Restore with Eoin Walker

In this episode, I will be speaking with Jay Baldwin. At 26 Jay had suffered bilateral leg amputations from an IED whilst serving in the British army in Afghanistan. He was medically discharged from the UK military at 28, divorced at 32 and battled and won cancer at 33. Since being medically discharged from the Army, the dad of six has learned to walk on prosthetic limbs, has retrained as a fitness instructor and has truly inspired many. He is currently the UK’s only double amputee personal trainer.

To see more on Jay please see here:

In this episode, I will be speaking with Joseph Tan. Joseph is the author of Good Monday Consulting, an executive management consultant, and Malaysia’s first Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. Joseph consults and coaches both blue chip and governmental organizations through to startup companies towards developing a strengths-based culture. He leads coaching and cultural change within organizations at both governmental and local levels. He also works with leadership teams on the alignment of key workforce principles of motivation, mission, and momentum. Joseph is also a senior leadership consultant and coaches CEOs and executive leadership teams on authentic, aligned, and articulate leadership principles. In this conversation we tackle the concept of workplace fatigue, ‘quiet quitting’, and the degradation of morale within large segments of organizations. Other topics we cover in the conversation include: 

· Defining the problem – ppl in vocational roles (roles that require moral decisions over financial ones) have lost the horizon of their calling.

· The reasons – varied and many (lay some of these out)

· The desired goal – alignment with passion

· Culture: restoration of balance – how to get there

· Concept of the three A’s of leadership

· Motivation

· How this is embodied in the staff and modeled

· Solutions Vs problems

· Final thoughts and take-home messages from Joseph

Good Monday Consulting can be found here: 

In this episode, I am speaking with Alice Chun about her innovative creation of light boxes that are powered by solar light and created out of sustainable foldable material akin to an origami design. Currently, 1.6 billion people live without access to electricity and rely on kerosene to light their night. The solar lights that Alice has designed have won several product innovation accolades, been awarded two US utility patents, and lauded by leaders in design including MoMA, the modern museum of art. The company name is Solight and part of the product's USP is that Alice has utilised recyclable, biodegradable, light fabric and material technology, for ease of travel and to be stronger and more durable to withstand the most extreme weather conditions. The leverage of smart material technology has allowed Alice to design a power-free spectrum of light for homes without electricity. She recently visited and gifted many lights to citizens of Ukraine without power and light due to the Russian invasion.

Alice Chun is the founder and CEO of Solight Design and the inventor of SolarPuff, the world's only self-inflatable, portable solar light. She's won numerous awards, including the U.S. Patent Award for Humanity. Her products have been exhibited at MoMA in New York City.  Alice is a former professor of architectural design and material technology at Columbia University and The Parsons School of design. and focusing her work on solar energy after learning her son had asthma.  She invented ways to bring solar energy into everyday living, beginning to prototype an inflatable solar light in 2008. In 2010, following the  Haiti earthquake, Alice shared her solar technology research with her class of design students to create a solar light solution that could be used immediately in disaster relief situations. This led to Alice designing the SolarPuff in 2011, based on origami techniques to create a cube that inflates on its own, without the requirement to be inflated by mouth, which can pass on germs. In 2015 she launched a company Solar Design and crowdfunded the SolarPuff, raising nearly half a million dollars. Her invention has been featured in Hillary Clinton's docuseries, "Gutsy," on Apple TV+ and is currently undergoing clinical trials. In 2022 she was voted Forbes impact 50/50 a list dedicated to spotlighting women over the age of 50 who are breaking age and gender norms across every sector of business, politics, the sciences, and society. And finally, in the same year, she was voted one of Marie Claire’s most influential women. 

In the conversation we examine: 

· Background on Alice and her history of architecture

· Inception story of Solight – The revelation and need Alice saw

· The challenges in setting Solight up as a business

· Spectrum of emotions Alice has been through

· Some of the media attention Solight has received

· Alice’s opportunity to visit Ukraine

· The current projects Alice has got on

· What Alice has learned through the process of scaling her business

· Final thoughts and take-home messages from Alice.

