What Doesn't Kill Us by Dr Marion Piper

Today's episode is near and dear to my heart as it features one of my dearest friends: the incredible Kaylene Langford from Startup Creative. Kay and I crossed paths in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic when I approached her business coaching... and, as they say, the rest is history. Kay has been one of my biggest supporters and continues to cheerlead me, even on my worst days, and I always return the favour!

In this episode, we cover a lot of ground – everything from answering the call of the creative muse to the legacy of musician Sinead O'Connor. Kay is generous with her wisdom and a brilliant speaker, so you're going to love all the insights she drops so casually (I know I definitely was taking notes!).

If you don't know Kay, here's a little background info...

Kaylene Langford is a passionate entrepreneur, coach, writer and speaker, and the founder and owner of StartUp Creative, a hugely popular online platform, podcast, and print magazine that educates, inspires and supports creative entrepreneurs and future innovators.

Kaylene has over a decade of experience coaching, educating and supporting individuals to identify and achieve their goals. Working with aspiring and established entrepreneurs, she genuinely believes that everyone has the ability to achieve their potential and take control of their destiny. 

She's a highly respected business coach, podcaster, educator and author whose work has given her unique insight into human behaviour.  Her first book How to Start a Side Hustle was published  in July 20221 with Hardie Grant Books. 

Follow Kaylene on Instagram, listen to her podcast and subscribe to her https://kaylenelangford.substack.com/.

PS: If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll lose your mind over The Creative Urge.

Today's episode features the effervescent Ellie Rose from Cocoon Mental Health. She's a counsellor and psychotherapist with a fire in her belly to shake up mental health. We connected on Instagram and have been chatting up a STORM in the DMs so decided to make it official with a real life conversation on the pod.

Out of her own frustrations from working in and researching youth mental health across the past decade, Ellie created Cocoon Mental Health, providing sessions, workshops and content for those of us who want to move on from our family issues and thrive in this big, sometimes confusing life.

Cocoon uses a chilled-out, creative approach to therapy (no boring, clinical b.s here!) with the belief that you can do and be all the things you want to - because you’ve always deserved more. 

In this episode, we touch on how important hobbies are (especially for our mental health), and do a deep dive into coping mechanisms. Ellie is a breath of fresh air in the therapeutic space and specialises in family-based systems of support.

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love my Substack, The Creative Urge.

Today's episode is very special. I had the honour of hopping on the mic with Alexandra Wyman, author of the Amazon best selling book, "The Suicide Club: What To Do When Someone You Love Chooses Death". Our conversation discusses heavy topics like the grief process, but in a beautifully light and nourishing way.

Alexandra Wyman is an advocate and public speaker for resources in the aftermath of suicide. After she lost her husband to suicide in August of 2020, Alexandra found a need to change the language around suicide, and decided to write about it. Her memoir, The Suicide Club: What To Do When Someone You Love Chooses Death is an Amazon best seller. She has spoken at a variety of conferences including Bridging the Divide Suicide Prevention and Awareness Summit 2022, 2023 Northwest Conference on Childhood Grief, and has been accepted to present at the 2023 Military Social Work & Behavioural Health Conference and the International Association of Suicide Prevention Conference 2023 in Piran, Slovenia. Alexandra has also been a guest on a variety of podcasts including The Unlock Moment, Author Hour, Resilience Unravelled, She Persisted, and My Wake Up Call with Dr. Mark Goulston. Alexandra has her own podcast called The Widow’s Club, as well. She practices pediatric occupational therapy and lives in Colorado with her son.

Alexandra is living proof that what doesn't kills us, makes us more creative, and if you're interested to learn more, you can grab her book, follow her on Instagram or check out her website, forwardtojoy.com.

If you enjoyed this episode, you're going to lap up my newsletter, The Creative Urge.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Madeline Popelka grew up in a household where mental health was never discussed. Suffering alone, when she started to experience PTSD symptoms in her late twenties, she realized she didn't know the ­ first step in getting help. As Madeline began her healing journey, she felt an urge to create a space for other trauma survivors on Instagram, @HealingFromPTSD, which is now the largest trauma healing community on Instagram. There she shares her hard-earned lessons on healing, inspiring hundreds of thousands of survivors along their own healing journeys. To learn more about Madeline and her work, visit her website at: madelinepopelka.com and her Instagram: @HealingFromPTSD.

If you loved this chat, you'll go B A N A N A S for my Substack newsletter, The Creative Urge.

