Hi guys, welcome back to the Hurt to Healing podcast. In today’s episode I’m joined by Claudia Hammond - author and broadcaster - for a really grounding conversation about overwhelm: what it is, how it’s different from everyday stress, and why so many of us feel like we’re constantly carrying too much. We talk about perfectionism, decision fatigue, comparison, and the pressure to be “good at everything,” plus the small mindset shifts that can help you feel more steady when life starts tipping in...
Jan 27, 2026•42 min
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Ro Mitchell for a really honest and grounding conversation about the link between ADHD, anxiety and disordered eating and the role control often plays when your mind feels chaotic or overwhelming. We talk about learning to soften the inner critic, rebuilding trust with your body, and why recovery isn’t about giving up control entirely, but about finding safer, more compassionate ways to feel secure. Ro also shares practical tools around body checking, setbacks, ...
Jan 22, 2026•11 min
Hi guys, welcome back to Hurt to Healing. Today I’m joined by Dr Tommy Wood - neuroscientist, researcher and performance consultant based in Washington DC - and this conversation genuinely blew my mind. We talk about the real pillars of wellbeing - food, movement, sleep and connection - and why “more, more, more” isn’t always better. Tommy explains allostatic load (the total stress your body is carrying), why sleep tracking can sometimes increase anxiety, and how small, realistic habits - like h...
Jan 20, 2026•44 min
For this Healing 101 episode, I wanted to focus on something that quietly underpins so much of our mental health, so I sat down with Annalie Howling to talk about guilt, shame, and why understanding the difference really matters. We break it down in a simple, relatable way - how guilt is about what we do, while shame becomes a painful belief about who we are - and why shame can be so corrosive to our self-worth, relationships, and recovery. Annalie explains how shame often sits underneath anxiet...
Jan 15, 2026•17 min
In today’s episode of Hurt to Healing, I’m joined by Dr Alex George for a very honest and very relatable conversation about his brand new book Am I Normal? and what it’s like to grow up feeling different without knowing why. We talk about his ADHD diagnosis at 31, living with OCD, grief, emotional dysregulation and the painful “what if?” loops that can quietly run your life - and what finally starts to help once you understand your brain. What made this conversation so special is how much we rec...
Jan 13, 2026•38 min
I thought this would be the perfect Healing 101 episode for January, so I’m joined by Suzy Reading, psychologist and author of Self-Care for Winter. We talk about why winter can feel so heavy on our mood, energy and motivation, how cold and lack of light affect both mind and body, and why easing our expectations of ourselves really matters at this time of year. Suzy shares practical, down-to-earth ways to support yourself through the darker months - from gentle movement and rest, to staying conn...
Jan 08, 2026•31 min
In this first episode of the year, I’m joined by the brilliant Julia Bradbury for a really grounding, eye-opening chat about what “being healthy” actually means when you look beyond the surface. Julia talks me through how her breast cancer diagnosis in 2021 completely changed the way she thinks about her body and her life - not in a “perfect routine” kind of way, but in a very real, human I want to stay well and reduce my risk way. We get into the stuff so many of us ignore until something force...
Jan 06, 2026•53 min
On today’s Healing 101, I’m chatting with Pearl Lowe, who was recently diagnosed with ADHD - something that finally helped so many pieces of her life fall into place. Pearl talks openly about the signs she’d been living with for years: the chronic scattiness, impulsive decisions, the “hundred tabs open” feeling, and the unfiltered honesty that sometimes got her into trouble long before she understood why. We dig into how ADHD can look completely different in women, how it played into her past ad...
Dec 18, 2025•14 min
In today’s episode, I’m joined by psychotherapist and author Kathleen Saxton, whose new book My Parent the Peacock dives deep into one of the most confusing dynamics out there: narcissistic parents. We talk about what a narcissist actually is – beyond the buzzword – and the difference between someone with a few narcissistic traits and someone with a full clinical disorder. We explore how growing up with a narcissistic parent can shape your anxiety, confidence, relationships and sense of identity...
Dec 16, 2025•48 min
On today’s Healing 101, I’m sitting down with psychiatrist and author Alastair Santhouse, and we’re diving into a surprisingly tricky question: what do we actually mean when we talk about “normal” mental health? It’s one of those phrases we all use, but when you look a little closer, it gets messy fast. Alastair and I chat about why “normal” can feel so loaded, how it shapes the way we think about ourselves, and why it matters when deciding whether someone genuinely needs help or is simply havin...