This is the second part of the lecture series on building effective teams and dealing with difficult people. The concepts taught here involve models of teamwork (Action centred Leadership, the five dysfunctions of a team), trust - both as a concept and a pre-requisite, culture, homeostatic teams, and finally tools and techniques for fostering good teamwork.

In the second half of the podcast, we examine dealing with difficult people from the perspective of understanding the triggers, root cause analysis, rapport building, the energy investment model, the ELCR framework, self-awareness, humility, and insight. Some of the resources and models can be found here:

In this episode, I am talking with Seth Gillihan on his new book 'Mindful Cognitive Behavioural Therapy'. Seth is a clinical psychologist, best-selling author, podcast host, and creator of the Think Act Be Online School. He specializes in mindful cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Seth is no stranger to the podcast and joined me in an earlier episode speaking on ‘The CBT Deck: 101 Practices to Improve Thoughts, Be in the Moment & Take Action in Your Life'.

In this conversation we dig into the origins of his new book; Mindful Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the new level of vulnerability that he displays through his work, the Think, Act, Be model of living, mindfulness-centred CBT, the anatomy of CBT, and much more. Subjects we explore in the episode include:

• His underlying reason for writing the book. 
• The vulnerable & personal pivot – very personal narrative (his illness) compared to his other work
• Connecting with yourself – Think, Act, Be
• The medical model and reaching beyond - Mindfulness-centred CBT
• Goal setting - importance and relevance to achieving goals  
• The Anatomy of CBT: Acceptance, Behavioural leverage, consistency, micro-tasking, present-focused awareness.
• The importance of accessing inner self-talk & coming home to yourself.
• Final thoughts and take-home messages from Seth

In this episode, I examine the art of active listening. It is a slightly different episode and one of a number to come where I give a series of lectures. In this episode I wanted to do two things:

1. Build awareness of the factors that affect our listening ability.

2. Build and create conditions that can produce good listening habits.

One of the main problems is caused by the fact that we think much faster than we talk. The average rate of speech for most of us is around 125 words per minute. In contrast, we process and think at about 800 words a minute. This is a fundamental mismatch that can cause a deficit in receiving information. The human brain is made up of more than 13 billion cells and operates in such a complicated but efficient manner that it makes any comparison to computers seem insignificant. It might seem logical to slow down our thinking when we listen so as to coincide with the 125-word-per-minute speech rate, but slowing down thought processes seems to be a very difficult thing to do. When we listen, therefore, we continue thinking at high speed while the spoken words arrive at low speed. In the act of listening, the differential between thinking and speaking rates means that our brain works with hundreds of words in addition to those that we hear, assembling thoughts other than those spoken to us. The latency of this mismatch is often taken up by internal dialogue rather than integration of the spoken, but more importantly, inferred meaning behind words. In this episode I examine:

The definition of active listening.  

The 'classic' example - one which we all fall prey to.  

The anatomy of the received message. 

The why and what of ‘Active Listening. 

Triple-A listening (what triple-A listening actually is).  

Kinesthetics of listening – what it feels like to be heard amongst other aspects.  

Models of active listening: Four ears of communication, the communication triangle.  

The power of silence 

The quality of listening - The hierarchy of active listening  

Chunking information as an adjunct to active listening  

Closed loop communication  

The power of agreement

In this episode, I will be speaking with Sarah on her reflections on growing up in Canada and is now based in Ohio in the US. Sarah suffered from abuse growing up as a child and what we wanted to do was to unpack her narrative, how it affected her, how she has coped and dealt with it, and indeed how she frames it now as an adult. I wanted to have this chat with Sarah as one of the primal mandates of this podcast is to have real and vulnerable discussions that can both help and reframe others’ perspectives of adversity and navigate through the adversity of abuse. 

**Trigger warning** In this episode we touch on Sarah's recollections of abuse as a child, please be mindful that it contains some memories and depictions that might be difficult to hear. In the conversation we touch on a number of themes:

· The challenges that Sarah experienced growing up and the abuse, and how it shaped her youth.

· The spectrum of emotions that it brought with it. 