You know how much I love exploring the topic of mental health (heck, it's what this podcast is ALL about). But when coupled with my other favourite topic, creativity, you know we're in for a treat! In today's episode, I chat to the delightful Aimee Davies. Aimee founded The Hey Mate Project, a social enterprise that delivers evidence based mental health, wellness support and education to the music, entertainment, performing arts, creative industries and wider community. Our conversation touches on a lot of different areas of what Aimee does, including her background and creative practice. If you love this episode, you're going to froth over my Substack newsletter, The Creative Urge, too – so get subscribing!

What happens when you feel overwhelmed by a difficult emotion? How do you react or respond? Today, I share with you my very own creative grief practice that has helped me move through loss, grief and changes. It's free, won't take up too much of your time, and can be integrated into your daily journaling practice. Grief is a complicated emotion, especially in the face of change in your life – but it doesn't have to be all-consuming. There's another way to process it and move on, freeing yourself up to welcome in new creative energy. If this episode floats your boat, make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter, The Creative Urge.

When life turns to shit, you're not only dealing with the event that caused it: you're also going to have to manage the fallout. Today, we're talking about what you can do with your leftover pain after life changes or you experience a loss (of any kind). Spoiler alert: you CAN transmute your pain into something purposeful or helpful, to you or other people, using the creative process. If you enjoy this mini-episode, you'll lost your marbles over my newsletter, The Creative Urge. 

Welcome to part 4 of my 5 part series tackling the amazing posttraumatic growth (PTG) life areas. This week, we're exploring one of my FAVOURITE words of all time: APPRECIATION. Different to gratitude, appreciation can be the key to unlocking new perspectives, retraining your brain and getting some reprieve from the 'shit pit'. If you dig the vibe of this episode – or have LOVED this series – shit is getting real over on my Substack, The Creative Urge, so make sure you sign up pronto! 

Have you ever heard yourself utter the phrase "no one understands me" after you've been through a challenging situation? I know I have! In today's poddy, I dive into the third life area of posttraumatic growth (PTG), which is all about deepening your relationships with others. Creativity is a relational practice – more on this in the episode – and one that can be the bridge between you and the people you want to spend more time with. If you enjoy this one, make sure you're signed up to my Substack newsletter, The Creative Urge. 

Life has a funny habit of getting in the way, doesn't it?! It's been a long time between drinks for us, but I'm here now, continuing the series I started last year. It's all about the 5 life areas of post-traumatic growth (PTG) and part 2 deals with cultivating personal strength. I'm not talking about physical strength, but about building and amplifying the positive and good personality traits and characteristics you have. What does this look like on the day-to-day? How can you pinpoint what traits to nurture? That's what we'll dive into today. And if you haven't already done so, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter The Creative Urge (it's where I'm my most unhinged). 

In this episode we meet Nicole Avery, a Melbourne mum to five beautiful kids aged 23 to 13. Nic loves to be organised so she can spend more time being with her family and making space for her creative endeavours. She shares how she organises herself and her family on one of Australia's most popular parenting blogs Planning With Kids. It is through this platform that she has helped 1000s of women to organise the chaos of family life and find purpose in the day to day.

Nicole's latest passion is her functional beverage business Adapt Drinks. It makes a non alcoholic, zero sugar, all natural, lightly sparkling water with adaptogenic herbs designed to help women unwind and relax.

We cover so much ground, from goal setting and the concept of 'tilting', to some of Nic's hardest moments in business. I hope you enjoy this chat as much as we enjoyed having it! 

I just went on a business retreat and the insights just keep coming! In this episode, I unpack why creativity isn't a zero-sum game. So often the divide is between those who are creative and those who are not. It's simply not how it is. Join me as I meander my way through this concept and hopefully inspire you to start redefining creativity on your own terms. Oh, and lots of shout outs for this episode, including: legendary bold business coach and speaker Suz Chadwick; my gym, Body Fit Training North Melbourne; and Father Bronques, maker of the excellent podcast Make Art Not Content. Enjoy!

Dear friends, I'm excited for you to meet the amazing Alexis Guttridge from Pause. She's a meditation teacher with an amazing backstory (we go into it in the episode). Alexis is my first guest on What Doesn't Kill Us and the last episode for 2021! Inside this episode, you'll learn 👉🏼Why meditation has been a game changer for Alexis 👉🏼How she changed her relationship to alcohol 👉🏼plus, a small gift at the end (so stick around!). Alexis will be launching the next round of her 8 Week Mindfulness Practice on February 1, 2022, so if you dig her vibe, make sure you book into her program, you won't regret it. All that being said, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as Alexis and I enjoyed having it ❤️ 

• The posttraumatic growth 5 life areas
• A few definitions of trauma
• My experience as a child and how it shaped my understanding of trauma, and
• Stephen Joseph, Ph.D, and his wonderful book What Doesn't Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth.

No matter where you are in your growth journey, you'll want to tune in for the 3 messages and 2 questions I mention at the end of this episode.