Dec 11, 2025•18 min
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Professor Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of the newly published Dealing With Feeling, to untangle one of the big questions: what actually are emotions - and how are they different from feelings, moods, or just “being in a state”? We talk about why there’s no such thing as a “bad” emotion, how emotions act as data rather than problems to get rid of, and wh y so many of us - especially in places like the U...
Dec 09, 2025•33 min
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr Chloe Saunders, a clinician and researcher specialising in functional somatic symptoms and the mind–body connection. We explore what it means when your body begins to talk and medicine doesn’t always find the answer - fatigue, pain, gut issues and other flare-ups that don’t quite show up on scans. Dr Saunders helps us understand why these symptoms are real, even when traditional tests are normal, how our stress response lives in the body long before our mind ...
Dec 04, 2025•35 min
Today I’m joined by the brilliant Annalie Howling - a performance coach, trauma specialist and author whose story is honestly fascinating. She opens up about hitting complete burnout at 29, when life looked perfect from the outside but felt totally wrong on the inside. As she puts it, she wasn’t intolerant to gluten… she was intolerant to her life. We talk about how childhood shame and perfectionism can follow us into adulthood, how that shows up in things like anxiety and people-pleasing, and w...
Dec 02, 2025•54 min
In this Healing 101 bonus episode, I’m joined again by Mariko Bangerter, regression therapist and healer, to explore how accessing the subconscious mind can unlock deep and lasting change. We talk about how our earliest memories - even ones we don’t consciously recall - can shape our adult behaviours, and why true healing often requires working beyond logic and into the subconscious. Mariko also shares some incredible case studies from her practice, from releasing birth trauma to transforming re...
Nov 27, 2025•22 min
Today I’m chatting to Ro Mitchell, who so many of you will know from TikTok for speaking really openly about anorexia, ADHD and recovery and doing it in a way that actually makes you feel less mad and less alone. Ro talks about developing an eating disorder at 14, getting really good at hiding it, going into CAMHS and then hospital, and what it actually took to choose recovery for herself - not for her parents, not for school, not to avoid being sectioned. We get into body checking, covering mir...
Nov 25, 2025•31 min
In this Healing 101 bonus episode I’m joined by Jonny Miller, nervous system educator and host of The Inner Frontier podcast. Jonny’s work was forged in something unbearably human: the loss of his fiancée, Sophie, to suicide in 2017. We talk about how grief completely dismantled the life he thought he was going to live, and how by actually letting the grief move through him instead of armouring up - he discovered a kind of raw aliveness and tenderness he’d never accessed before. From there we ge...
Nov 20, 2025•24 min
Today I’m joined by Pearl Lowe - singer, designer and author, who’s just brought out her gorgeous new book, Faded Glamour in the City. Pearl’s story is incredible: from a dreamy but chaotic London childhood to teenage rebellion, addiction, undiagnosed ADHD, motherhood at 18, and then a total reinvention - getting sober, moving to Somerset, and finding peace in creativity and slower living. We talk about the impulsiveness and perfectionism that come with ADHD, how self-medicating became a coping ...
Nov 18, 2025•54 min
Today’s Healing 101 is a conversation with Kate Oliver - chartered psychologist, executive coach, and co-author (with her brother, Toby) of the brilliant book Rise and Shine. If, like me, mornings can feel wobbly because of that 4am worry spiral, this one’s for you. Kate has spent 35 years helping people show up better at work and in life, and she shares how a tough period of anxiety (and perimenopause) led her to rethink the very first minutes of the day. We talk about simple, realistic shifts ...
Nov 13, 2025•30 min
Today I’m joined by journalist Anna Wolfe - who’s funny, frank and gloriously unfiltered and we go deep on eating disorders and addiction. We talk about the binge–restrict cycle, the shame that keeps you stuck, sobriety, and the messy, non-linear reality of recovery. So much of what Anna shared resonated with me personally, which is why I found this conversation so interesting - and, honestly, hopeful. Anna’s also just launched her brilliantly titled podcast, How to Get Wet When You’re Dry, and ...
Nov 11, 2025•49 min
Today we’re talking about everyday anxiety, overwhelm, and that loud inner critic that tells you you’re not doing enough. I’m joined by psychotherapist and author Anna Mathur, who’s brilliant at making mental health feel doable in real life. Anna shares simple ways to steady your nervous system (think a 60-second reset), how to swap “shoulds” for choices, set kinder boundaries without guilt, and build tiny pockets of rest into busy days. We also touch on the difference between normal worry and a...