· Navigating the stress physically and mentally retrospectively.

· The bleed-over into relationships and how it affected them, particularly her husband. 

· Some of the methods of organic coping mechanisms and whether they worked or not.

· Counselling/therapy sessions that Sarah had. 

· Forgiveness and the daily practice of forgiveness. 

· What Sarah has learned through the whole process. 

· Final thoughts and take-home messages from Sarah

If this episode resonated with you or a family member, there are a number of services that you can reach out to: 

In this episode, I will be talking with Deborah Grassman, the author and creator of the concept of ‘Soul Injury’. Deborah is a VA Nurse Practitioner who took care of 10,000 dying veterans during her 30-year career. She is a TEDx presenter, author of two books, Peace at Last and The Hero Within. She is a contributing author for four textbooks, has 25 published articles, and there are five documentary films featuring her work. Deborah directs the Opus Peace Institute where leaders are trained in how to provide programs that respond to Soul Injuries. She contends that 10,000 dying veterans may have lessons that can be unpacked for both the wider audience and for individual needs.

Soul injury can be defined as a wound to your sense of self; your real self beyond the façade. It’s a wound to your BE-ing that can separate you from your real self. If this occurs, you might end up with a COUNTERFEIT life that is not meant for you. A deeper dive into Soul Injury reveals 3 causes: un-mourned loss/hurt, unforgiven guilt/shame, and fear of helplessness/loss of control.  This might result in a person feeling defective, inadequate, or incomplete. We cover the following concepts within the conversation: 

· Origin story of soul injury & Opus peace from Deborah – key learning from nursing 10,000 dying veterans

· How ‘Soul Injury’ fits alongside moral injury and PTSD

· Spectrum of wounds – especially those that occur to individuals rather than intended mistakes or wounds.

· Causes of Soul Injury

· Symptomatology

· Identification of mental and emotional injuries – Self-awareness inventory

· Anchoring Heart technique

· Experiential Soul Connection

· Self-compassioning tools

· Integrative letter writing

· Final thoughts and take-home messages from Deborah

Scott is an ordained pastor and has supported people through mental health issues for close to 40 years. He has recently been on the podcast talking about reframing mental health. In this conversation, we chat about the concept of ‘re-homing the self’ and 'Soul injury' bringing all of our fractured and dislocated parts of our lives back together. We ask some of the deeper questions about self-perception of forgiveness, acceptance, the power of words, and self-care. 

We also look into our perspectives on the restoration of fractured relationships and how these can be restored through the process of time. We also examine whether forgiveness is ever limited and how encompassing it can be. We finish the conversation by looking at redefining and reframing the end of life and how we might have a different restorative perspective on the untying of the soul.

Further information on Soul Injury by Deborah Grassman can be found here: 

In this episode, I'm speaking with Graham Waterfield on meditation. Graham is a coach a teacher and an energy coach that's been practicing the art of self-development for almost 30 years he has got a unique perspective on soul expression and purpose and really guides students through the concept of awakening and just reflection on how we can be a better iteration of ourselves both mentally emotionally and spiritually.

We start with defining meditation, looking at the organismic self, the Zen, Taoist, and Buddhist approaches to meditation. We look at the Taoist three treasures; Jing, qi, and shen, we explore transcendence and micro attention, somatic intelligence, and the 'whole body yes'. We then look at mental health, emotional health, physical health, and practices for the mind, heart, and body that Graeme uses. We finally look at self-care and optimisation of this. Graeme helps students access their highest most profound levels of thought and being to break free of self-imposed limitations. 

Kirsten is a people development consultant, with 30 years of experience in both medium and blue-chip multi-site operations including 13 years within a FTSE 100 Global organisation. Kirsten’s experience has been gained from a diversity of industries including; professional and financial services, pharma insurance, retail, utilities, business services, and education. She focusses on people development, facilitation, delivery of transformational leadership and organisational cultural development. Mostly achieving these results through one-to-one coaching at all levels in organisations and team-based interventions.

