progress with insertion – it’s the small steps that lead to bigger wins

• Is it harder to overcome vaginismus if you’ve had it for longer

• Why vaginismus is actually a GOOD symptom to overcome!

• Why many women believe it’s hard to overcome vaginismus

The Vaginismus-Free Programme

The Vaginismus-Free Programme is a step-by-step, life-changing programme that empowers women to reconnect with their bodies and regain control. Since vaginismus manifests physically but is driven by mindset, this programme takes a full mind-body approach to healing.

You'll learn why your body responds as it does and have all the tools you need to achieve comfortable penetration. Followed correctly, this programme can help you overcome vaginismus in just 8-12 weeks.

In this week’s episode, Lucy Wood is joined by Rob Kelly – creator of The Thrive Programme – to talk about coping skills. 

Feeling able to cope with life’s ups and downs is arguably the most important thing in your life. Since the absence of feeling able to cope is the main driver of anxieties, worries, fears, stress, depression, poor self-esteem and so on. 

During this episode, Lucy and Rob explain what coping skills are, how you learned them (or didn’t learn them), how anyone can build them, and why everyone should build them. 

Your experience of any situation is determined by one thing: how powerful you feel.  

When you feel powerful, in control and able to cope, you don’t create anxious or stressful thoughts, you don’t lose sleep or overthink it – quite the opposite – you know you can do it so you’re feeling calm and relaxed about it. 

When you feel powerless – you doubt your ability to cope – and this lack of belief in your capabilities fuels anxious, fearful, worrisome, stressful thoughts, feelings, sensations and behaviours. And it’s these uncomfortable feelings that further strengthen your belief.  

So the absence of feeling powerful in your ability to cope is the root cause of any anxiety, fears, avoidance behaviours you might see on the surface. 

This is great news, because it’s just a belief. 

So how do you build coping skills? 

1.     Understand that it isn’t the situation that is ‘making you’ scared or anxious, but the beliefs you hold about it / your capabilities. 

It’s not the spider that is ‘making you’ terrified - it can’t – it doesn’t have that power over how you feel. Only you do. Your limiting belief about your ability to stay calm when you see a spider is the cause of how you think, feel and react in that situation. So taking responsibility for how you think and make yourself feel is the first step. 

2.     With that understanding, gently find ways to get outside your zone. 

Make a list of situations you would rather avoid because you don’t like feeling those uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, sensations. Gradually start facing them. Expect to feel uncomfortable – that’s the point! You are learning to tolerate uncomfortable thoughts and feelings without running away. Every time you face something (obviously we’re talking about discomfort here, not danger…) rather than run away, you build coping skills. 

3.     Process it well 

Make sure you tell yourself well done. You faced something hard. You got yourself through. You put effort into tolerating those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings and the more you do it, the easier it will feel. 

The more you learn to cope in each and every situation, the stronger your belief and skillset and the easier your life will be.