Nov 06, 2025•16 min
Today I’m joined by consultant psychiatrist and author Alastair Santhouse to ask a big question: what counts as “normal” mental health? We explore the difference between everyday ups and downs and problems that really stop you living your life, and how labels can both open doors to support and stick in unhelpful ways. We talk about why ADHD and autism diagnoses seem to be rising, how Alastair assesses people by looking at their whole life (not just checklists), and the simple difference between ...
Nov 04, 2025•53 min
On today’s Healing 101 we’re talking about something that can hide in plain sight: exercise addiction. We’re taught that “more is better”, but when movement slides from choice to compulsion, the thing that helps us can start to hurt us - physically, mentally, and socially. To unpack that paradox, I’m joined by Dr. Martin Turner, Reader in Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Martin looks at the beliefs that drive our behaviour - why “I have to train” feels so powerful - and he share...
Oct 30, 2025•45 min
Today I’m joined by the brilliant journalist Harriet Walker. You may know her work from The Times newspaper, and perhaps you read her article about attending a psilocybin retreat. In this conversation, Harriet opens up about what drew her there - the low hum of anxiety, the mental load of motherhood, and that constant striving so many of us feel but rarely admit. We explore her experience on the retreat, the moments of deep release and revelation, and the shift that followed - softer relationshi...
Oct 28, 2025•44 min
Hi everyone, and welcome to this Healing 101 bonus episode with the wonderful Bryony Gordon. If you’ve already listened to my longer conversation with Bryony earlier this week, you’ll know just how honest and generous she is when it comes to talking about mental health and especially her experience of living with OCD. In this shorter episode, I wanted to go a little deeper into some of the practical sides of recovery - how naming your OCD can help you separate from it, why humour can be a surpri...
Oct 23, 2025•13 min
Today’s episode is a really special one with the brilliant Bryony Gordon, who’s been such a powerful voice in changing how we understand OCD. Bryony’s honesty about her experience - from intrusive thoughts to the shapeshifting ways OCD can attach itself to what we love most - has helped so many people feel seen. She’s written, spoken and lived her story with such courage and humour, and I was genuinely moved to sit down with her for this conversation. As someone who also lives with OCD - I even ...
Oct 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min
If you found Tuesday’s main episode with Kimberley Nixon interesting, I wanted to share a bonus Healing 101 with her too. This is a short, practical companion about what actually helps when a spike hits. We talk about moving from retreat to reach-out, turning the lights on shame, dropping the rope in that tug-of-war with your mind, and the tiny wins that count on the hardest days. Kimberley also shares what friends and family can do that supports recovery without feeding the OCD. No jargon, no s...
Oct 16, 2025•25 min
To mark OCD Awareness Week - something very close to my heart - I’m talking with actor Kimberley Nixon on today’s episode. This isn’t the “tidy house” stereotype. We’re talking about the real OCD: the disorder of doubt. Intrusive thoughts you don’t choose. Compulsions people can’t see. Kimberley shares her experience of peri- and postnatal OCD after her son was born - the fear, the shame, and what actually helps. For me, it was so refreshing to speak to someone who just gets it. We cover why rea...
Oct 14, 2025•1 hr 5 min
This coming week marks OCD Awareness Week, and I wanted to record something personal. I’ve lived with OCD since I was 12, and while I’m much further along in my recovery, it still shapes my everyday life. In this solo episode, I talk honestly about what OCD really is - beyond the stereotypes of tidy desks and neat sock drawers. I share what it’s like to live with the intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and exhaustion that come with this misunderstood illness, as well as the long journey through the...
Oct 12, 2025•31 min
October is a big month for OCD awareness and in today's HEALING 101 episode I speak with musician Jessica Sweetman. We talk about what OCD really feels like when it spikes and, most importantly, what actually helps. No magic fixes. Just small, doable things that steady you, keep you creating, and get you through the wobbly days. We don’t overcomplicate it so if you’re after calm, clarity, and a few ideas you can try today, this one’s for you. Find Jessica: Website: https://www.jessicasweetman.co...
Oct 09, 2025•31 min
Few topics in mental health are as complex, charged, and deeply personal as gender dysphoria. For some, transitioning feels life-saving. For others, it leads to regret and the painful realisation that surgery or hormones didn’t solve the deeper struggles underneath. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Az Hakeem - psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author of Detrans: When Transition is Not the Solution. For over two decades, Az has worked with people questioning their gender, those pursuing transit...
Oct 07, 2025•53 min