In this interview, I speak with Pasha Munro about succeeding through failure in life. Pasha has served 27 years in the Royal Marines Commandos, in which time he trained as an Arctic, Mountain, Jungle, and Survival expert. The last 13 years of his spent as a Specialist Diver within the Special Boat Service/SBS. Pasha has had to learn how to put his body through massive amounts of physical exertion whilst maintaining a calm exterior. He has also had to master some of the most challenging diving in the world, and some of the world's most complex and covert diving. He has had to master the re-breather diving set; a closed circuit, pure oxygen device that doesn’t give off bubbles to perform covert missions. He finished his last 5 years as a pilot of the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV) which is used for discreet underwater operations.

In this interview, we will be discussing how he has navigated this complex environment. How he has used discipline as his ally and how Pasha has succeeded through failure and harnessed the failure for good. We will also discuss how he gets the best out of others as a personal trainer and coach. Other aspects we discuss include; how Pasha progressed through the military despite failure, domains of practice including polar, jungle, and desert environments, and the unifying principles in these extremes. We examine Pasha's focus and drive, his mindset around failure, and some of his diving recollections. 

In this episode, I interview Nathan Norris on strength and conditioning. Nathan has been a Strength & Conditioning Coach for over 10 years. He is accredited with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association and works with Elite, Professional, Semi-Professional, & Youth Athletes. He is skilled in the application of Sports Medicine, Injury Prevention, Exercise Physiology, and Athletic Performance. Nathan is currently the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach at Burnley College. The program includes S&C Coaching for the talented athletes (aged 16-21) studying at the College who compete regionally, nationally, and internationally. Nathan, alongside this, runs the S&C Programme for Burnley Bobcats Swim Team, Blackburn Harriers & Athletic Club, Manchester Giants (U15 & U16 squads), as well as working with professional footballers and international athletes in the region. He also lecturers on the Strength & Conditioning degree at Burnley College.

In the conversation, we examine:

• Defining the profession – What is S&C?
• The Foundations – Nutrition and Exercise sciences
• Domains of practice – Exercise Technique, Program Design, Organization and Administration, Testing and Evaluation
• Types of focus - those of Velocity-based training and plyometrics.
• Supervision - Cardinal principles of supervision
• The performance mindset.
• Loss and harnessing pain
• The power of incremental growth
• Ergogenic aids and supplements
• Injury trends and patterns

Please enjoy this episode is an engaging and insightful guest. 

For further information or to reach out to Nathan you can follow/contact him on social media and other handles are:

In this interview, we speak with Robbyn Maiden. Robbyn, 41, is a single mum of two teenagers and one ‘beast’ (aka. The five-year-old), business owner, and part-time university student in Social Science. Having immigrated to this country 20 years ago from her native home, Canada, Robbyn has navigated – and continues to navigate – the issues surrounding identity and what it means to emerge fully present and connected with oneself. 

Through a personal journey into movement, which includes running and weight training, Robbyn will discuss the power and benefits of choosing the ‘right kind of hard’ in order to pursue personal growth and emotional well-being during the difficult years of Covid. We speak on the power of perspective, body image and self-narrative, your relationship with failure, time management and expectations, the illusion of balance, reframing the sense of womanhood, the power of comparison – harnessing an alternative narrative, and finally, cognitive circuit breakers as a conduit of resetting mood and mindset. 

Edna Adan Ismail is a midwife and campaigner, born in 1937 she grew up as the daughter of a prominent doctor within Somaliland. As a child growing up in what was then British Somaliland in the 1940s, her dream was to build her own hospital by the mid-50s, she'd won a scholarship to study in Britain but life as it has a habit of doing, got in the way and it took 50 years and all her savings to finally realize her dream in 2002.

Edna’s mantra of ‘if I don't do it then who will’ it's a principle she's lived her entire life. She met her first husband when they were both students in England they went on to marry who then became the president of Somaliland and juggled the high-profile role of first lady with nursing shifts. She progressed to be her country's first-ever female foreign minister and broke deep-rooted taboos by publicly condemning the widespread practice of female genital mutilation/FGM. This originated from a highly personal struggle when aged just eight she herself was violently disfigured by FGM with her grandmother having arranged the procedure. Edna continues to teach and train in the hospital she built, and the ‘The Edna Adan maternity and teaching hospital’ that emerged from the rubble of a bloody civil war in 1981. Since then the hospital has delivered over 29,000 babies and trained hundreds of nurses and midwives.

In this conversation we explore:

• The history of Somaliland 
• Edna's desire to be a nurse and then midwife.
• How she built a hospital in 2002 
• Edna's relationship with her parents.
• Her experience of FGM and her passionate fight against it.
• Edna's work ethic and the concept of retirement.
• Meeting and working with world leaders. 
• Edna's political advocacy. 

More about Edna can be found here:

In this episode, I am joined by Esther Murray to reflect on the emotion of recent events and lockdowns and how we should approach the spectrum of emotions experienced. We examine anger and its psychological and physiological tendencies, also, vulnerability and its power in social circumstances, and levels of vulnerability that are appropriate. We then take a look at grief; its traits, patterns, and how to frame and perceive it. We examine the concept of rest; the need for it, accessing the state, rest heuristics, and habits. We then look at convalescence & compassion; both how to access this and the need for intrinsic compassion and external compassion. 

Dr Esther Murray is a chartered and registered Health Psychologist with an interest in social inequalities in health, wellbeing in medical students and doctors, and doctor-patient communication. Her early research was in chronic pain and its effect on doctor-patient communication and she has a background in psychological intervention in cardiac care and training NHS staff in communication skills.  She ran an MSc in Health Psychology for a number of years and now teaches Health Psychology to MBBS students at Barts and she is course leader for the iBSc in Medical Education.

The books that Esther recommends in this episode can be found here:

In this episode I have Dr Abigail Pamich with me. Dr Abigail is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience in therapy and mental health. She runs a private psychology practice based in the UK, leading a team of 12 experienced therapists offering remote therapy to clients nationally and internationally. Dr Abigail also has a growing YouTube channel, exploring different types of therapy.

One of the approaches that Dr Abigail and her team offer is EMDR therapy. In the episode, we examine exactly what EMDR therapy is and why it's important to talk about it. We also examine some of the fundamental components of EMDR (that of bilateral stimulation) and how that works in the consultation room and remotely. We also explore how Dr Abigail found out about EMDR therapy and its empirical basis within research. Dr Abigail also offers comparisons with other therapies to illustrate the profound effects that EMDR therapy can offer. We also look at the distinction between trauma and anxiety, and the common pathologies that Dr Abigail sees within her client base. Our guest then unpacks some fantastic case studies to practically illustrate the power and utility of this therapy and how it is relevant to certain psychological problems. We also unpack Dr Abigail's own anecdotal experience with EMDR and how she has used it to great effect within her own life. 

You can find Dr Abigail's services here:

Private Practice Clinic

In this interview, I speak with Matt Everatt. Matt is a senior partner at S4S Dental Laboratory & editor at The Dental Technician Magazine. In the interview, we explore Matt's organic journey to become a multiple business owner and entrepreneur. From a 15-year-old at a career interview to training as a Dental Technician at Sheffield College to advanced qualifications in Maxillofacial and Orthodontic Technology at Manchester Met University to investing in his own private business venture. In 2005 he became a founding Member of Solutions 4 Snoring, now known as S4S Dental Laboratory. In 2008 he was part of a management buy-out and became co-owner and have since formed and acquired several related businesses. We explore this journey and some of the fundamental steps he took along the way. 

In this episode, I speak with Abs, Dean, and Chris, who host the 'Meet Us At The Bar' podcast. We discuss the problem and incidence within the UK, tackling anonymity online and some of the institutional aspects of this. We also look at the language and phraseology of racism that falls outside of historical patterns and makes it difficult to censor. We then examine silos of communication and thought such as social media followings and echo chambers. We look at mitigation methods to break ‘group think’, some of the powerful contributions that unity, community, and an open mind to collaboration can bring. Dean, Chris and Abs also give us some aspects of positivity in how we can tackle the problem of online racism together.

In this interview, I dissect the anatomy of difficult conversations with Caro Kingsnorth. Caro is the founder of 'Ignite development' which is a professional coaching consultancy. Caro has worked with companies big and small to draw out confidence, leadership, motivation, improved working relationships, influence and persuasion. She creates an autonomous and supportive environment for teams to identify the most appropriate way forward.

In this interview we examine; types of difficult conversations, the chimp versus human brain, the 'frame' and de-escalation techniques, non-verbal comms, active listening, information, and the art of direct talk. We also explore managing expectation, when the conversation 'goes wrong', Caro's five steps of navigating difficult conversations. 

In this episode, I interview Paul Ogunyemi. Paul unpacks his past as a member of one of the most notorious gangs of North England. He articulates his upbringing, how gang life felt and looked for him, the interplay of drugs, violence, and gang dynamics. He also unpacks the descent into prison life both in the UK and in Germany and how this looked and felt as a young person. Paul then describes the start of his revelation into faith and his journey of reconciliation. 

In this conversation I speak with Silva Neves. Silva is a psychotherapist, and a specialist in psychosexual & relationship therapy. Silva is accredited with COSRT (College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists) and UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) and is a course director for CICS (The Contemporary Institute of Clinical Sexology).

He also focusses on couples therapy and the treatment of compulsive sexual behaviours. He is a trauma psychotherapist experienced in working with survivors of sexual abuse. He is also a clinical supervisor to psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors and other mental health professionals. He has recently in May 2021 written a book; ‘Compulsive Sexual Behaviour - A Psycho-Sexual Treatment Guide for Clinicians’.

In the conversation we explore the use of terminology in CSB and why the term 'sex addiction' is not an encompassing and appropriate phase. We also explore why people use sex to deal with emotion, shame and its sequalea, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) principles, individual course correction, childhood linkage, the second victim and Silva's overall reflections. Please enjoy this conversation with a fantastic and insightful guest. 

In this episode I speak with Kate Moyle on sexual wellness. Kate is a certified Psycho-Sexologist and specialises in working with those that are struggling with difficulties with their sex lives and sexuality, including many in their twenties and thirties who are impacted by the stresses of modern life. Kate examines sexual dysfunction in terms of the personal context and meaning and the role it holds for them as an individual.

She works empathetically with people to recognise their personal understanding of their sexuality and sexual health; with the view that predominantly sexual issues have roots in psychology, emotion, the physical body, and a person’s history and culture.

In the conversation we discuss

• Equanimity in sex
• Reframing the expectation issue – pornography
• Assumptions Vs Reality
• Fantasy and reality
• Sexual dysfunctions – ED, Phobias, pain, fear, loss of desire
• Baselines - mindful sex, feeling Vs obligation
• The outcome – new baselines and experiences

More can be found from Kate here:

In this episode I talk with Gerardo Kuhlmann around living from greatness. Gerardo has worked as a psychotherapist, teacher, consultant, lecturer, teacher, coach and trainer in different countries, mainly in Latin America and Europe. He has designed and implemented culture change processes in organizations of various sizes, particularly in large and complex multicultural companies.

We talk about Gerardo's journey of living from a place of gratitude and the power of perspective; living from the green glasses versus red glasses. We also talk about:

• The IQ, EQ, SQ and RQ (relationship intelligence)
• The power of positivity
• ‘Change’ and why it’s difficult and how best to perceive it
• Psychotherapy – commonly seen pitfalls
• Main concepts of spirituality & interplay with consciousness
• Living from greatness

This interview was a powerful reminder that positivity and gratitude are super powers, and that you need to re-sign up everyday to these character traits. You can find more from Gerardo here: 

In this episode we unpack the powerful tools of NLP with Ewan Mochrie. Ewan has been an NLP trainer for many years and is now an NLP master trainer. He is also a business and executive coach, author and consultant. In this conversation we examine the pillars of NLP – outcome thinking, sensory awareness, rapport, behavioural flexibility. We also look at the 12 presuppositions of NLP and the communication model of NLP. We examine the principles of anchoring, meta models/meta-programs, mirroring & matching, and framing & pattern Interruption. We also discuss the preferential modes of sensory language and how different eye movement when talking can signal to different brain activity (Left = constructed images including visual, auditory and kinaesthetic constructs. Right = cognitive/remembered recollections - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic).

Ewan gives fantastic examples throughout the interview and notions towards how NLP can change both how to understand people and also how to get more of what you want from an interaction. This is especially powerful in clinical practice where practitioners are striving to optimise outcome with every interaction. 

In this episode I talk with Richard Colley. Richard is a performance coach and an organisational development consultant. He is passionate about high performing teams and leadership. He established Sladen Consulting 15 years ago to focus on creating and conducting global performance enhancement and change efforts with individuals, groups, and teams. He facilitates design and delivery of creative, high-quality learning experiences, strategic team events, process and organisation development consultation and coaching. He is the CEO of ‘Sladen consulting’, married and a father to 3 children.

In the episode we talk about: 

• Richards Story through childhood, Navy, Tesco’s and leadership experiences, into present day.
• Richards biggest revelations in leadership from failure
• The fundamentals in leading self  - comfort zones, slow down to speed up, emotional regulation, mindsets.
• The fundamentals in leading individuals  - feedback tools, listening skills, visual imagery for influence, difficult conversations.
• The fundamentals in leading teams – power of agreement, outcome thinking and influence in meetings, ascending the trust hierarchy.
• The origin of a high performing teams and how we get there.
• Institutional Pattern Interruption (IPI)
• The Amygdala hijack - how we de-escalate self and others.
• Reflections over 15 years (Richard of now Vs Richard of 15 years ago)

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed speaking with Richard. You can find more on Richard's company 'Sladen Consulting' here:

This week I'm joined by Allen Langham. He is one of life's rare characters; truly inspirational and truly authentic. Allen was abandoned by his father when he was a child, grew up into a life of drugs, professional rugby, crime, heroin and subsequent jail. In this interview we catalogue Allen's organic rollercoaster story through this time - in and out of jail, back to Rugby and crime and back to jail. Then....privotal moments that changed Allen's life forever to the point where he is now a Christian minister, Father, Author, Inspirational speaker, innovator, business owner, charity CEO. This is singly the most inspirational story I have had the pleasure of hearing. 

This story is also not without personal affliliation. Allen met my brother Ronan Walker in Doncaster prison and Bruce Dyer who were both running a prison ministry at the time of Allen's revelation. It was their combined efforts with Allen's desire for true change that brought about an amazing redemption story. Allen has subsequently been awarded “The most inspirational Individual for Doncaster" at the CVS awards for his work with charity. His charity 'Steps to Freedom CIC' was officially registered in 2016 as non-for-profit organization. It aimed to act as a catalyst to promote change and positivity for individuals with behavioural issues. Its targets offenders, ex-offenders and those who are at the risk of confronting the criminal justice system. Its thought-provoking programs are hard hitting but when delivered in the right environment, they create impact. its programs are delivered in schools, prisons and at local communities. According to recent statistics, there are 85,000 people in UK prisons, from them 61% re-offend within two years of release and for those who are reintegrated with the society and got a job, that figure drops to only 19%. These results clearly suggest that there is a pressing need of not only helping ex-offenders to rehabilitate, but also stopping people from offending in the first place.

Allen is a truly inspirational character, his story illustrates that anyone can turn their life around, take responsibility, accountability and make an amazing impact. Please enjoy this account by one of life's true legends.

To find more out about Allen and his work please see here:

Rachel is a somatic educator, coach, trainer and mentor. She is informed by her background in dance, movement and professional performance, training with over 18 years of hands-on work with clients. 20 years ago, she re-learnt how to walk, sit and stand using neuroplastic somatic practices, the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method. She currently works with clients to explore somatic and physical intelligence.

In this wide ranging episode we examine the definition and benefits of somatic movement, play and enquiry, the Feldenkrais method, the Alexander Technique, biological intelligence & self-management, integration and awareness and finally Vision-clarification, creativity, range and choice. Rachel is a fantastic guest and has trained in many bodywork modalities and somatic movement and education practices and continues to evolve her methods. 

Rachel is passionate about continuing her enquiry with current research, her work and website can be found here:

Seth J. Gillihan is a clinical psychologist, best-selling author, podcast host, and creator of the Think Act Be Online School. He specializes in mindfulness-centered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In this episode we define what CBT is, examine anxiety both from origins and common pattern. We also look at some of the fundamental components of CBT to offset anxiety and restoration of equilibrium. We speak about the power of being present and living a content life with uncertainty. We look at some of the cognitive distortions and thinking errors that can occur in our day to day lives and how we can address these. We finish by looking at some anecdotal experiences and cases from Seth’s perspective and what he's learnt as a consequence.

We take the examples from Seth's new book: The CBT deck fro anxiety, rumination and & worry - where he gives 108 strategies to tackle the practical issues of worry. I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed speaking with Seth as he is both insightful and engaging as a guest and author.

Seth's new book can be found here:

Mark Dempster is an addiction specialist working with patients with drug addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, alcohol addiction, internet addiction, and more. He is a counsellor dedicated to helping people regain control and turn their lives around.  In the conversation we look at some of the statistics around the health burden & impact on the individual and extended families, how people become addicted (habit Vs addiction), the 5 stages of addiction, common cognitive pitfalls and finally breaking the cycle. We also explore some of therapies that are evidence based and are commonly practised such as CBT, DBT, ACT, and PET.

In this episode, I talk with Bram Connolly. Bram is a former special forces operative with the Australian Special Forces with 20 years of experience on the frontline. Bram was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for leadership in the Australia Day awards 2012. Bram is the Managing Director and founder of Hindsight Leadership and Resilience. He is the author of "The Fighting Season" and "Off-Reservation" and the leadership book "The Commando Way" published in 2020.

In the conversation we talk about:

Resilience, leadership, values, and optimization. We explore various facets of the book 'The Commando Way' and dig into some of the 20 years of experience that taught Bram the lessons he depicts in the book. I hope you enjoy this interview with an inspirational leader. Bram also has a podcast:

John Sullivan is a former Royal Marines Commando of nine years' experience. He has operated in some of the world's most challenging environments - Jungle, Desert and Arctic. John's passion in life is to explore with a sense of purpose. Working alone, this has taken him to some of the remotest corners of the world to research and set up factual programmes for the BBC and the National Geographic Channel. He has also led numerous life-changing conservation expeditions for young people to Namibia, Belize and Borneo.

In this episode we discuss the key fundamentals of mental health in the outdoors and from the hierarchy of survival skills which ones are key. We also discuss: 

• Feeding the Rat
• Define survival skills – bush craft, nav, fire lighting, water
• Domains of survival - Jungle, desert, cold
• Impact of mental health from the outdoors (positive and negative)
• Concepts of situational awareness
• Navigation
• Shelter (hammocks, tents, make shift shelters)
• Self-care in extreme environments
• Dancing!....staying alive and the Travolta magic

You can find out more about John and Elite Survival training here:

In this conversation I interview Mark Fish. 

Mark is the author of an innovative therapeutic community called ‘Room to Heal’ It is a community of 80 members from 30 different countries. This community share the commonalty of suffering and torture from state and non-state actors within indigenous countries of origin. Mark has found that a shared narrative, the power of stories, a community mindset and external support from case workers has turned these affected people’s lives around for the better. This support lasts up until and beyond when refugee status is awarded.

In this interview we explore:

· Why Mark started ‘Room to heal’

· Examples of recovery from devastating circumstances and how people to open up about their experiences.

· The power of personal stories and the release when they tell their stories.

· The warning signs of cumulative stress either physically, behaviourally or emotionally.

· Techniques Mark has found most effective to create a sense of safety in the individual interacting with him?

· How you advocate and orchestrate self-care in individuals.

· Thoughts on building an on-scene relationship/rapport to de-escalate individuals – the most effective route to this in a short time frame.

· Key lessons that Room to Heal has taught Mark since 2007.

I hope you enjoy the episode with an insightful and profound guest.